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10.21.2007

Welcome To The New Vinography.Com

It's been a long road to get here. Like remodeling a house, the only thing you can count on is that things will take twice as long and be twice as difficult as you expected. From strange issues with the latest version of my blogging software to server crashes with my ISP, it seems like everything conspired against me for the last two weeks to get the new version of the site up.

But at last, it's here. And for those of you familiar with the site, you'll notice some differences in how it is organized, as well as some differences in the way that you interact with Vinography.

It's a difficult process to migrate not only from one design to another but also go through a major blogging software upgrade at the same time, and as as result there are some changes and improvements that regular readers should be aware of.

COMMENT NOTIFICATIONS HAVE BEEN RESET
I know many of you have been using the "notify me of follow-up comments" feature of the site for over a year. That feature still exists, but in the migration to the new site software, all your previous "subscriptions" to such follow-up comments have been reset. So you will not receive e-mails with follow-up comments unless you subscribe to those posts again. You are welcome to do so by simply leaving a comment with the text "I want comment notifications" and checking the box to sign up for notifications again.

LOST IN THE SHUFFLE
I think it's inevitable that a couple of the most recent comments may have been lost in the shuffle. The transition to the new site was not instantaneous, and so I've probably missed some. I'm very sorry about that, and if you see one missing, please consider resubmitting it. Likewise, there may be a couple of you who signed up to be on my mailing list just before I moved the site over, and slipped through the cracks. If you're not getting my weekly updates then that's probably the case. Please us the registration form on the home page to re-subscribe.

SOME FUNKY TEXT
You'll probably see some funky symbols peppered into the text occasionally, especially on older posts. This is because of differences in the way that the new version of MovableType handles special characters like the accent on the end of the word "rose." I'm trying to figure out some automated way of fixing this problem, in the meantime, please bear with me.

CAPTCHAs
There will be one small extra step for users wishing to leave comments on the site, and that is a CAPTCHA image, where you are asked to enter the letters shown in an image. This is used to prevent automated programs from placing spam comments on the site. Many of you probably didn't know this, but Vinography receives over 2000 such spam comments every day. My blogging software has a filter that catches 98% of them, and now this CAPTCHA requirement should get rid of the other 2%.

IMPROVED SEARCH
One of the things that the upgrade to Movable Type 4.0 gave me was an improved search engine for the site. It will run faster and return better results for you.

BETTER CROSS PLATFORM COMPATIBILITY
The new design also features much better browser compatibility across platforms. The dropdown menus in the previous design were funky at best for certain operating system and browser combinations. I think you'll find the site much easier to use, especially if you're on a Mac.

CUTE LITTLE THINGS
One of the best things about a total redesign are the little touches that can be added. Readers now have the ability to control the text size on the page (the site will remember your last setting, so you can always read the site at a text size that suits you). I've also added controls to make browsing through my list of wine blogs and recommended books a bit easier.

MORE TO COME
Now that the new design is up and running, I'll be rolling out some new features, new pages, and more in the coming month or two, so stay tuned, and as always, thank you for your patience and your readership.

Posted by: Alder on October 21, 2007 3:08 PM: Share this post elsewhere Digg it! - Add to del.icio.us - Add to Stumbleupon - Add to Reddit; Filed under: Ramblings and Rants

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Comments (29)

Jack wrote:

10.21.07 at 6:34 PM

Nice, shiny, new paint. But I'm not getting that new car smell.

Jeff wrote:

10.21.07 at 8:14 PM

Alder,

Congrats on the overall. Nice, clean aesthetic and color palette!

Jeff

Pamela wrote:

10.21.07 at 8:51 PM

Bravo! The site looks great. Nice improvements Alder.

Ian wrote:

10.21.07 at 10:41 PM

It does look great and is very well executed.

J. Gómez Pallarès wrote:

10.21.07 at 11:53 PM

Congratulations, Alder, it has been a long way, sure, but a succesful one too!!!
I like the new tipography of your "new" blog, fresh, easy to be read.
Cheers!
Joan

Fiorenzo wrote:

10.22.07 at 3:48 AM

Oh yes I like it :)

doug wrote:

10.22.07 at 8:19 AM

Sleek, glossy, professional - awaiting wine stains.

Kimberly Charles wrote:

10.22.07 at 9:35 AM

Congrats Alder, love the org and the backdrop, from one of your infamous black books!
You had bugs due to mercury retrograde...:)

Sobre Vino wrote:

10.22.07 at 12:18 PM

Congratulations, Alder. I think it's a nice and clean design. The link font color looks similar to what I too chose for my new design.

Regards,

Sobre Vino

swirlingnotions wrote:

10.22.07 at 1:23 PM

Very nice, Alder. Congrats!

Josh wrote:

10.22.07 at 2:26 PM

Digging it!

Did you always have captchas for comments or are they new? I have to say, I hate them. But otherwise, great new look.

Alder wrote:

10.22.07 at 2:34 PM

Josh,

Glad you like the site. The CAPTCHAs are new, but trust me, 100% necessary. I literally get thousands and thousands of spam comments each day. And even the 2-5% that my filtering software did not catch required me to spend way more time than I wanted deleting them from the site

TrevR wrote:

10.22.07 at 2:53 PM

Good stuff Alder, very nice. Congrats!

Courtney Cochran wrote:

10.22.07 at 4:41 PM

Terrific! Congrats on seeing the redesign through. Was worth it ;)

Sonadora wrote:

10.23.07 at 10:40 AM

The new digs look great! Love the color scheme and the organization.

Gretchen wrote:

10.23.07 at 4:42 PM

Congrats on the redesign, Alder! It looks great!

Vinos de Ronda wrote:

10.24.07 at 10:30 AM

Congratulations on the site, everything is now better organized and more pleasant reading

Lizzy wrote:

10.24.07 at 12:04 PM

Well done, Alder, it's fine so!

Lizzy

Cassandra Johnson wrote:

10.24.07 at 9:41 PM

I love the new design, it's fantastic. I know how hard redoing a site can be, so congrats!

Cass

el jefe wrote:

10.24.07 at 11:13 PM

Well, I dunno..... OK, I do - I really like it! Near Sighted Guy especially likes the type size feature!

Fabrizio wrote:

10.25.07 at 12:38 AM

Love the new look! Great work Alder.

docrpm wrote:

10.28.07 at 10:01 PM

looks great! i'll have to pick your brain for your experiences upgrading to MT4. i've been dragging my feet about that update for months.

Ron wrote:

10.28.07 at 10:32 PM

It is hard to change.....try drinking with just your left hand, or wearing your watch on the opposite arm and you will see we are used to doing thing a certain way. I like the look and fell of this but the old one was familiar like an old pair of jeans....with wine stains. Here is to change.....

Golly wrote:

10.29.07 at 10:00 AM

Very swish! I really like it, well done.

Tim McDonald wrote:

10.29.07 at 10:01 AM

Nicely done Alder! Although I am an old dog that dislikes change and then as I adapt I love it...Cheers to you as I love it and it did not take that long to embrace. Kudos, TMcD

Jathan wrote:

10.31.07 at 9:25 AM

I was wondering when you were going to get to this...welcome to Web 2.0!

:o)

(I'm just jealous.)

Amy wrote:

10.31.07 at 11:05 AM

Love the new setup. Some great new features. If you have the time,I'd love to be added to your blog roll. Ive added your site to mine so my readers can check it out

Elise wrote:

11.30.07 at 10:22 PM

Looks lovely Alder. Fast too. Upgrading to MT4 is next on my list of things to do. Glad to see it working so well for you.

Robert wrote:

05.21.09 at 1:31 PM

Looks great and I love the colors too. From a usibility stand point the layout is well introuduced and it is easy to find the information you are looking for.