It's been over a year since my last major redesign of this site, so you had to know it was coming. I am a tinkerer by nature and can sometimes find it hard to leave well enough alone. But in this case, I don't think it was well enough. Although MeXscape was really progressive when it launched in 2005, the features on this site had fallen woefully behind the web standards of today. So rather than continue to hack on the existing site to add stuff, I switched to a whole new code base and took the opportunity for yet another major redesign. It satisfies my need for change and is cheaper than redecorating the house.
The biggest change you will see is to the commenting system. You no longer need to create an account and be logged in to post a comment. You can also choose to be notified of additional comments. I asked Nancy, of Countdown to Mexico, to take the site for a test drive while it was still in the development stage. One of the things she recommended was adding a bit more explanation to the notify/do not notify choice. She is probably right, but I didn't like what adding the explanation did to the layout, so I left it out. If you see it appear in the next few weeks, you'll know the comment system wasn't as intuitive as I thought.
Also with the commenting system, you can now easily add links and pictures. You could before, but you had to use html code to do so. It's not quite so Secret Squirrel now. Just click on the button.
I also added some different ways to browse through past posts. The number of people who go back to the beginning and read it all in order is both astonishing and flattering. I added a Past Posts by Date option that will display all the posts in chronological order to make that easier. If you just want to see the most popular stuff, there's an option for that too. Just click on Past Posts by Popularity to get all posts in the order of the most popular on down. And you can still view Posts by Category if a particular topic interests you.
One of the hardest things has been the photo gallery. I am still trying to figure that out, so please be patient with me.
I decided to get rid on the event calendar and the classifieds. The event calendar was a lot of work that I just don't have tome for. Besides, Nancy maintains a great Mazatlan event calendar. This town doesn't need two. And there are plenty of other classified options around Mazatlan
The biggest achievement, for me at least, is we are finally almost done making the blog and the forum one site with one login. That should be completed in the next week.
Okay, you've had a tour of the new digs. What do you think? Post a comment in the super easy comment system or answer the poll at the right and let me know!
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|200.56.142.xxx |m-d-Y H:i:s AnonymousI just found a mal bug .
When you are on the forum
if you click on "Mexscape main site'
you get this
404 - Component not found (http://www.mexscape.net/index.html)
You may not be able to visit this page because of:
an out-of-date bookmark/favourite
a search engine that has an out-of-date listing for this site
a mistyped address
you have no access to this page
The requested resource was not found.
An error has occurred while processing your request.
Please try one of the following pages:
Home Page
If difficulties persist, please contact the System Administrator of this site.
Component not found (http://www.mexscape.net/index.html)
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|SAdministrator |m-d-Y H:i:s jennifer - ThanksAck! Thanks. I totally forgot to check the forum for dead links.
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|189.186.27.xxx |m-d-Y H:i:s NancyI love it, Jennifer. And I love that you have a palm tree in your header!
Everything functions really nicely and it just looks fresh and nice. I can almost smell the Fabuloso fumes from here. Nice and clean!
Congratulations, I had wondered what you had been up to...now I know.
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|SAdministrator |m-d-Y H:i:s jenniferThanks Nancy. When everyone who previewed the site said they missed the palm trees, I took the hint. Thanks for being my guinea pig.
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|71.176.141.xxx |m-d-Y H:i:s mattssandySo you wern't in your beach bag at all - you were being creative
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|65.161.188.xxx |m-d-Y H:i:s patmI was one who read from the beginning starting about 3 months ago and now check back often. I don't dislike the new site, but it seems more commercial and less personal. But if it makes it easier on you, then it's the right choice. And if it's more functional for visitors, then again it's a good thing. Actually the commercial quality of it reflects good on you since you are in the IT business. Maybe professional would be a better word to use than commercial. Yes, professional is the right descriptor.
Overcast 64 oF • 18 oC
it sure looks repainted
Hm