Redesign Notes: Summer 2012

Posted on Saturday, at bought • 220 views

Welcome! If you've visited the site recently, you've noticed the sudden design changes. I'm on an upgraded software platform, I've added some functionality, and I've gotten rid of a few bits that didn't seem too popular. I've also got some items still in the works…but I'd love to hear what you think!

Redesign Notes: Summer 2012

Aside from the visual redesign (which takes advantage of CSS3 to add drop shadows, gradients, and rounded corners...yes, I Had Fun), there's changes to how things work. Here's a quick summary:

New stuff

  • Facebook login / registration capability (registrations must all still be manually reviewed...so your registration won't be instantaneous)
  • threaded comments
  • commenting now restricted to members only
  • member profile now includes site URL, Twitter, and FB...and they'll all show up on any comment you make
  • schmancier popup display functionality
  • notice of how many new entries and comments since your last visit (front page for everyone, sidebar for logged-in members)
  • monthly polls

Removed stuff

  • removed the 'older' and 'newer' navigation between entries, because I don't know how useful those are
  • the most recent entries and most recent comments in the sidebar (switched those out for a blogroll and the date-based navigation)

Still cooking...

  • a proper mobile version of the site
  • links to the entries, comments, and ratings added since your last visit
  • quarterly sweepstakes, open to members only
  • the occasional member-recognition giveaway, for active contributors (ratings and comments)

I'm still tweaking elements of the visual design, and the header's going to get a makeover...but I wanted to get the new functionality in place. I'll be porting over the remaining content for most of the rest of the summer, in waves. Right now I've got all of the old Aromaleigh collections, the most recent entries, and the items from some of those old collections; but the rest is still in the old database. I'm putting 301 redirects in place as soon as the content is ported over, so that Google doesn't get cranky with me; and so that people don't end up with a bunch of broken links.

Please let me know if anything isn't working for you, or if there's some functionality that was in the old site design that you miss.

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