Wednesday, October 16

Today was a disaster. Having spent a long time yesterday setting up seventeen sub-domains for the Advanced Web Apps class, and having got to Arcada at 7:30 in order to load a set of instructions and exercises into Its Learning, and then check that the exercises still worked with the current version of WordPress and the current default theme, I started the class at 9:15 and discovered that the sub-domains simply did not work. Or rather they all seemed to link to the same installation.

I announced that we would restart the class at 10:15 and worked at the speed of light to try to remake the sub-domains. In doing this I worked with three students who had remained behind and we tested each of their domains as I created them and installed WordPress. Although the experiments were all completely satisfactorily nonetheless, when all the students returned, the domains all pointed to the same installation – including the three that had worked during testing. The students said they had pressing deadlines for other classes and so I abandoned the class for the day and left them writing essays and finishing mock-ups.

I spent an hour in an online chat with HostMonster’s technical support, and we got the problem sorted out. The sub-domains had not been creating home directories because the procedure had changed slightly since I last did it and I had seen no instructions for the new procedure. In fairness this was probably because the new procedure would be self-evident to everyone except those, like me, who had evolved a set of habits while using the previous procedures.

While this was happening there was continuing chaos surrounding the timetable of the Interactive Storytelling Masterclass. In the end I solved it by leaving everything exactly as it was and announcing that there was no problem. Once everyone accepted this the chaos disappeared. By the time it had I had a much clearer idea of how the course will work. I promised Jutta that I would write htis up for us to discuss on Friday.

When I got home Silja and Auo were creating a website. When Silja left we ate the soup I had made yesterday (we both agreed that it was good soup) and left for Auo’s cello lesson. Now I am parked almost outside waiting for her to reappear. I am not straying far from the car because the parking space is not strictly speaking a parking space.

When we get home I will settle down to spend the evening remaking eighteen sub-domains and WordPress installations. This time I will test each one as I create it.

Hours will pass. Auo will go to bed and the eventually I will go to bed too.