Phil Moir's Blog

The last release was performed on 21st September 2011, but am afraid with a few days off sick, and progress being made on the next release, I forgot to post an update of what was included in the last release.

Included in this release

• Military records - Searching across all datasets will display summary count results, and you can drill down into each dataset. Much like the Search All Records option.

Military search results

• Census images - Implemented forward and back buttons on all Census images (except 1901) to allow turning to next and previous pages (member suggestion). To prevent image scraping though, there is a throttle of viewing a maximum of 5 images in 1 minute.

Census forward back buttons

• Newsfeed - Added newsfeed on home page. This currently displays when Hot Match checks have been carried out. Other events will be recorded and displayed soon. It will only appear after a newsfeed item has been recorded.

Newsfeed box on home page

• Enhancement - Correct wording on emails, terms, etc. in relation to new Additional Features options.

• Enhancement - The links to subscription options (when signed out) on the home page previously led to seperate pages displaying package prices. This has been changed to one link leading to a comparison page (member suggestion).

Package price comparison link

• Enhancement - Add "number" of new messages to menu beside envelope icon.

New mail message count

• Enhancement - Add emoticons to blog comments (member suggestion).

• Bug Fix - The registration route via payment page incorrectly redirected user back to home instead of taking user back to final registered page.

• Bug Fix - Not all images on hot matches email were displaying correctly

• Bug Fix - Boards summary page was displaying blank.

• Bug Fix - Added new year facts for missing years.

• Bug Fix - We got hit by spammers affecting boards and performance. Implemented block.

• Bug Fix - McAfeee Virus warning shown on site (and Friends Reunited). This was related to one of the adverts that are hosted on our site and was removed.

• Bug Fix - Broken link on Privacy page corrected.

• Bug Fix - One click button on payment page was not displaying error.

• Bug Fix - Overseas members were unable to buy or renew packages.

• Bug Fix - PayPal option was accidently removed when the new payment system was implemented. This has been reintroduced.

• Bug Fix - Image links and transcriptions errors. We continue to fix/change these on an asap basis. Majority of backlog has now been cleared. BMD transcription errors updated only once a month offsite.

• Blog Posts - Added new blog posts on WDYTYA episodes, and blog about flight to South Africa in 1949.

• Special Feature - Implemented new Schools Memorial Project access, allowing school access to search records to create war memorial.

• Suggestions board clear up - This is an ongoing process, although I not been very visible the last few weeks. I hope to rectify this absence over the next few days

We continue to develop new features, enhance existing options, fix bugs and evolve the design of the site to make it more usable and friendly. We appreciate all feedback and suggestions and take this all on board. Keep posting to the Suggestions board if you have any ideas or gripes.

We have more of a presence on the Suggestions board nowadays with Estelle (Support Team) checking for any Customer Support type issues and helping out on other issues where she can. Please note that it is best reporting bugs/issues direct to Customer Support first, but reporting it to the general community oftern helps others identify and resolve similar issues.

Best regards, Phil Moir

Genes Reunited, Lead Developer