Over the last 24 months we have been busy:
- overhauled ourlocality.org, news.ourlocality, join.ourlocality and support.ourlocality.org to further simplify the hosting offer – one simple plan, while retaining the free unlimited posts and page plan;
- We’ve trained our very own chatGPT AI to assist users with day to day problem solving and created a PDF and html training manual for the OurLocality platform;
- rationalised the templates (adding a number with Full Site Editing capability) and created template demos (Twenty Twenty Two, Twenty Twenty Three, and intro to the WordPress Patterns Library). We have removed a number of older themes, which we are no longer able to support;
- switched the default template to a simple one page site: Starters;
- supported migrations to the new templates e.g. Dunbar & District History Society, Dunbar Community Woods and Dunbar Civic Week got a free overhaul and training session, and we welcomed the Dunbar & East Linton Area Partnership along with the Dunbar Harbour Trust;
- other’s, some for a small donation like Spott Community Association got brand new sites. So did Insulate Innerwick, Save Belhaven Community Garden, Dunbar Bike Hub and the Connecting Dunbar project (all Sustaining Dunbar Projects)
- changed the way we display our OurLocality Current Sites, in order of last updated …
- We also supported the migration and complete refresh of the Recycling First Charity in Macmerry, which supports thousands of people in need; the East Lothian Community Rail Partnership, which we have hosted since its beginnings and of course Dunbar Community Council which received a complete upgrade – the third major retemplating since 2011;
- supported users using our new plugins like “The Events Manager” and a new GDPR cookie manager “Complianz” for those users who lean on external services (e.g. Google Fonts or stats from WordPress.com);
- we have decommissioned / removed some older plugins e.g. have been removed from the wordpress repository and deemed a security risk;
- provided same day support to all requests logged by email, semaphore or telepathy, resolving many, perhaps most problems usually on the same day or the following day if received after 6:00pm;
- dealt with umpteen boring security related matters behind the scenes, quietly protecting our account holders while they sleep while upgrading our server to the latest and greatest;
- provided ad hoc support to users having problems 100s of support requests for advice and many more follow up questions like:-
- general and detailed aspects of website and media management, space allocations, login problems, templating, domain selection; etc
- third party integrations;
- setting up of professional email;
- manage mailchimp properly;
- social advertising questions; and
- safer and secure document sharing.
2023-2024 Achievements
1000s
of updates
Every day quietly someone is updating their website, perhaps adding the minutes of boring meetings that they have diligently compiled and that until now you thought no one ever read – well you are wrong, it seems they do!
100s
of original articles
With over archive 4000 articles in the news stream, this year saw fewer pieces published, as the social advertising platforms and newsletters remain the preferred way to communicate. When we lose a customer we lose the archive of news, and often they do too. The past unlike the present seems to be less interesting to website owners.
10s
of new sites and demos
The rate of new website properties was maintained, but largely as a result of new demos being put up by us. As the platform adjusts to the world of Blocks, Patterns and Full Site Editing we know there are many people out their who are stuck in Classic mode and missing out on the new design paradigm.
