06 – Changes to the site

As forewarned in News Item 04, I have started work on simplifying the site, replacing Stirnet Histories with a section that is more supportive of what is the main purpose of the site: the support of Genealogical Research. I am sad to do so, for it means that I am giving-up my dreams of making a contribution to the study of Social History, but for a while it has been inevitable that I should do so That is because I have simply not had the time (or energy) to work on it in the way that was needed to do it justice. The good news to get from this is that it improves the already strong probability that I will be able to keep working on the Families Database for many years to come. It also means that it will be more 'commercial' and less 'personal' than if I had diluted its focus on Genealogy and so it should be easier (than it would have been) to ensure that someone else will take over the work on the Families Database when I eventually retire from it. This exercise may take a little while to complete but I see no reason why it should not be done before the end of this year (2015).

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05 – Milestone passed!

I have passed the milestone of 5,000 data pages in Section III of the Families Database - and that excludes the many pages that have Draft or Temporary status and so have not yet been released 'properly' into the database. Section III, on British (and Irish) families from medieval to modern times, forms the core of the Families Database and so is the core of this whole site. Consequently, passing a large round number like 5,000 is significant to me. Wish me luck for the next 1,000!

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04 – Major changes coming to the site

This News Release replaces one I had released on 12th August. I thought it better to do a straight-forward replacement rather than prepare an additional new release as otherwise it might be confusing, given that my plans for the site have changed since August.

I had hoped that the structure of the new version of the site, that was launched in March, would make it easier for me to develop the Histories side of the site. I had thought that keeping the bones of the previous structure, but turning it into having a blog format, would be enough to enable me to get stuck into it properly. However, I have found that the new structure, whilst more supportive of my style & approach than the old structure was, is still not right for me. After a bit more thought, this time without the distraction of having to prepare for the relaunch at the same time, and having had more time to reflect on what I really want to do with my semi-retirement, I have decided to simplify things much further. The result is as follows.

1. The ambition I had to make Stirnet Histories a blog on Social & Political History, which was already a big step down from the previous ambition of it being a Library of articles, is to be scrapped altogether. The link to (Stirnet) Histories, that is presently shown near the top of every page, will be replaced by one to Extra Content. That part of the site...

03 – Review of the launch

It is over four months since the site was relaunched so it is time I reviewed how it has gone. The main thing is that the site settled down very quickly and seems to be working OK. However, one of the secondary but hoped-for aims of the relaunch (facilitation of the development of the STIRNET HISTORIES side of the site) has not been as successful as I had hoped - this being a problem with the structure of the Content rather than a problem with the programming - so I shall be soon be making some major changes to STIRNET HISTORIES. Fortunately, these proposed changes should be relatively easy to process because the way that the site has been structured (using WordPress) is flexible & accommodating on such things. Indeed, that I can consider doing such a thing is a testament to the flexibility & power of the WordPress system that we are now using.

 

Thursday, 6th March 2014, was ... »

... a special day for me. The day before I had travelled across from Herefordshire (where I live) to South London, where my eldest son Rob lives. It was Rob who built this site for me. [See History of the site. Rob's own site is at robbg.co.uk]. We had a Japanese takeaway (delivered) in the evening - quite exotic for someone who lives in rural England! On Thursday we sorted out the final preparations in the morning, went out to a nearby Brazilian restaurant...

02 Launch of the site

I am delighted to confirm the obvious: We have launched the new version of this site! I think the site was down for only about 42 minutes, from about 3.07 pm to about 3.49 pm (UK time), so that was not too bad. Nevertheless, in case it caused any inconvenience to any Member, I have extended all subscription periods that were current at the beginning of today by 2 to 3 days (the exact amount depending on the time of day your current period would have expired).

I hope you like the new site and will find it even easier to use than the previous version. You are very welcome to look around it. If you have any queries about the site, please look first at the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) section where I have tried to anticipate all likely quesions. If you experience any problems, please first check the Troubleshooting page to see if I have already covered the point there. If I have not covered the matter already then please do report it to me (it will probably help if you identify what browser you are using) and we will investigate it promptly.

I think we managed to transfer across all Registered Users and their Usernames & Passwords OK. If you have any problems with logging-in do let me know but please first try the 'Forgotten your password? facility.

I suggest that, to get the most/best from this site and even if you knew our previous version(s) of the...