New website - Dec 2012

12/06/2012 - Merry Christmas all! On or about December 25th, I will be taking down the old version of the family website and releasing a rebuilt version on Google Sites. The software I used to build the old site (FrontPage) is no longer viable on modern versions of Windows and I had to do something if I was to continue to maintain the site. At least for now, the content on the new site is simply a mirror of the old. In going through the migration process, it became painfully obvious how incomplete and out of date a lot of the content is. With your cooperation, I would hope to gradually get it back up to speed. So please, first of all, check your phone numbers and other vitals. Fill in the blanks on your page. Tell me about your children. Where are they? What contact information can you share with me, etc. Then send in some new photos. Under the hood, this new site should be easier to update so hopefully I can keep up with the torrent of information I am about to receive.

Probably the first difference you will notice on this new site is improved navigation. Like the LLC website, you have a sidebar which is always visible no matter where you are on the site. In addition, there is a horizontal navigation bar similar to many of the websites you use today.

This "What's new" section is also new. I will post announcements of future website changes in this section. I strongly encourage you to subscribe to the RSS feed for this page (see the link on the home page) so you will receive notice of changes. If you don't have a dedicated news reader like Google Reader, your (modern) browser probably has the ability to do RSS feeds. I will leave the old News/Notices and Recent Changes sections intact on the home page for a few more months for your reference but all new updates will be announced here.

Another feature of this new site is the ability to view it on mobile devices. The left Nav Bar is initially compressed so that you can view content. Expand it with a tap to view the navigation matrix, tap it again to re-hide it. Check it out on your mobile device to see what I mean.

As usual, if you see any glitches on this new site or have suggestions for improvements, please let me know. Another plus for Google Sites is that this can be a cooperative website. Management of the site is not restricted to the webmaster. You can become a "collaborator" and assist me with site maintenance. Volunteers? Eventually (when I get it figured out), I hope to be able to give each of you "edit" permission for your own web page so you can make your own updates.

In working on this new site, it did occur to me that maybe you don't really need (or want) such a resource. I would appreciate your candid advice on this matter.

Love to all,

Mike