Thanks to everyone who signed up to test my weblog application. I released the first beta today—hopefully this beta process will be swift and I'll release to the public in a week or so.
This is the first project I've done using Rails for mass release, and I have to say that the process was fast, fun and a great learning experience. I've only recently begun using functional and unit testing in Rails—something I should have been doing from the beginning but wasn't—and I love it. Never has it been so easy to test and debug an application. Rails constantly surprises me.
The only low point in the development and testing process was getting the app to deploy at Dreamhost, whose Rails implementation is just downright difficult and maddening at times. It's frustrating that DH can't seem to get it going correctly (a while back they upgraded to Rails 1.1 and broke everyone's sites because of errors in the upgrade process, and had to roll back to 1.0 because of it). Luckily, with plenty of help from the Rails IRC channel and about three hours of searching Google, I manage to concoct a work-around for all of the silly FCGI issues DH has and was able to install the app on Dreamhost trouble-free. Hopefully my testers will have the same experience.
As I've said before: If you want good Rails hosting, go with Segpub. They are the official hosting provider selection for my weblog application, and I don't get any compensation for saying that. I know I sound like a broken record, but I can't say it enough.
I'm going to switch this site over to the new app in a day or two, once I find the time.