As hard as I have worked on the new site, It still pains me to see the old one gone…. Right now It’s 3am, and I’m writing up the post ready for the big move (yes I can do that now and set this thing to automatically post up when I’m not here) .

I’ve worked very hard on making sure this site is near enough what you all wanted it to be, and me. You can still see the clouds in the background image, just like in the old site. And despite a few additional features and colour changes, It’s not a huge difference to the old one.  I still want this site to be all me. Hopefully all those survey results better work out

We have a host of new features, me being able to post from my phone, a better gallery system, a more efficient site, RSS feeds for those who want a mailing list but don’t want to be on a mailing list, twitter linkins (this site will twitter whenever I post an update), comments (with spam protection I might add). There’s even a download section which hasn’t gone live yet, but it’s there, ready to be tweaked. Though I may only enable it for registered users. Categories and tags, better stats tracking, there’s just so much that I’ve been able to accomplish with the site. Even getting it optimized so that mobile viewers have their own dedicated site (though the gallery doesn’t yet work on it… hopefully that will be fixed soon, but you now have the option to comment and post up your thoughts and views! so go right ahead!

Still.. welcome to the site… I hope you enjoy using it as much as I have had creating it (minus the frustration and hair pulling)

First of all…

Let me say a thank you to everyone that participated in the survey, We had over 2000 responses to the survey each requesting several differnt features, and every single response was read, I can assure you!

The results…

Before we go any further, let me just explain, I’m not going to detail every possible answer that was given as it would take up so much space on here that I would just never get done, and you would all get bored. So we shall summarise

Site layout -
Almost everyone said the top banner was too big. As a result in the middle of the survey I changed it to the smaller one that you all see now.
80% of people complained about not enough colour on the site, similarly not enough text in some places
97% of people found the site layout easy to navigate
74% of people were first time visitors, and wanted an easier contact system than just an email address
88% of people said they wanted something that looked a little flashier, as the current site is a bit drab

Features -
98% of respondants said they wanted a blog feature as well as the site updates
76% were happy with the piclens flash gallery
28% wanted a mailing list, BUT strangley 88% of people would subscribe if there was one
232 people requested the ability to make comments

This is just a summary of the responses, but it covers the core details and the responses everyone wanted.

Changes…

As a result of the respondants, I’ve been developing a trial site on the backend which has undergone extensive development and testing, and a huge amount of work has gone in to try and give the right mix of features. I would like to thank Andrew Kennett and Sean Nicholls for their involvment in the design and code of the new site. Sean Nicholls is a professional developer who specialises in many different code languages, and is an expert on PHP. Andrew Kennett is a long time webmaster and designer, and has worked with me on getting to grips with wordpress, and the new systems suggesting new features and plugins to make the site more efficiant. Both have consulted with me over the design of the site. Additionally I would like to thank the community at FSIRC for their extensive and ongoing help with SQL. In the last few weeks, I have managed to learn almost a years worth of knowledge in SQL.

The New Site Will have the following features

- Blog Section – Due to huge demand, my personal blogs will now be integrated with the rest of the site

- RSS Updates – Given the mixed response about mailing lists, it seems to be the best way to give people subscriptions options without mailing lists

- Comments – The new site features comments with advanced spam protection, though it is my discretion weather I turn these on or not

- Live Link To Twitter – Given the huge revolution that is twitter, it’s all linked in on here

- Mobile Updates – I plan to do with this new site, what I wanted to do with this one all along. Constant, regular updates. Originally the
process made this complicated, but I’ve managed to link in with my iPhone to allow for fast, regular updates on the go.

- Gallery – The gallery system remains unchanged in the respect that it uses piclens, however I have made it vastly easier to update, and created a single page instead of having to drill down. It makes it easier for me to add huge numbers of galleries if I so choose.

- Archive & Search Methods – The new WordPress system allows for a new archive and search system, allowing you to find just about anything

- Dedicated MOBILE site version – Due to popular demand the website will be available in a DEDICATED mobile version compatible with iPhone, Android & Blackberry platforms. It’s also available on other phones capable of viewing normal webpages.

There are a huge number of additional changes over on the site both for users and admins, however I think you will all be pleased. This has undergone extensive testing, and is being made as fast as it can possible be, and as complete as it can possibly be.

Althought I don’t plan on using it, I’ve also added support for advertising, just in case things start to go that way. It’s “Ready” in the sense of we can place banner adverts etc up if needed. There is a chance of a sponsership and partnership in return for some obligations on my behalf.

There have also been huge requests for downloadable content. Currently the site has the support for it, but I am working on some issues at the moment regardining the licence I am using, so it IS in the works, but just not quite ready for release.

So what happens now….

Over the next few days I will be setting the system up and getting ready to move it over, this includes one last build of the galleries, a few feature and design tweaks and the like. I will of course be filling it up so it is not compltley empty. Currently I feel we are 90% of the way ready for it to be released to the public.

In the next few days I will announce a data and time of the changeover. The site will be unavailable at that time, and will also be unavailable for a period of one hour before and afterwards. I will choose a time based on minimal site traffic history. You as users do not need to do ANYTHING. All you need to do is logon.

There will of course be an email address to report bugs to, but hopefully, you won’t need it.

Phew! I know that was a long post, but I hope you all had a chance to read it, and to get ready for the upcoming site!.

Thanks!

Due to the overwhelming number of responses for new features and galleries, the entire site will undergo a redesign, a beta of which, I am trialing in the system now. It’s proving tough to give you all what you want, but I’m hoping we can make this site far richer and far more dynamic.

The screenshot on the left is a preview of the new site (it’s not 100% finished and I’m still getting some bugs worked out) Click the thumbnail on the left for a preview (opens in a new window). I’ve been hard at work testing the best possible way of getting the site to work the way i wanted it to, and still retain at least some of the structure of this one. I think I’ve managed to get it, by using wordpress. No, it’s not a cop out, there are some very good reasons for this, but hopefully when and IF the site goes live, you’ll love it, and what you can do with it, especially as new server technologies, and developments in wordpress allow me to keep it updated on the go, which means far more updates.

Stay tuned for more information. And remember to put your survey responses in! Otherwise you might desperatley want a new feature, that doesent come to be….

Please let me apologise about the pop up however. It has now been removed to solve any further problems from the emails I’ve gotten.

So a list of things that are on the agenda
- Blog (So many people are asking for this, so I am busy working on getting a blog up and running)
- Banner Images (They need to be smaller, and thats the first things thats going to be changed after the survey closes)
- Galleries (They work on flash, but I am busy trying to find a cleaner and more up to date system thats easier for me to update)
- Wasted Space (So many of you have given me huge feedback and suggestions on how to better use the space on the pages. So there are some layout and organisation changes that will be coming)

I would also like to welcome, and personally thank Sean Nicholls who has joined me and answered a number of questions I have had about the blog function I’m trying to integrate into the site. Sean Nicholls is currently acting as a code consultant for me, and an assistant for the web design problems I’m facing, and so thank you, and I’d like everyone to extend a warm welcome to Sean.

I look foward to some more responses, and really hope to hear more of your fantastic suggestions and ideas.

This incarnation of the website has been up for almost two years now, and whilst it’s a far cry from the style I had when this site first started, it’s never been… what I want it to be. Right now it’s got some style, but it’s too sterile. The Text is based on arial, and is too soft for my likings. Plus this site only works on large monitors effectivley.

We also have the problem that the gallery is difficult to update. Adding one picture means recompiling the whole gallery and uploading it, in it’s entirety, over and over again. After seeing http://www.webdesignerdepot.com and their style, im now torn between updating this site or tweaking it and improving it. Hence why there havn’t been many updates latley.

Thats why I’m starting a new campaign. The last few months have seen a significant visitor increase, and so I want to make sure I’m creating the right impact, for customers, clients and browsers.

Thats why when you visit the site, a survey will pop up, which will take a few minuites to complete. It will help me understand exactly what you want to see, and what your overall impressions are of the site. As always you can provide your feedback by emailing admin@thelongmile.net

Hopefully we will have some Beta sites for you to test soon. We really want your feedback.

So please, take a moment to fill out the survey by clicking here. Make the change you want, happen.