Last updated on October 5th, 2023 at 03:46 pm
My regular reader will know that the A Bit About Britain website has received a little makeover. Some things were not working as they should before, but they should do now. The site also looks a bit different, though it still contains most of the original rubbish. The Home Page, in particular, has been changed a great deal. I hope it showcases the range of drivel and information available, and that the way it is organised facilitates easy navigation.
Amazingly, the change (or ‘refurbishment’ as I like to call it) went relatively smoothly. All the trades were coordinated well and, despite some nervousness, there was minimal downtime. Of course, no plan survives contact with the enemy so, inevitably, some things don’t look quite right yet. I will work my way round those. The intention is to make further changes to the site in the months ahead.
Once I’ve completed the post-project snag list, I’ll get on with some new material. You’re not holding your breath, are you? Don’t.
Meanwhile, if you have 5 minutes, or need help getting to sleep, please have a bit of a digital rummage through the website. If you think something doesn’t work, please drop me an email via the contact page. Please do not put it in a public comment! Similarly, if you think something could be more betterer, let me know – yes, you’ve got it, via the contact page.
While I’m about it, apologies to any of the many excellent bloggers I follow, and who happen to be reading this, for not visiting their sites as often as I’d like to. It doesn’t mean you’re not loved.
Finally, some people previously got in touch to say that their comments had not appeared after they clicked ‘publish’. It is not necessary to follow A Bit About Britain to leave a comment after an article (though I really think people should, don’t you?). However, aside from technical reasons way above my paygrade, there are only 3 reasons why a comment will not show up:
- You are commenting for the first time using a particular IP address which hasn’t yet been approved;
- You have included a link in your comment;
- The comment is considered offensive, inappropriate, senseless, or is obviously some kind of spam.
In the case of 1 or 2, your comment is held until approval and should appear eventually. Links deemed inappropriate are removed. In the case of 3, please don’t do it again.
Thanks for reading and following.
All the best
Hi Mike – I’ve got your latest post … need to get to read it – but I’ll be there. I thought I might update mine, but being technically fairly useless, I decided to just keep plodding on – just happy to be around – writing, while also learning through others – cheers Hilary
Looks good!
Thanks, William!
I like the new look Mike.
Well done 🙂
All the best Jan
Thank you, Jan 🙂
Great to see you got help from those strange big rusty yellow pieces of machinery. I only seemed to see them parked by the sides of motorways and often blocking lanes. I thought they were just mysteriously and instantaneously moved around at some dark hour of the night at random times just to confuse us, so we see them in different locations the next day. But no! It seems they do actually have a function and some sort of means of being operated by real humans! I suppose through some kind of interface that involves levers, a wheel or two and pedals. Amazing!
What was that you said about comments being senseless ???
Nothing you say could be senseless, Old Chap. I was merely after a shot that suggested construction – dear old Pixabay – and I liked that one best.
I am eager to dig in and take a good look at the site. I like the blog page! And that had to be a massive job, so well done. Yours is always a favorite site to recommend and I’m so glad you keep it up and make it even better (if that’s possible!).
That’s very kind, Jeanie. I’ve actually got quite a lot to do, behind the scenes as it were, to make it work better. Still, I’m learning a lot!
It always feels good to give a little glow-up to a site 🙂 Your site is looking nice! 🙂
Thanks. I like the term ‘glow-up’; very descriptive!
Thanks for the update, Mike.
No problem, Jennie.
The website is looking good. I hope it is now free of glitches
Oh, so do I, Derrick!!
It looks pretty. I find it tricky to read text that stretches the width of my laptop screen. My advancing years mean that I get lost easily. Perhaps I should give it a go on the phone.
Yes, it’s much easier to read on the phone and it looks equally pretty.
Thanks, April. Really appreciate you taking the trouble 🙂
It’s good!
But I wonder who “the enemy” is in this case.
In project terms, it could be the client, their staff, or external interference. Or anything that could not reasonably be foreseen. In this case, that’s what I meant, because it was way outside my comfort zone!
I have recently encounterd the link in a comment problem (on many platforms). I find the immediate deletion a little irritating, especially when the link is to some research that I have done and written about that compliments the post I am commenting on.
Copying and pasting and adding photos is not the best way to share something in a comments section.
Ah – it’s my choice to hold comments containing links until I have approved them. It avoids spam and irrelevant links. Acceptable links are edited to open in a new window – just good practice to do that, so the person looking does not leave your site.
Do you ever sleep Mike? You’ve done a magnificent job from what I’ve seen so far, obviously your 17 staff have been very busy. What’ s that you say? No staff? Well, all I can say is bugger me, well done indeed!
Website redesign doth murder sleep, Peter – the innocent sleep,
Sleep that knits up the ravell’d sleave of care,
The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course, chief nourisher in life’s feast.
I dare not comment on this. I know what happens to those who do!
It looks good.
Thank you!
Looks good. I might also do a little more tinkering myself.
Can’t beat a little more tinkering…
Looking good
Thanks, Joanne!
Excellent work Mike.
Cheers, Colin!
The new look is fabulous! Well done.
Thank you, Darlene!
I’m surprised any of our sites are working with the amount of tinkering the WPeeps are doing! Anyway, yours looks grand and all the stuff in the menus seem to be working too.
Thanks, Fraggle. I don’t know about the tinkering – apart from block editor, which looks nice but is a pain in the backside to edit.
Looking good Mike. It’s refreshing, informative, easy to follow – and it’s not even finished yet. Great stuff.
It’ll be nice when it’s finished, Malc. Rather like London in that respect.
As far as I’m concerned Mike, London is already finished.
Sad to hear that, Malc 🙂
Sad but true Mike. People laugh at me when I say it, but I think we should have a new capital based in the Midlands where the country can be run in a way that would be more representative of our nation. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always enjoyed visiting London. It’s a fantastic place – or at least it was.
I can’t imagine that anywhere would truly represent the whole of any nation. London is the traditional powerhouse and totally unlike any other part of the UK and I’m happy with that and, honestly, don’t see that it matters. What does matter is that wealth and opportunity is spread more evenly.
The site looks great, Mike, well done!
Appreciate that, John!
You’re welcome!
I like the new look Mike
Thank you, Tanya!