Please do not adjust your sets

Filed in Blog by on May 15, 2009 10 Comments
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Maintenance mode

Please do not adjust your sets. We are doing some major updates on MyZeroWaste

Over the next few days we will be carrying out some routine maintenance and site improvements. Unfortunately, you may be unable to access the site during these times, but it will only last for an hour or so during each session.For the past months we have listened to your ideas about how the website is run and one of the key features you have suggested is a place where newcomers can easily get to the ABC of recycling. We have amassed many posts here and visiting the site for the first time only displays latest articles and comments. This will change, so that it is easy to find essential sections for beginners, the more adventurous and the really keen recyler.

Site performance

We know our website is slow, especially for those not on a broadband connection. This is bad for us as well as our visitors, as we have to wade through admin pages even to make small edits. We plan to move servers as a soon as possible to improve the performance issues. Unfortunately, this won’t happen in the next few days, as the next level of server options are expensive.

Site features

We are interested in your ideas… What are the most essential things you need when you visit our site?

  • Clear navigation
  • Fast pages
  • Simple and easy structure

Those are our main criteria, but what about those extras?

  • email comment notification (do you use it?)
  • RSS feeds (do you use it?)
  • Search feature (do you use it?)
  • My History (do you use it?)
  • Following related content links (are they useful?)

What else makes MyZeroWaste, enjoyable and useful?

There are some major changes ahead for us and if you have any thoughts and ideas, please drop a comment in below.

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Comments (10)

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  1. John Costigane says:

    Hi Mr Green,

    As a regular poster, I find using Discussions is the quickest way to find a topic of interest. Adding to the other comments is then a positive.

    Every day topics are standard and a lot of useful ideas emerge there.

    The website is sure to grow with time so a bigger server will be required at some time. Others may wish to contribute to what is the main Zero Waste contact. Have you given some thought to a Zero Waste association?

  2. I have a link on my own blog so can easily click through if any new topic is added.

    I also like the email notify me updates after I have made acomment.

    I also use the discussions whilst I am in the site, and do follow links sometimes back when they are included in topic posts.

    HTH

  3. zero says:

    Thank-you John and Maizie for your comments. The first part of our maintenance upgrads is now done… you won’t see and changes here as it was all technical stuff round the back-end…, so to speak.
    @John Costigane:

    John C.As a regular poster, I find using Discussions is the quickest way to find a topic of interest. Adding to the other comments is then a positive.

    Thanks John, let us assure you we are going to keep that feature and possibly expand the “interactive” features even more. We know that one of our key points is maintaining a friendly accessible atmosphere on the site. That includes letting our users have their say and contributing easily.

    @maisie dalziel: Hi Maisie, so I guess you are using RSS feeds? Email notifications to responding comments will stay as this encourages people to come back. Have you been able to stop your notifications easily if you want? We are also going to improve the Related Posts section, so that you can go on to read items that are similar to what you have already read.

    Thanks for your feedback so far!

  4. clean and simple, just the way i like it, thanks for caring .

  5. I haven’t used the RSS feeds feature, just put a link on my own blog which i click onto (this also shows when your sit has updated)

    I like the new look.

    Will have fun “playing” with the new site.

  6. Mr Green says:

    @nadine sellers: Thanks nadine. Clean and simple IS the way to go. Ultimately, people want that, once all the novelty wears off.
    @maisie dalziel: Glad you like the new site Maisie. Let us know if something looks amiss, or unclear.

  7. Only thing I’ve just noticed is that when you look at the recent comments there now isn’t a click to “more recent discussions” as there was on the old site.

    I did use that quite often.

  8. Mr. Green says:

    @maisie dalziel: Thanks Maisie, we spotted that also and it should be fixed now! Thanks for the pickup tho…

  9. I maybe missing something but I still can’t see this element.

    It was at the bottom of the recent comments on the old format.

  10. Mrs Green says:

    Maisie; sorry about the misunderstanding.

    Do you mean on the RHS of the site, where we list the latest 5 comments; there was a ‘more recent discussions’ at the bottom of that column that took you to the full discussions page – this one: http://mzw.wpengine.com/my-zero-waste-discussions/ ?

    We can put that in for you, no problem. I’m just trying to ascertain if that’s what you meant! Sometimes it would be easier to be sitting in an room together 🙂

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