History of Structural Changes to this Web Site

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Jan 2023

  • Ads made my blogs ugly and confusing. I now insert a single Google and/or Amazon ad at the very end of the blog as directed by .commands in the blog or global settings in Config.

Dec 2022

  • Added a Description field to Places so I can create places with a detailed description before a planned trip. Then in my blogs when I visit a place I have a command to pull info from the Place into the blog including the description. Makes creating a Blog much quicker each day.
  • Got rid of my previous software to handle visiting the same Place more than once and having it in a Blog. I have a new scheme that is easier and simpler to use.
  • At some point this year I starting displaying any photo with GPS coordinates on a map. Had to do some clustering so I did not overwhelm the map. As the user zooms in closer, I display more photos in more locations.
  • Added the ability to select a person's name from a list and display all photos of that person on a map (if the photo has GPS coordinates).
  • I figured out how to display KML tracks on my Google Map. Oregon Trail, California Trail, Pony Express, etc.
  • A "zoom in animation" on my Google map for any location. Will look great in my YouTube videos.

Jan 2021

  • All maps now have a link to download a GPX file of the place icons shown on the map. The GPX file can be uploaded to any GPS. For Garmin units, use their BaseCamp software.

Apr 2020

  • Moved all PHP outside document root for better security.
  • Everything goes thru a URL router now except JS/CSS/Images
  • Preparing to be able to run multiple domains thru the same code base

Feb 2020

  • Using more objects for things like Places.
  • More objects can now return their data as json
  • Removed file caching for photos and mapping data. Now only cache menu and blogs.
  • Using more objects to retrieve DB data and return via json instead of stand alone SQL.
  • Removed complicated SQL/code to retrieve all subjects/tags/counts/etc for all photos in a subgroup when the first photo is viewed. Instead get that data as each photo is viewed. A few more DB hits but much cleaner and easier to understand and modify. The DB hits are not an issue.
  • Many updates to blog software mainly around Places and automatically building links to connect Places in a blog to a list of Places of the same type and to a map showing Places of the same type. There are now links in the blog, list of places and the map overlays so the user can easily get from one UI to another via the links.
  • I now have the ability to visit the same Place on a multiple trips (and write multiple blogs) and have the blogs, lists and maps all automatically contain links to all the blogs for that place.

Aug 2019

  • Accepted that mobile is now my largest audience. I removed the sidebar from my blogs, made the images larger and narrowed the width of the text to remove distractions from my blog.
  • Removing the blog sidebar allowed me to remove the video overlay. I now play video on the blog page instead of in an overlay.
  • Now have a better footer with some popular links.
  • Earlier this year I tweaked the weather/distance/start/stop info at the top of my blogs to use a different weather provider and added some icons based on the weather.

Jun 2018

  • Handle Trackpoints better. Two tables, one with a reduced set of trackpoints when displaying about zoom 10 or further out. The normal table is used for larger zooms. This reduces the SQL query time significantly
  • Uploading tracklogs now accepts GPX files instead of tab delimited files. This allows me to upload GPX tracklogs created by an app on my iPhone that is almost as good as my Garmin Nuvi and has trackpoints less than 1 minute apart unlike the real time tracking app that sends a trackpoint every 10 minutes.

Jan 2018

  • Bootstrap 4
  • Created common classes for things like Button, Form, Image, Video, etc to concentrate Bootstrap stuff in a few places to make the next major upgrade easier. It took a while to find all the Bootstrap classes I had scattered throughout the code
  • I think I finally got time zones figured out with regard to my blog and track logs.
  • I can now get the weather for any date in the past to integrate with my travel blogs using weather underground
  • Tweaked the blog format to be cleaner and the lead in image now takes the full width of the blog.
  • All images resized so the browser will not have to resize them when viewing my website in landscape mode on an iPad. Meaning everything is optimized for tablet size screens or smaller.
  • Full size images are now stored no larger than 2048x2048 after my hosting company complained about the space I was using

Jul 2017

  • Use Google Charts to display elevation changes during a day of trackpoints on my Google Maps.
  • Finally using json_encode.

Aug 2016

  • Changed Blog menu structure to use Categories and SubCategories instead of dates. Dates don't really make sense for a Blog of various topics. This means I also don't have to maintain a menu structure based on dates. The menu is built automatically based on the Categories and SubCategories.
  • This change also flattens the menu structure a little so it is not so intimidating.
  • Moved the Travel menu under About. I don't think it is a popular item. It is mostly for my enjoyment and that also simplifies the top menu. I am trying to understand my visitors better and direct them to the content they want to view.
  • Changed homepage. My visitors don't care about photos of my boys.

Jan 2016

  • Changed to URL routing. The URL no longer refers to a physical file. A router class parses the URL and determines how to build the page.
  • The URL has a consistent format and should be more search engine friendly.
  • Now have a 301 redirect strategy for old URLs. I also can change the title on pages and that will automatically cause a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new URL (title is part of the URL).
  • I think I finally have a good scheme for bread crumbs and previous/next navigation.
  • Using windows.replaceState to update URL with PhotoNumbers during AJAX calls. No longer need the Direct Link on every photo page.

Jul 2015

  • Got rid of most text based URLs and now use ids.
  • I now have a much better way to display places like waterfalls, lighthouses, etc on a Google Map.
  • The cemetery headstone data is now just another type of subject record so users can now search for people by first or last names across my entire site. Headstone data is no longer separate.
  • Cemeteries are no longer part of the menu. They get their own page with easier ways to find and view data.
  • Storage and display of GPS tracklogs changed. There is more detail at high zoom values and hopefully low zoom values with lots of GPS points are handled more efficiently now.

Feb 2015

  • I was not satisfied with my changes last Fall to be more mobile friendly. I have decided to use the Twitter Bootstrap framework.
  • The entire site has been reworked to have a simpler UI and look nice on smartphones, tablets and desktops.
  • The photos still respond to swipes on touch enabled devices and the slide show remains.

Oct 2014

  • Major changes to entire site to be more mobile friendly using responsive website design.
  • The page layout, content, menus and icons change depending on the width of the device viewing the website.
  • A lot of work around viewing photos. I now have a photo viewer that responds to touch inputs

Jan 2014

  • Facebook Share button on photos and blogs.
  • Reworked comments code to be more robust and object oriented.
  • Track social media sharing.

Nov 2013

  • Major renaming of the photo groupings to make them simpler.
  • I now can use a shorted URL to reference any photo. Changed the comment system to use the shortened URL. This allows me to change the photo grouping names with no impact to the old comments. The grouping names were previously part of the URL stored for comments.

Jul 2013

  • I no longer make changes on my PC and then sync them with this site. All content and photo data is now managed by software on the site.
  • Changed how indexing by name is handled for all photos to be less confusing for a user.
  • Can now put my Google Map code in Blogs.
  • Can play video in photo overlay on Google Maps.

Nov 2012

  • New DB table and code to track significant changes to photos, tags, subjects and blogs.
  • Large reduction in number of SQL queries to the DB by using temp tables and more complex SQL.

29 Jul 2012

  • I can now reply to comments and they will appear under the comment and also the reply will be emailed to the person that left the comment.

25 May 2012

  • Major simplification of content. Other than photos, most of my content is now stored in a database and presented to the user with common code. This makes the number of files on my site smaller and the site is easier to maintain and secure.

17 May 12

  • My site was hacked this week. They got in through an old version of Wordpress I had not updated in a while. They did no real harm. But they left their software on my site. I modified it to remove their access and then gave it a try. I was amazed at what the software could do. They had free access to everything on my site. They did no real harm, I keep nothing of value on my site and I keep all the content backed up on my PC so there was no risk. But I learned a few things about security this week.
  • I decided to NOT reinstall Wordpress. I used my existing home baked software to create my own blog. I rarely blog so my needs are simple.

01 January 12

  • Added counts to Tags as well as people's names.
  • Major database/code cleanup for efficiency. When I moved the site to a database a few years ago I was learning as I went. I understand this stuff much better now and reworked things.

06 November 11

  • Made people's names clickable to view all photos of that person.
  • Added total photo counts to people's names.

06 November 11

  • Counter to keep track of and display photo view counts.
  • Added tags display to all photos and the ability to click one and open a new window/tab with photos with those tags.
  • Moved people, tags, and photo description to the left side under the thumbnails.

14 August 11

  • Many photos: my wedding, summer trip to Nevada.
  • Removed forum as no one vists now with the pouplarity of Facebook.
  • Added Travel main menu to display tracklogs, campgrounds and selected photos from our travels.
  • Now using CSS3 for some visual effects such as shadows around images.
  • New menu structure with drop down menus from the top.

04 August 10

  • Superbowl, Tkach-Vaughan Wedding and summer trip to Maine photos
  • Under About Me, updated the Places I Have Traveled page with Maine campgrounds
  • In the spring I started generating all photo menus from the online database
  • Around summer I started generating most of the photos and thumbnails on the website using ImageMagick on the server

15 January 10

  • Photos from the holidays and trip to New York City.

31 August 09

  • Photos from my one week NC mountain vacation, Greg and Donna's July 4 party and an August day at Topsaid Beach

3 May 09

  • New 3D buttons on the top and water mellon summer color theme.
  • Change how I handle webcams on the front page because of bugs in the new Internet Explorer 8

24 Apr 09

  • Minor stuff, more blue icons with tooltip balloon help and camera shooting information for the random photos on the front page by hovering the mouse over the camera icon.

2 Apr 09

  • There are several new cemeteries in the Genealogy section.
  • I now have all the cemeteries pinned on a Google Map which makes it easy to find a cemetery if you know roughly where it is located.

17 Mar 09

  • All thumbnails are now square with no black bands. They look neater.
  • Changed the photo display code slightly.
  • For the random photo on the main page and photo tags, I now have a one line description that is usually where the photo was taken.
  • Under the About Me tab is a menu item for Google Mapped Photos. This is pretty neat. I have photos of various places across the country pinned to a Google Map.
  • In Genealogy it is much easier to navigate. I have also added a Master Index menu item to tie most of my data together in one place.

15 Feb 09

  • I have started blogging.
  • Cleaning up the genealogy area a little and installing the latest version of phpGedView software for the "database" link in Genealogy
  • I am playing around with Google Analytics to determine how my website is being used and also playing around with Google Ads

11 Jan 09

  • When viewing photos you now have an extra checkbox to display larger versions of the photos (about twice as big)

19 Dec 08

  • 4 months of personal photos under 2008 Misc and 2008 Shelton Vineyard.

30 Nov 08

  • Changed all html pages to php pages so I can do more neat tricks with server side scripting.
  • More personal photos coming soon.

29 Jul 08

  • Smoky Mountains, Susie Deck and Misc photos
  • Photos by tags on the front page
  • Major clean up of html, javascript and CSS code. Not much change to user, but I added drop shadows on the photos and tooltips.

9 Apr 08

  • Spring Color Theme

31 Mar 08

  • Outer Banks Photos under 2000-2009 Travel
  • Misc and Yates Mill Photos under 2000-2009 Misc, then 2008 Misc

15 Jan 08

  • Winter color scheme
  • Personal holiday photos
  • Some more web cams

01 Dec 07

  • Christmas color scheme

06 Nov 07

  • Thanksgiving/Autumn color scheme

15 Oct 07

  • Personal photos of 30th high school reunion, Shelton Vineyard

9 Oct 07

  • New October theme
  • Recent changes column on the front page

10 Sep 07

  • My web cams are now under Fun

05 Sep 07

  • Fannin Cemetery at Crockett, KY added in Genealogy
  • Some additions in the Fun Stuff area

30 Aug 07

  • Added a few more web cams to the front page. Put my personal web cams back online.
  • Updated the travel section. More to come later.
  • Added comments ability to almost every page. Can also view on one page every comment left on every page on the entire site.

Aug 2007

  • I am changing the look and feel of my site over the next few weeks. It is just time for a change
  • All the photos will eventually be changed to load faster and will integrate with Google Maps where the photo has GPS information
  • I plan to clean up some of the pages to make them consistent and the there are some pages that no longer work that need to be fixed
  • There are several new groups of photos, ski trip to NM, summer trip to Death Valley, local camping trips, June church meeting in KY

Sep/Oct 2006

  • Photos from the funeral of my Grand Father in personal photos
  • Some camping photos in personal photos

Aug 2006

I photographed a few more cemeteries in eastern Morgan Co.

  • Hill Cemetery in Hogg Branch, Smith Creek, Morgan Co., KY
  • Elisha Smith Cemetery, Smith Creek, Morgan Co., KY
  • Dulen Cemetery, Upper Sandlick, Morgan Co., KY
  • Blanton Cemetery, Dingus, Road 437, Morgan Co., KY
  • Williams Cemetery, not sure of name, Road 437, Morgan Co., KY

July 2006

  • About 250 photos of people have been added to the Genealogy section
  • Several cemeteries have been added to the Genealogy section
  • Staver Smith, White Oak Branch, Morgan County, Ky
  • Mary Pack, Smith Creek Hill, Morgan County, Ky
  • Lige Cantrell, Upper Sandlick, Morgan County, Ky
  • Bradley, at Earl Bradly homeplace
  • Bradley, at Union Enterprise Church
  • Williams, beside road 437
  • Coldiron, got the ones I skipped before
  • Samuel Wright, got the ones I skipped before
  • Smith, on Middle Fork, near Smith Creek, Morgan County
  • Jacobs, Lucasville, OH, General Farmer Daniel, Victoria Mary Bond and children
  • Lucasville, OH, Morgan Tennessee Daniel, son of General Farmer Daniel
  • Some personal photos of the June meeting in KY