[Mod] :: [Server Update]
Hiya everyone!
It's been a while since I did a true mod post! Haha. Some of you have probably noticed that tcg_exchange has been loading really, really slowly. Well, that's been fixed! Mango spent many hours and moolah to get this fixed and now it all comes down to implementing it on the community itself.
The issue:
The issue was that Livejournal went from being an unsecure "http" webpage to a secure one "https" which essentially meant they implemented some secure server protocols. These protocols would only allow images from https domains. If an image were used on Livejournal that wasn't an https domain, it would use an image proxy to host those images in a secure format. Sounds great right? Well, yes and no. It's great in practice, but for the practicality of tcg_exchange it wasn't. For blog posts, the images were loaded onto the proxy fast enough, but because tcg_exchange is a tad image heavy, it would take a long time for the images to load onto the proxy every time you loaded the page. Thus, the long wait times.
So why didn't I have https before if it's more secure? Simply put... money + time + there wasn't really a reason. The only things I host on my webpage are my portfolio and tcg_exchange stuff. Actually I got a webhost so that I could put all my cards on it after the Photobucket fiasco (round 1).
The fix:
So how do you get an https domain? You buy and install a SSL Certificate on your website that basically encrypts it. Woo. So for Mango's already not-eally low price of ($155 a year for the web hosting + $40 for the SSL Certificate per year), you can have all your images secure and ready to use on Livejournal. See? Mango loves you. I spend almost $200 a year just to keep this community running.
The implementation:
So essentially for the past day or so, rashiea and mmrobitussin have been running around like crazy mods updating all the images for tcg_exchange so that they're https compliant. That means pages like the card shop, the spirits, and even our own trade piles are now https compliant and should load quickly. We can't go back and change past comments (that would take forever and a lifetime), but if you see any pages that need some love, let us know and we'll fix them.
But for those who had already changed over to Mango's webhost, what do you do to fix this? Simply put... change all your images from http to https. The easiest way is to copy and paste the whole card post into notepad and
Find: http://meganachan.com
Replace: https://meganachan.com
Easy as pie! Then copy and paste that back over your old card post and it should work like a charm!
So essentially: Livejournal somehow got more secure which broke images. Mango paid more money to the webhost gods so she could get the fix for it. Mango and Rashiea implemented fixes on the community. You update your own card post because we can't do it for you.
If you have questions, drop me a message on this post.
-Mango (aka Mmrobitussin)
It's been a while since I did a true mod post! Haha. Some of you have probably noticed that tcg_exchange has been loading really, really slowly. Well, that's been fixed! Mango spent many hours and moolah to get this fixed and now it all comes down to implementing it on the community itself.
The issue:
The issue was that Livejournal went from being an unsecure "http" webpage to a secure one "https" which essentially meant they implemented some secure server protocols. These protocols would only allow images from https domains. If an image were used on Livejournal that wasn't an https domain, it would use an image proxy to host those images in a secure format. Sounds great right? Well, yes and no. It's great in practice, but for the practicality of tcg_exchange it wasn't. For blog posts, the images were loaded onto the proxy fast enough, but because tcg_exchange is a tad image heavy, it would take a long time for the images to load onto the proxy every time you loaded the page. Thus, the long wait times.
So why didn't I have https before if it's more secure? Simply put... money + time + there wasn't really a reason. The only things I host on my webpage are my portfolio and tcg_exchange stuff. Actually I got a webhost so that I could put all my cards on it after the Photobucket fiasco (round 1).
The fix:
So how do you get an https domain? You buy and install a SSL Certificate on your website that basically encrypts it. Woo. So for Mango's already not-eally low price of ($155 a year for the web hosting + $40 for the SSL Certificate per year), you can have all your images secure and ready to use on Livejournal. See? Mango loves you. I spend almost $200 a year just to keep this community running.
The implementation:
So essentially for the past day or so, rashiea and mmrobitussin have been running around like crazy mods updating all the images for tcg_exchange so that they're https compliant. That means pages like the card shop, the spirits, and even our own trade piles are now https compliant and should load quickly. We can't go back and change past comments (that would take forever and a lifetime), but if you see any pages that need some love, let us know and we'll fix them.
But for those who had already changed over to Mango's webhost, what do you do to fix this? Simply put... change all your images from http to https. The easiest way is to copy and paste the whole card post into notepad and
Find: http://meganachan.com
Replace: https://meganachan.com
Easy as pie! Then copy and paste that back over your old card post and it should work like a charm!
So essentially: Livejournal somehow got more secure which broke images. Mango paid more money to the webhost gods so she could get the fix for it. Mango and Rashiea implemented fixes on the community. You update your own card post because we can't do it for you.
If you have questions, drop me a message on this post.
-Mango (aka Mmrobitussin)