Over the past, few months there have been some changes to the look and content of the site. Some were subtle changes while others were much more noticeable.

Here are just a few things that have improved, are still in the works, or have changes forthcoming.

Video Showcase

The Video Showcase page is still in beta, but it is close to being complete. The focus has shifted to cater to casting directors, studio executives, filmmakers, etc, that can watch video clips of some of Eve’s performances. Video is taken from the highest quality sources (where possible) with no copyright infringement intended. There will be at least 25-50 video clips from a variety of Eve’s work shown here.

Video Showcase

While I may not have any expertise in the TV and film industry, this page should reflect some of the better performances by Eve Myles.

Photo Gallery

The photo gallery has gone through a few changes. The recent integration of the gallery and the website has made it a bit better to navigate in and out of. In addition, a mod pack was installed for better visuals on the thumbnails.

A plan to bridge the gallery to the forum is coming, so, if you are a member of the forum you will be able upload images after logging in. The point here is there will be no need to have a different user name and password because you will never have to log in to the gallery itself. In addition, there is a software upgrade coming down the pike, but I am waiting for the bugs to be worked out before taking on the task.

Forums

There is not much to mention here from a technical sense other than the integration of the forum with the website, which added better navigation and visual appeal. I have messed around with different styles, but the current one is the best one I could find that was simple, clean and works well with the integration. Recently installed was a “Thanks” mod in order to give gratitude to other members that have been helpful. Forum members can keep track of their thanks given and thanks received by looking at their profile or by clicking on the “Gratitude’s” link in the top navigation bar (you must be logged in to view it). See this post for more information on this mod.

One thing that would be nice to see is more people joining the forum because the membership is still on the low side. If there is anything to be disappointed about with the site over the past year, it is the low forum membership. A number of factors could be the cause of this, but if I had to guess it would be that Facebook and Twitter have become the preferred outlets to chat with other fans. It is no surprise given their popularity.

I hope that the forum memberships will pick up once we see Eve in something new again. If you haven’t joined the forum, you can register for free here.

Social networking

Adding Twitter and Facebook has really helped drive more traffic to the site and we’re seeing an increasing amount of followers since connecting. Thanks a lot to Gage Hanson and forum member GwenCooperWilliams for their generosity.

Articles

Over the next year, there is a plan to start a series of ‘Torchwood’ articles. These are going to be short articles that will focus on Eve’s role as Gwen Cooper. These articles will include video clips and will feature a brief summary. The idea behind this is to get a look at how far Eve has come since the first episode of Torchwood aired. Her earlier work appears overshadowed by her work on Torchwood, so it only seems fitting to focus on her biggest role to date.

For those that have been waiting for Part 2 of the ‘Belonging’ article, it should be out in the next month or two.

Website contributors

There is always an opening here if you want to post articles or news. You can also re-post news (copy and paste) from other sites as long as a source is given. News posts can be on anything that relates to Eve Myles in some way. If you are from Wales or visited there, it would be great to see some articles about your experiences.

Drop me a line if you are interested.

Contact information

A contact form has been added to the Contact page for your convenience. Use it only for website requests, information, etc. All requests for Eve Myles should be sent to her talent agency.

We’ve come a long way, baby

EveMyles.net launched in December of 2007. The original site design was from another site I did back in 2004. It had a very dark and film noir look to it and was somewhat ugly. Nevertheless, a few graphic changes were made to it and the rest is history (along with the design).

I don’t have a screencap of the original site design, but here’s a heavily modified version of it that dates back to April of 2009.

EveMyles.net (2009)

Toward the end, it was proving to be too much of a hassle to update the main page and archive the older news posts because it was a manual process. It had evolved into a nice looking design, but times have changed and moving to a CMS has made it much easier to work on.

The future

What does the future hold for this website? Well, I have been looking at some new themes, but have no plans to make a change to the look of it right now. Some may find it odd that I went with a Wales look rather than using one of those cookie cutter “movie star” designs. Well, for one, I did not want the site to look generic and cluttered. Secondly, Eve loves her country of origin and is very proud of her Welsh heritage. I wanted to reflect that in the overall design to make it more personal. Admittedly, it could look a little better and maybe a bit more professional, but then it would lose its charm because it would give off more of a bland, corporate look.

I am hoping to get in contact with Eve to do an interview for the site. Impossible? Probably. Nevertheless, it would be great to get the chance to talk to her. I would simply ask for 5-10 minutes of her time, more if she agreed to it. How does one go about setting up an interview? Do you contact her talent agency? I know these places tend to frown on these types of requests from fans, but there might be a slight chance of getting an interview. Heck, if a person from Daily Lounge can do it then it can be done.

Finally, have I thought about quitting? Sure, but eventually I will get out of one of my rotten moods and then get the urge to get back to work, be creative, etc. I really like this stuff, but there are days when you just need to break away from it. If I ever decide to leave then I will probably ask someone else to take it over in order to keep the support for Eve going. However, with the popularity of Facebook and Twitter, there may be no need to.

The owner, Gage Hanson, has done a beautiful job with the page and shows the spirit of a dedicated fan. While there are other Facebook pages devoted to Eve Myles, Gage Hanson’s is simply the best one out there. He covers many of the news posts you find on EveMyles.net and has posted many pictures.

Right now we need to see more discussion take place there, so do yourself a favor and join this page if you have a Facebook account. If you don’t, I really encourage you to do so. Right now there are 149 members and I really hope to see this number grow.

A big thanks to Gage Hanson for all your hard work! It’s just more proof that Eve Myles has the greatest and most dedicated fans.

Join the Official EveMyles.net Facebook now!

Right now we currently have 877 followers, are following 54 and have 37 listed Twitter followers. Our username is EveMylesFans and you can start to follow us right away (if you have a Twitter account) by going to the link here.

http://twitter.com/EveMylesFans

We hope to have a ‘Tweets’ plugin up soon, which will make communicating much easier.

We will update our Twitter page as necessary with any developing news on Eve Myles as well any updates to the site like new videos and images. And please feel free to tweet us your own news findings on Eve Myles, site suggestions, requests, etc.

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.