I have been using LinkMachine.net as a database managing software for my links, and I am happy with it.
But when I set up this site, I tried to install it and it and I got an
error message that the software could not connect with their web site.
So it looks like this program is useless unless it can connect to their
web site, and while I was waiting for their website to come back up I
ran across
Duncan Carvers website
onlinemarketingtoday.com
It looked like the main things I was looking for were there:
- static pages
- number of links on the index page
- separate pages for each category
So I decided to download it and give them a try.
I downloaded the zip file and unzipped it, there was a problem because the program created a directory called admin.php
This didn't seem like a big deal to me, but there is also a file called
admin.php and it did not get unzipped, so when I tried to run
everything, nothing worked.
Look and see after you unzip if you have a directiory called admin.php
if you do, then delete it and unzip the file admin.php because you
don't need the directory and you have to have the file.
Other than that goof everything else went fairly smooth.
One trick I do use is that I name my data base, and user, and login name all the same when I am setting up a mysql database.
This seems to save me a lot of headaches because I am not a database
programmer and somehow I always seem to end up with my user name in my
database name field, or something similar that keeps the whole thing
from working.
So just pick one name like url_user and make all the passwords the same like 123.
Then when it asks you for a password, your not wondering is that the
database password? or the user password? or the software user password?
Then are all the same, then after you set it up and get everything
working then you can change all the passwords to whatever you want.
This has saved me countless hours of reinstalling and debugging.
If your a mysql guru and when someone asks you for a name or a password
you just instantly know which one is the right one then you can ignor
my little tip.
I didn't have any other problems other than leaving the URL and the
underscore off the front of the database name a couple times.
No big deal you just have to start all over and run everything again.
I also got tripped up again with the steps for the database:
- make new database
- make a new user
- access local host
- add user to database
- then add local host
If you have less than a few hundred hours working with mysql then the
4th step is easy to forget, and nothing seems to work without it.
I put in local_host for the server and that seemed to work fine.
other than that it askes you for the different names and different
passwords if you took my advice they are all the same and you can just
fly thought that part.
The software then suggests you delete the install.php program and then does it for you, which was kind of nice touch.
Now I'm up and running, the first thing I notice is that there are
4 inks at the bottom of each page, I think 4 links is a little
excessive.
And everytime the program emails someone it has an add at the bottom which is a tiny bit annoying, but not that big of a deal.
When I make a change to something it updates immediately which is nice.
When someone adds their site it asks them to suggest a category, and
for comments - then as far as I can tell that information is deleted
and you have no access to it.
May 21, 2005