Watchprojects 2.0
When I started this list of independent watch projects in July 2009, I was unaware of the width of the pool of aspiring watch developers. It turns out that there are a lot of existing brands that I still have to uncover and a lot of new brands that appear every two to three months. My entries have become more frequent and more information-filled, as watch developers have started to personnally contact me to supply information and material.
The earlier version of this blog was a One-Click install run by Dreamhost. While it saved me the trouble of maintaining and upgrading the blog software, the One-Click install left no room for fine-tuning and adding of extentions. Despite my high satisfaction with this company and their outstanding customer support, I was not able to review statistics of Watchprojects.com.
After much personal pondering and advice from Dreamhost helpdesk, I decided to pull the plug on the One-Click install on Friday October 1st, 2010, and manually install the latest WordPress software. WordPress 3 now features automated upgrade processe, so I don’t even have to worry about that on a manual install.
I have been working on the Website structure and was relieved that the database and most of the local full size images have been preserved. There is a little glitch with the thumbnails, which will be fixed in the coming days.
Visitors will notice that the site received a new and different layout. I hope they will find it as efficient as the other one.
Special thanks to Flickr Pro members Whistling in the Dark, fortinbras and Noodlefish, who publish most of their photographs through Creative Commons. The publishing licence they chose allowed me to reuse some of their nicest pictures for the new banner of this Website.
On the surface, the pages have received several Web 2.0 additions such as the ability to share entries on your favourite social network, and the ability to follow us on micro-blogging portals like identi.ca and Twitter.
Below the surface, I have enabled statistic tools that will help understand the demographics of the Watchprojects.com audience and deliver better content.
Feel free to leave comments and feedback.
Yours truly,
Francis J.
