Website News
Website re-designed and re-launched
Posted on Jun 27, 2010
Thumb and Hammer has officially been relaunched with a new design and new features:
- New colours: The earth tones are gone, replaced with teals, blues and greens for a cleaner look.
- New sidebar menu: You are one click away from any topic on the website no matter where you are on the site.
- Better navigation: Multiple page articles now have a pagination menu, so you always know where you are.
Site search: You can now use the internal search engine to find what you need on the websitecoming soon.- More white space: The website should be easier to read.
- Photos rescanned: The old 35mm pictures have all been rescanned at higher resolution.
- New Mascot: The new Thumb and Hammer DIY guy featured in the logo was created specifically for this website.
- Pages re-written: Every page on the website was reviewed and revised. Content has been expanded or condensed where necessary to provide more clarity. In addition, all my code is standards compliant.
- New content: The attic renovation is now complete, as well as an expanded section on structural issues. New articles appear in "Real Estate" More content will be added in the near future.
- No more strobe effect: After careful consideration, I have decided to go back to the old-school way of displaying full size pictures. This means that when you click on a thumbnail, the picture will display on its own page. I was previously using Thickbox, which caused the screen to go dark while the picture was displayed over the content. This effect seems to annoy a lot of people, which is why I have chosen to discontinue it.
Comments are welcome. I would especially appreciate any reports of errors, dead links and any other problems.
And awaaay we go
Posted on Jun 26, 2010
The website may behave strangely for the next little while as the revised site is uploaded.
Tenth Anniversary Celebration
Posted on Jun 26, 2010
Thumb and Hammer was officially launched on August 6, 2000. To celebrate ten years on the Internet, three people will be selected at random to receive Home Depot Gift Cards (2 valued at $20 and one valued at $100). To be eligible, simply make a quality contribution to our Forum.
More details here
Launch Today!
Posted on Jun 26, 2010
It is 9am Saturday. In a couple of hours, the new website will be officially launched....finally!
Progress Report: The re-launch
Posted on Jun 20, 2010
Thought I was ready to re-launch the website on June 20, but there are a couple of last minute issues that cropped up. Unfortunately, fatigue and frustration have set in. The site may go live mid week, but in all likelihood, it will be next weekend.
Re-launch of Thumb and Hammer: June 20
Posted on Jun 13, 2010
Some time next weekend, the new Thumbandhammer.com website will go live. The majority of the work is finished with only a few layout and alignment issues to sort out. But finally, a firm date has been set for the launch.
Re-launch progress
Posted on Jun 07, 2010
Got a lot of work done on the redesign this past weekend. The new-look forum is almost ready to go. The last thing left to do is the Blog, followed by some finishing touches on the home page. The new site should be ready to go live within the next two weeks. It is frustrating to me that it has taken so long, but I've had limited opportunity to work on it.
Watch this space for further progress reports.
Re-launch of Thumb and Hammer VERY Soon
Posted on May 24, 2010
It is 1:30 in the morning of Monday May 24-- Victoria Day in Canada. I have already spent a great portion of the holiday weekend staring at the computer screen and am getting excited to be nearing the completion of the redesign. The content is finished. But I still have to change the look and feel of the forum and the blog to match the rest of the site. Once those are done, the home page will get overhauled and the entire site will be uploaded.
UPDATE June 5: Almost finished the re-design of the home page. Just have to work on the forum and blog. Will probably do much of that overnight tonight. Relaunch *should* happen next weekend or sooner.
My policy on website promotion and advertising
Posted on Apr 24, 2010
I have been getting quite a few emails lately on a couple of common webmaster topics. I would like to clarify my postition here:
1. I do not intend to engage in reciprocal linking or other link exchange programs until further notice.
2. I do not intend to accept advertising in the form of paid links for SEO purposes.
3. I am not interested in SEO services at this time.
Thank you for your interest in my site. A fully revised advertising policy will be published when the new version of the website goes online.
New site launch approaching
Posted on Apr 24, 2010
I wish I had more time to work on the website but unfortunately that is not the case. That said, the website launch that was originally planned for last September and then postponed to the new year and then delayed until April may actually happen sometime in May. I just won't commit to the year... Thanks for your patience.
Little progress on the site redesign
Posted on Mar 03, 2010
Time to work on the website has been elusive, but I have imposed a deadline of Easter weekend for the re-launch of ThumbandHammer.com
To date, I have re-scanned almost all of the old 35mm pictures, rewritten most of the existing content and added some new content. All of these changes have taken place off-line. I am hoping for the site to be 100% complete when it is re-launched. I admit that it has taken a ridiculous amount of time, but I stand by my usual excuse of "other priorities."
Thank-you for your continued support.
Re-launch of website in a couple of weeks
Posted on Jan 21, 2010
About half of the re-design is complete. Progress was hampered by the loss of our desktop computer and our subsequent efforts to get our lives set up on a new laptop, but things are back on track now. You won't notice any changes on-line until the new, improved site is uploaded in a few weeks.
Thumb and Hammer to be re-launched in 2010
Posted on Oct 20, 2009
With one (barely) working outdated computer between three people at home, I just haven't had much time to spend working on the website.
Thumbandhammer.com will be re-launched in early 2010 (I'm hoping for January, but we all know what happened to my Labour Day deadline). If by some miracle (or some productive all-nighters) I am able to have the site ready sooner, then the launch date will be moved up.
Site re-launch behind schedule
Posted on Sep 19, 2009
Schedules never seem to work out for me. The revision of Thumbandhammer.com is taking longer than expected but it should be worth the wait (I hope). In addition to re-writing virtually every page, redesigning the layout and re-scanning the old 35mm pictures from the site's early days, I am also adding new content. I will let you know when the launch date approaches.
Comments open on blog; website re-launch in September
Posted on Aug 01, 2009
The website update continues behind the scenes. I am still hoping to launch the new-look website sometime around the holiday weekend in September. Meanwhile, comments are again allowed on the blog, but only on newer posts. That should cut down on the spam.
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