Alway keep a backup. Of everything.

Let me tell you a story of failures and backups and pain.

So last night I finished a bunch of changes to Solomon Says.  After the regular load of testing (that lasts 15 minutes and includes opening a bunch of pages on Firefox and Chrome), I uploaded the changes and tried to bring the server back up. Everything exploded in my face at about the same time. The only reason we are still in business is that I had backups. In decreasing order of importance, the following backups saved the day:

1. Database
2. Code/Configurations
3. Images

So pretty much everything :)

At this point, a note on the deployment process is in order. Here’s how it goes:

1. Stop python fcgi process and nginx service.
2. Delete the production code.
3. Run the DB migration script.
4. Upload the entire code from my laptop to the production location.
5. Start python and nginx

#2, #3, and #4 didn’t go too well.

#2 – My dev. environment is Windows, but production is on LINUX.  So there’s a bunch of stuff related to path handling (‘/’ vs ‘\’ etc.) that I change just for development. This is automatically handled in production by using a different configuration file. Alas, I ran the delete for #2 from one level higher in the directory structure. Boom goes the config. And on bringing the server up, I get a load of ‘access permission denied’ errors. I spent a half hour analyzing the arcane debug messages, then give up and restore the entire code base file by file and change by change.

#3 – I missed selecting a couple of ‘where’ conditions when running the migration script. Result – 2 of the main table got randomly changed. Considering how crappy the day had been so far, I realized it only on restarting the server. So bring the server down again, restore the DB to its previous avatar from the backup, and run the migration with extra precaution.

#4 – My development copy did not have quite a few of the images related to the newer reviews I had posted. And since I had deleted the production data in #2, the server started throwing ‘Suspicious Operation’ exception (What the hell is that? It should have said ‘File not found” or something). In view of the blunders I had made for #2 and #3, I assumed a mistake in the new configuration I had created and spent another hour debugging, then gave up and copied over the image folders from the back up to production.
 

All told, something that should have taken 15 minutes took 4 hours.
 

Lesson learnt. Always keep a backup. Of everything.

Looking just a little bit better

A lot of the feedback that I have received on Solomon Says (a big thank you to everyone who spent time and effort providing it) has been regarding the styling and design aspect of the website. Or rather, the lack of it styling and design aspects in the website. Now, I am no designer. CSS3 and templating were not quite my fortes when I started working on it. So operating out of my ignorance of these fields, I have been forced to improve the design of the site in increments. Get something working, make it usable, and put it out there. Then improve what it looks like in the next iteration.

I'd like to share with you some of the changes I'm currently working on to the layout of the review pages. This primarily involves improving the data panel just above the text of the review. For the uninitiated, this is what it currently looks like on book and travel reviews respectively.

Both look very cramped and difficult to interact with. The huge orange rating section is sort of a waste of space, and the images don’t get due prominence (especially harmful on travel reviews). So I thought through these problems and came up with a small redesign which hopefully makes everything cleaner and easier to access. Check it out.

The new version is only slightly different from the current one but I think it lends a much more spaced-out feel to the whole page. You would also have noted that there is a small panel of image thumbnails right above the ratings section. These are the images that currently show up below the text of the review, like so:

I never really this design because pics are cool and everybody loves them. So I moved the images right to the top in a combination of sliding thumbnail carousel and Fancybox. Now they are easily accessible, and clicking on the thumbnail gallery blows them up to full size too! Like this.

A lot more groovy, even if I say so myself! I am planning to roll out the changes in about two weeks after a few minor tweaks and testing.

So what do you think? Like the new look? Not quite? Let me know in the comments or drop me a line at solomonsaysindia@gmail.com. Suggestions/flowery words of praise/hate mail are all welcome.

Solomon Says at ISB

First things first – Please fill out this short survey. This will help me in assessing what I can do to make Solomon Says more exciting and useful for its users. I really, really appreciate it.

Now for the news of the week.

Solomon Says is currently the subject of a marketing project/case study in a course on Entrepreneurial Decision Making (EnDM) at ISB (Indian School of Business). The project is being conducted by Varun Jain (a very close friend of mine from my undergrad days at NSIT) of the ISB class of 2013 under Prof. Arun Pereira. Over the course of the project, I will be working with the two aforementioned gentlemen (mostly with Varun) to conduct market surveys, audiences analysis and other analytical wizardry to refine SolomonSays into an even more awesome product.

Quick background on how this came about. Essentially Varun was looking for a start-up to whet his new-found marketing chops on.. I was going around writing reviews and hacking away to glory with no time for reaching out to the wide world and finding a place in it. We discussed the website one day, and agreed that it could use some MBA lovin’. So starting this week with survey mentioned above, we’ll be doing some basic scoping exercises to (hopefully) understand out audience and define our market with a lot more clarity than before. These efforts will also try to discover how readers interact with the website and what we can build into it to make that experience smooth.

I have written before that I do not have a proper business plan yet for SolomonSays. Throughout this ISB affair, my focus will continue to be on how to make this the best, most helpful reviews website on the web. No doubt there are parts of the project which demand an emphasis on revenue streams and sustainability, but those come later. Till then, the spotlight, my dear readers, is on you.

Don't forget the survey.