Website and Blog to Merge?
When I heard the news a few months ago I just couldn’t believe it, but it has happened yet again! The last revamp of the website, which involved a total redesign and rebuild using Adobe’s latest programme ‘Muse’ took place in 2016. This was the result of Apple’s withdrawing support for their website programme iWeb. Before that, it was Microsoft curtailing their own programme Front Page. Now, in their infinite greedy wisdom, Adobe is pulling the rug on thousands of small businesses around the world who totally rely on using Muse to create websites for hundreds of thousands of clients. Its online availability will cease in March 2020. No warning, just a cold statement and cvths.com is to become one of its casualties.
Worrying about a solution to this problem has caused me a lot of anxiety since I heard the news but I have decided it was now time I took action to try to limit the damage.
In the past, I have had to appeal to our community for donations to help towards obtaining and learning new software and then redesigning and rebuilding our school website in the hopes that it would continue for many years without further interruption. With this latest shock news, I have decided not to make a similar appeal for the third time as it just seems unfair to the many loyal supporters who have kept us going through those difficult times. I am also loathed to obtain and learn yet another web-construction programme only for it to possibly be discontinued yet again in the near future. It really is heartbreaking as so much time and effort went into the current site.
Adobe will no longer support or permit the use of Muse from March 2020 but I don’t want to wait until then before taking positive action. From today any new material submitted will appear as a post on the Blog and if suitable the information will be added to a permanent page.
The ideas I have for a suitable alternative should allow my eventual successor to much more easily take over the custody of the CVTHS online presence without their need to own or learn a programme in order to do so. I intend to keep everything within the WordPress platform on which this Blog is hosted and here are some of my ideas.
A Possible Solution.
Although the website is quite large and contains a huge amount of information it is, in fact, the Blog which attracts the most interest. With nearly 200,000 visits since its introduction, it has proved extremely popular. After much careful consideration, I have decided that the following course of action may form the basis for an acceptable solution and should work well for us all:
- Cease any further updates to the website with immediate effect. Updates to the website are normally only made when new material becomes available which in future will appear as a post making it harder to miss.
- Transfer the total image archive containing some 2000 photographs and scans to galleries within the Blog. This has now been successfully completed.
- Transfer access to the Register from the website to the Blog menu as this information is updated almost daily and needs to be readily accessible. This was completed today.
- As a start to transferring previous information contained on the website to within the structure of the Blog, I will publish all 26 ‘Old Boys’ Stories’ directly as Blog posts over the next couple of weeks. These, like other articles and information, will always be accessible in the future through the Blog’s built-in search facility. (3 stories published so far this week).
- Create ‘pages’ within the blog to replace those being lost when the website is finally removed. The presentation of these pages may not be quite so colourful and aesthetic as there are limitations to the design elements available but at least the current information will still be accessible and not lost. these pages will be accessible through the menu.
- Not every detail on the website today can be transferred to the Blog pages, so in order that a total copy of the ‘frozen’ website remains readily accessible it will be made available in its entirety on a USB stick as a historical resource so nothing that is currently on the website today will be lost. These will be available shortly on request.
- When the transfer of information is complete the ‘frozen’ website will be taken down but both cvths.com and cvths.co.uk will point to this fully searchable Blog.
Your Comments Please
If anyone has any comments I shall be very pleased to hear from you either by email or by using ‘Leave a Comment’ at the bottom of this post so that others may join in the discussion. I very much regret having to make these changes, caused by the thoughtless actions of Adobe, but in the end, it will keep all the information in one place and may indeed actually prove to be better for us all.
Colin Cadle
Torquay, South Devon
The Colin Cadle memorial CVTHS Blog 
Dear Colin,
We are all indebted to you – as always!
Thank you for your ongoing commitment to CVTHS. As one of the oldest members, I am extremely grateful to you for your dedication.
Kindest regards,
Leslie
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Thanks so much Leslie, I much appreciate that. May I also thank yourself as your kind sponsorship through Roberts Radio over the earlier years really helped keep us online and get us to where we are today. Thank you sincerely.
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Excellent decision Colin. As an experienced user of WordPress, I agree that it is definitely the way to go. Just wondering, do you need anyone to share the load? If so, I’m happy to help.
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Colin, I agree with Leslie Burrage. I’m certain your chosen action will be best for all. You have my full support.
Best regards,
John
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Colin, firstly, commiserations on the unfortunately quite normal machinations of the IT industry (or as I should probably say these days ‘Tech’ industry). Sounds to me that you are as ever on the ball and heading in the most advantageous direction, I confess that I rarely access the website and you appear to be covering all the uses I have made of it.
Finally, like those above, I’ll take this opportunity to express my gratitude and appreciation of your efforts. I was never an outstanding schoolboy but I still have fond memories of Cray Valley, the results of all your efforts have kept me in touch with my youth!
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Hello Colin, I also want to thank you for your much appreciated commitment to our website that I always enjoy viewing. Neil is so right in his comments about the “Tech” industry – it annoys me as well !
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Colin – thanks for your helpful suggestion, I did as you suggested and now seem to be receiving via WORDPRESS loud and clear. I agree with others here on your suggested course of action – and thanks for all the effort you have always put into the keeping CVTHS memories alive in our ageing minds!
Best wishes
Malcolm (tub) Davis 1958-1963
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Pat Acock
Colin- as with the others I am grateful to be able to keep in touch through your good auspices. Unfortunately it is all a foreign world to me. I have two sons who run the computers here.Without them I would be back to pen and paper. Like the car after taking my Standard 10 apart when working in the world of men for fun and keeping it going for years I was shocked when looking under the bonnet of my Space wagon to find two large boxes and closed the lid for the last time. Similarly with the computer I only want to use it so I can’t be of much help but thank you for all your hard work.
In haste off to Mexico ferning,
Pat
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….and may the Fern be with you…..
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