Clarion Magazine has moved!

Don't let the eerie silence fool you!

Posted February 1 2012

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Yes, things have seemed quiet at Clarion Magazine, at least from the outside.

Inside, it’s been a different story.

Change is a constant in software development. Operating systems change. Platforms change. Customers change. Tools change. Everything changes.

Clarion Magazine too has changed over the years, from a static site with a simple authentication database to a dynamic site built with Java and MySQL and, more recently, to a .NET-based site written in C# with a PostgreSQL back end.

And now there’s another major change coming. Originally we intended to continue with business as usual for another three to six months, but one thing led to another….

A new platform, a new site!

You see, for some time now we’ve been looking for a new publishing platform, one that would address some key requirements. The new platform had to:

• Allow for on-site editing (currently all articles are edited off site, and only uploaded when ready for preview)
• Allow users to contribute information directly to the web site (e.g. FAQs, directories of third party products, etc.)
• Allow users to upload files to the web site
• Allow for copy/paste of images directly into documents on the web site, rather than requiring the upload of images separately
• Provide a high level view of the site’s content
• Offer different “areas” within the site to make it easier to segregate Clarion and non-Clarion (more on that in a moment) information
• Provide threaded comments
• Provide better search capabilities, including searching comments and files
• Allow for page tagging
• Provide an environment for collaboration on software projects
• Be fully customizable

We’ve located a product that does all this and more: Atlassian Confluence. Interestingly, Confluence is built with the same technologies we used for the first dynamic version of ClarionMag: Java and Tomcat. (I’ve been working with Confluence for some time now in a consulting setting and I’m very impressed with it. I think you will be too.)

Our new site is up and is undergoing testing; we expect to go into private beta shortly.

So that we can get the new site ready for you in the shortest possible time we’re putting all new content on that site; meanwhile we’re extending all Clarion Magazine subscriptions for as long as it takes the new site to go live.

IMPORTANT: The subscription model for the new site is different from the current model. More on that in a moment. But first, some vital information about that other development platform, WinDev.

WinDev!

Over the years we’ve had a number of requests from current and former Clarion developers to start a publication for PC Soft’s WinDev. We’ve always considered those requests seriously, but there never seemed to be enough of a market. A popular product in France, WinDev never seemed to have much of a following in the English-speaking world.

That appears to be changing, at least among Clarion developers. I know of more and more Clarion developers who are using both WinDev and Clarion, or who have switched entirely to WinDev.

As a result, the new site under development will have areas for Clarion content and areas for WinDev content.

Two streams, many spaces

As I said earlier we’re building the new site with Confluence, which has the concept of “spaces”. A space is kind of like a web site within the web site. Each space can have (if you wish) its own look and feel. You can restrict searching to a space, and you can easily restrict access to a space.

Initially our new site will have a relatively small number of spaces, including at least one space for WinDev and one space for Clarion. But there are also other topics that are common in both development tools, such as SQL and .NET. So they get their own spaces too. It’s easy to reorganize the spaces, so we’ll be adding new spaces as needed to keep the information clearly organized.

Imagine the following four spaces (there are actually more):

• Clarion
• WinDev
• SQL
• .NET

You can choose between a Clarion “stream”, giving you access to:

• Clarion
• SQL
• .NET

and a WinDev stream, giving you access to:

• WinDev
• SQL
• .NET

Yes, cross the streams!

Of course, if you want it all you can get both streams and have access to the entire site! And you can always specify which are your favorite spaces and just pay attention to those.

Pricing

Traditionally Clarion Magazine has used an annual subscription model. The new site will be monthly subscription only. That means that while you have an active subscription you have access to the site; if your subscription lapses, you don’t have access.

The rates are as follows:

• Clarion stream: $15/month
• WinDev stream: $15/month
• Combined stream: $20/month

But you may already have access….

If you have an existing Clarion Magazine subscription

If you have an existing Clarion Magazine subscription we’ll roll that subscription over to the new site. How long your subscription lasts before the monthly rate kicks in depends on when your current subscription expires. The starting time for the calculation is December 1, 2011. If you have eight months left on your subscription as of that date, then you’ll get eight months of access to either the Clarion stream or the WinDev stream (your choice) beginning on the new site’s “go live” date. And of course you still retain all your existing access to articles on the current ClarionMag site.

NOTE: You’ll also be able to make a one-time switch from one stream to another at no charge. So you can start out with the Clarion stream and switch to WinDev or vice versa.

A really incredible offer!

Okay, here’s the deal. We’re still setting up the monthly subscription payment processing and once we get that ready the annual payment option will be permanently removed.

For a very limited time you can subscribe to the new site at the old site’s pricing! Just take out a one year subscription (or a renewal if you have an existing subscription) and we’ll automatically add you to the new site and we’ll give you access to both streams for a savings of almost 50%! (If you don’t want one of the streams you can always let us know and we’ll remove it from your subscription.) For renewals, the duration of your subscription is as described above. For new subscriptions (or for renewals of subscriptions that lapsed before Dec 1 2011), your new site subscription begins on the site’s “go live” date.

Subscribe/renew for Clarion and/or WinDev content now!

What will happen to the current ClarionMag site?

The Clarion Magazine site will remain online and will be renamed to the Clarion Magazine Archive. The site now contains well over a million words of content and is an incredible source of Clarion-related information.

Once the new site is live, if you don’t currently have a Clarion Magazine subscription the only way to get access to articles in the Clarion Magazine Archive will be to buy an Archive subscription at a one-time cost of $125. So if you don’t have a Clarion Magazine subscription yet, buying one will get you a year’s worth of the new site at a big discount plus access to the archive at no additional cost!

For those who always read to the end and who want a totally unbelievable deal…

Take out a two year subscription or renewal. Do the math. We can’t afford to let too many of these out the door, so act now.…

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