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About two weeks ago, I decided to completely overhaul the story of New England Online. I believe that they mark the most significant changes to the site since it was first published in 2004. Therefore, I have decided to wipe the slate and freeze version 3.1 of the site. Things will now start at new version, 3.2.
- Increase the population from 2.4 million to 3.3 million. New England will now have about the same area and population as Lithuania.
- A redistribution of the population, with Port Macquarie and CoffsHarbour becoming the largest cities, and Greater Armidale, including Uralla and Guyra, reduced to about 350,000 people
- Introduction of an upper house of parliament, the Senate. This new chamber will have 40 members.
- The House of Assembly is reduced to 76 members.
- The Witan is now moved to a more suitable location as a constitutional convention only.
- Changes to the electoral system, with IRV used for the House, and STV for the Senate. This is essentially the same system used in Australia at the moment.
- Introduction of a new local authority, the City of Port Macquarie.
I believe these changes are pretty significant, and they have to be done now before the site becomes more popular and therefore will need to settle on a consistent storyline. In a perfect world, I want this penchant for radical change finished in time for the production of version 4.0, although even I admit that version is still a fair way off.
That is not the case with version 3.2. I’m now embarking on a mission to have it done by Easter (23rd March). As for version 3.1, it will be frozen, copied and archived. If version 3.2 fails to work out, or if there is some use for it in the future, it will be here just like version 3.0.6 is when I replaced it last year.
Late yesterday afternoon, I created the 500th page of New England Online. The page’s subject was SH Smith House. This marks a pretty significant milestone for the website, and i’m really happy the site has grown so quickly and so easily these last few years.
Ahead lie some more challenges and some of those big changes I have been promising. But the biggest change will be in the way the storyline is handled. Up until now I have placed pages into a category of complete or incomplete, with content that was incomplete supposedly prone change at any time. A recent wave of changes through the site affected whole sections, so this dichotomy was a flawed way of looking things. From now on, the version of the website will determine it’s completeness, and I am hoping to make version 4 a stable copy that will endure for the rest of time.
Some Stats:
Pages: 502
Images: 1,021
Page Hits (Jan 08 MTD): 1,439
After much promising to me and others, new version of New England Online, version 3.1, will be going online real soon now. This new version will be the culmination of six months work in developing a new site template, removing some incomplete text and generally cleaning up the site and story to bring it more into line with
What’s New?
Names - Many of the characters have been renamed or reassigned a photo. This was done for clarity and to allow for more than one photo of the character to be put to use. For the most part, this has not led to a major change in the character’s personality or role.
Storylines – Many of the storylines of the site were out of date, unrealistic or inconsistent with the overall story of New England Online. Many of these have already been changed, and as the site progresses on toward version 3.2, these changes will continue to be written in.
Site Template – The look and feel of New England Online has been unchanged since version 3.0 went online in September 2004. It was time for change, and that has finally come to pass. The site is (I hope) cleaner, more attractive and more colourful.
Having discontinued the use of a personal blog, I have decided to write occassional comments relating to New England Online alone. From now on, you will be able to see when updates are made, and where the site is heading. Comments, as always, will be most welcome.
I want to give those folks who enjoy the website a better idea what goes into making it all happen. You should also get a better idea about the genesis of new page and what happens along the way to publication.
Welcome, and I hope you enjoy it.
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