This is my personal website where I talk about a whole load of different stuff, from 
I'm an avid Flight Simulation fan, have been for years much to the mirth and merriment of the people I know. I enjoy nothing more (well, within reason) than filing a flight plan from one place to another and sitting online while I'm guided via live air traffic control - pretty much as real as it gets without setting foot into an actual plane.
The live air traffic control is from VATSIM, or more specifically the people connected to the VATSIM servers who have nothing but a simulated radar screen on their PC's with which to talk to and guide us armchair pilots from one place to the next, over the internet.
It's a lot of fun and it's the nearest I'll get to realising my childhood dream of being a pilot, because I have the worlds shittest right eye. I can see everything with it, only it's like looking through slightly frosted glass. So, Mr Woods isn't allowed to fly the Big Iron (though I *will* get my PPL one day).
I've been a member of the FlightSim community since about 1993 or 1994, (back in the dark days of FS4.0b with the aircraft and scenery design addon!) and during the years I've learned a LOT about piloting, navigation, radio communications, etiquette and aircraft stats. All of which appeal to me.
So it's my turn to give something back, no matter how trivial. Enter VatSimSigs.
VatSimSigs is, as the about page will tell you, simply a web application that allows you to display a signature on forums, reflecting your connection status to VATSIM - that is, online or offline. This is especially handy for those who browse the forums and are interested in seeing whether or not their buddies are online.
In addition, it also allows you to upload "sets" of images, which I have cunningly entitled "image sets" (genius!). These sets of images are a two-part group of signature images, one for online and one for offline statuses - but because the system generates HTML or UBB code links, you can have multiple different signatures running through your singular VatSimSigs account.
What this means is that if you're a member of a virtual airline (and I am, I'm a First Officer rank on www.thomsonvirtual.com , defected from KnightAir ), you can have one signature for that forum and another for additional forums, such as BAVirtual or EasyJetVirtual or whatever other forum you frequent. All from one place, no administration necessary - VatSimSigs will do the processing and make sure the correct status image is served no matter which image is requested.
VatSimSigs is also free of charge - so enjoy, tell your friends and have three greens!
For those who are interested, It's built in ASP.NET MVC 2.0, and took about 19 hours to complete from start to finish including design / development / deployment - not bad going :)
Check it out!
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Dave Redford
Excellent stuff, Steve!I've created a profile and it's working brilliantly.
