Over the last 12 months we:
- researched the options and migrated the Our Locality publishing platform, all the websites and managed domains, to a new host
- overhauled the main Our Locality sites (ourlocality.org, news.ourlocality, support.ourlocality.org) using a more flexible and user friendly template, allowing us to simplify and clarify the offering
- added new templates and removed older ones, which we can no longer support
- added new plugins and removed older ones, which we can no longer support
- pruned our users, so that anyone who previously had a website and subscribers has had their account deleted, if it was not connected to an active account
- said goodbye and good luck to old website users who have gone solo
- and hello to others – we’ve supported new websites, migrated some others and refreshed several old ones too
- provided same day support to any requests logged by email and via Crisp (a live chat support client – also added in the 2020-21 season), resolving many, perhaps most problems within an hour or so
- dealt with umpteen security related matters, quietly and behind the scenes protecting our account holders
- removed spam from site accounts and enhanced security against form spam
- decommissioned our feedburner service (not to be replaced for the time being) and rewired our social media accounts, if reluctantly
- provided ad hoc support to users having problems with third party integrations, like email, mailchimp and document sharing services among other things
- created a template preview microsite, with some placeholder content so you can dynamically assess if a template is right for you
- reintroduced global site search tools
It is pretty amazing what one can do with a bit of old rope and some string
