EveMyles.net

Welcome to EveMyles.net 2.0!  This new design features a lighter, earthy and more professional look, which should be easier on the eyes and will hopefully warm the hearts of both the hard-core and casual fans. The change was important as it will make running this site much easier and offers fans the opportunity to contribute even more.

What’s new?

You’ll notice that everything is categorized now, so if you want to look for something specific it’s easy to do. The navigation bar has drop down menus if you want to find specific posts on a subject. You can click on ‘Personal’ to find everything listed under ‘Personal’, but can select just ‘Interviews’ if all you want are posts containing interviews. Note that you can also check the ‘Sitemap’ or ‘Archives’ sections at the top of the page to get a bigger view of things. As the site grows it may come in handy.

There’s a RSS feeder for retrieving the latest content, so be sure to subscribe if you use one. Google Reader is one option if you don’t already use one. This is handy if you view a lot of web sites everyday and would like to be notified when new content is added here.

This new design is driven dynamically, so it’s much easier to add and manage content. Gone are the days where I have to manually move stuff around and constantly mess with HTML. Oh, I’m loving this thing called “WordPress!” =]

Content

The front page will contain two featured posts (this can be changed, but two seems to be enough for now) and four older posts that eventually fall off and wind up in the archive as new stuff is added.

If you’re confused about the two video sections then let me explain: The ‘Videos’ category includes videos that are added to posts. Most of these videos will come from YouTube or some other video site. The ‘Video Showcase’ is where you’ll find video clips of Eve’s performances. With the old design all of the videos got mixed together in a playlist, which made for more variety, but it wasn’t ideal because you had to scroll through to find what you wanted and was a pain for me to maintain. The Video Showcase will only feature what I believe to be Eve’s top performances or performances I really like. The ‘Videos’ section will basically contain stuff like trailers, interviews, fan made videos, etc. The small video player that you see in the sidebar on the right has a purpose as it shows the videos that are embedded within posts. It’s kind of like a preview of videos and adds more content to the front page. These videos drop from the front page as new ones are added, but they remain archived in the Videos section.

The ‘Wales’ section is experimental, but I’ve added a post about Flat Holm Island that was originally posted in the forum. I did this to separate us from other sites and because I know that Eve is very proud of her Welsh heritage. I think it’s a great idea and is important. Now, I’m not sure what direction I’ll take it in, but you can bet on it being about all things Welsh!

Some notable changes/info:

• Many older and relevant news posts may not be added due to their age
• HD videos are not coming back unless there’s a demand for them
• New Photo Gallery registrations will need to be done by request – contact me or Madcharlie
• If you want to be a web site affiliate you now must add your information here in the forum or contact me
• New video content will be added to the Video Showcase soon

Design/Layout

This site is now optimized for widescreen monitors with a resolution of 1280×800 or higher if you have your web browser maximized. The future is widescreen, so when customizing I decided to break the “1024×768 rule” (sort of) and look towards the future. The layout of the content is fully compatible with 1024×768, but the images of Eve on the sides can’t be seen or they get cut off if you run your browser in a smaller window at any screen resolution.

When viewed at 1680×1050 screen resolution

The end result is that a larger screen resolution will give you more eye candy. This was done for aesthetics if later down the road you upgrade to something better.

As for web browser compatibility, I’ve tested the site with IE7, IE8 and Firefox 3.5 and haven’t noticed any problems.

The new sidebar on the right features hot forum topics, most recent and some random images from the photo gallery (there’s a lot of variables here), a video player, appearance listing, weather in Cardiff and current affiliates. The sidebar has many options, so you may see some new features added to it later.

Forums and Photo Gallery

The forum has a new look. This design is based on the newer phpBB3 “Prosilver” theme where the user info is placed on the right side while the posts are placed on the left. It’s a little different, but I think  it looks more clean. If you find the text too small, you can change it by clicking on the “A” near the top until you get the desire size. I might need to tweak the background color a bit so that posts are more distinguishable from one another, but other than that I think this one’s a winner.

The photo gallery will remain the same until I find the time to customize the design. I added the new logo to it as the old one looks out of place.

Be a Webmaster – Important!

It’s now possible to have others add content to the main part of the site, so if you are interested then let me know via PM in the forums or by email. This is a nice opportunity for those who want to be more involved with the site. You’ll be provided a link to where you can sign up and then log in. I’ll provide you with all of the details and will answer any questions you may have.

Whaddya think?

Let me know your opinion on the new design by using the comment box below or via the forums. I’d also appreciate it if you’d let me know of any technical problems you may be having. Some lingering issues may still exist, but I will get them sorted if they pop up.