My website has been down for a little while now, and I've finally got it back up again. Here's what's going on.

What went wrong

My hosting company essentially gave up. The server my site was on went down for some reason - which happens, no server is perfect - but it took them nearly 36 hours to respond and get the server back online. It basically shut off, and nobody noticed. Essentially, there is nobody with a pulse over there.

It wasn't until my problems did I notice that all "live" forms of conversation, such as phone and chat, have been discontinued. The only option for communication is their support form. Not good.

Before my server even came back online, I decided this wasn't good enough for me. I had already setup a new server. I'm now with InMotion Hosting, who has been hosting REAL Software for a couple years now. After 3 accounts with them, I'd definitely recommend if you're in the market.

What took so long

Since I had a brand new VPS, I decided it was time for something new. My website hadn't seen a lot of attention in a while, and it was a perfect opportunity to start over. And that's what I did. My first design was outstanding, and I had an iPhone version as well which felt almost exactly like a native app. But the iPhone version had a couple issues, there was little point to it, and the design overall wasn't quite right. So I started over, which went a lot quicker because I went with a simpler design.

That design is what you see now.

Going forward

My work with REAL Software has left me with little time. Many of my projects won't run in modern versions of REAL Studio anymore, as they aren't maintained. I intend to update some projects, but others will be deprecated.

Both HIToolbar and Mac OS X Search Field will be left as-is. They rely on Carbon, and will require significant work make function under Cocoa. We're hopeful that a version version of the built-in Toolbar object will support customization, which will render HIToolbar useless. The Search Field is simpler, but I just don't have the motivation. I'd rather we implement a search field as a built-in control, so if I'm going to spend on more work on it, I would rather do so in an official capacity.

There is little replacement for Animation Kit, it will be maintained. I might even update it to work similar to the WebAnimator class.

I'm unsure of the future of the Multiple Document Application template. I've been asked to integrate the template into REAL Studio, but I actually feel as if the template does not belong built-in. The functionality it provides should be built-in, then a new built-in template could be created using that new functionality.

The HTTP Server was the basis for the Stand Alone server in REAL Studio Web Edition. Since then, the server has grown significantly. There is talk of exposing that functionality to developers of all project types. So again, there is little motivation for me to spend time on it.

Lastly, the XML-RPC Client is very valuable and easy to maintain. It will be maintained.