This is why I keep saying -- patience!!! :)
I know it's hard, but there is no reason to work like dogs to make changes that have been completely reworked in the next release.
From what I've been led to believe, the flat-file origins of Links SQL are left even further behind, and there are more modular "tools" for building the site.
What that means is that making changes will be more like writing function calls and pseudo code than writing real perl code. Some of those changes are evident in the 1.11 version. You can also see some of the "logic" in MySQLMan (although it's very different from Links SQL).
With the release now 10 days away -- and I think that's realistic now, it really pays to design your site, and not worry about the implementation of code changes yet.
With SQL (and the properly designed engine) site design could be as simple as setting some parameters in a parameter file and writing your templates.
I know I've abstracted most of my functions into include files, global and local variables, and templates with nested if's and such. I'm looking at the next release to take this even further, so that all user-config changes are done in external files, while the "guts" and "engine" are untouched.
There are so many changes that are inevitable, it doesn't pay to do anything until they are released so you can see them.
By unlinking the categories and the build-stats you'll see more flexibility in generating category and subcategory lists. This leads to better site navigation, and everything gets better. Add to that the integrated banner system, and you have ways of following users, tracking data, customizing pages, etc.
Now, all of this will come at a price -- you can't do it all on a virtual server. The more you ask the program to do on each "click" or user access, the more power you need in your server to handle it.
The last 6 weeks of waiting have let me play with multiple ideas for sites, and I can't wait to get my hands on this to see what new features I'll have to play with :)
http://www.postcards.com FAQ:
http://www.postcards.com/FAQ/LinkSQL/