During the course of the site updates, a great deal of content is being moved and removed, as well as outdated items removed.  At the same time, new features are being added and certain areas of the site are being revitalized.  This may not be a complete list of everything that was changed, but I will try to make it as close as possible.  Please check the site news page for the latest information, or view the original announcement to get an idea of just what was involved.

Last updated: Thursday August 28, 2003 02:44 AM -0400

A new navigation system was designed and implemented, to replace the old menus that have been in place for almost two years.  This will allow for easier navigation through the site, and a better integration with the new photo gallery software. 

I've implemented a package called Gallery that is sort of an all in one photo management system.  This will display the thumbnail galleries, allow visitors to click for a small photo and still have the option to view the high resolution photos, and even print them on Shutterfly without having to download them.  The new package will drastically reduce load times for the photo galleries for users on dialup, and allow immediate presentation of more photos.  This will help to conserve bandwidth (although that is presently not an issue), and also saves time in the creation process.  Now when I add new photos to the site, I only have to touch them up once, and upload them.  The gallery software is then capable of reading from any location on the server and adding photos and videos.  It also maintains a more accurate count, and provides a better way of separating multiple photo sets that are for the same show.

Changes have been made to the disclaimers and about pages, and I am renaming this as terms of service or terms of use.  This is the best way I could think of to integrate the copyright information as well as everything else.

I've made some general revisions to text on the site, and the photo counts were changed as a result of the new gallery software.  Also, I changed the concert band and jazz band pages, they are now only text descriptions and write-ups.

Videos prior to 1994 are being added, as well as the 2001 and 2002 videos.  Note that a 1993 video is not available because the band did not perform at ACCs that year.  I do not have any information about videos from 1990 and 1991, although I do have 1992.  I will investigate the missing years for possible addition in late September if tapes can be obtained.  Otherwise, amateur videos would be greatly appreciated.

All of the old photo galleries have been removed.  No more 7 photos to the page, scroll down and go on to the next 7, and no more thumbnail galleries as generated by Photoshop.  This may initially cause problems with some search engines, but I will address that based on the statistics and error logs.

The old drumline site was taken down, and unfortunately I was not able to gather enough information to recreate it.  Any current/former drumline staff or members who want to create another site should contact me for free hosting on this server.  Alternately, if you have some ideas or materials, talk to me and I'll see what I can put together.

I removed the sections for the boosters and the band news, only because I never have enough information to complete these, and most of the time they say "no current information."  It's too difficult to maintain these when I am not in the Harrisburg area.  However, should I find a way to keep current with this, I will certainly add these sections again in the future.

The forums have been deleted as well.  There isn't too much activity on there, and I'm having problems on the admin side, as well as with spam postings and advertisements, so rather than have to reinstall the forum package, I am removing them.

Due to the new menu system, many things are being renamed.  If you have any bookmarks, you may want to check them and update them as needed.  The home page of the site has changed as well, although the site will always be accessible at sthsband.org.  ** This is the main address for the site. ** At present, other domains are in use for development and testing purposes on other servers, in the event that the site is moved to another hosting provider in 6 months or so when the current contract is due to expire.

As soon as I have the videos and information, I am going to add the show write-ups for 2001, 2002, and sometime in September I will be able to add 2003.  Unfortunately, without a tape or other source of information, I am unable to provide any data on the 1990 show.

The band has also been featured on several of the local tv stations during the Friday Night Football programs.  Clips of these appearances will be added as they become available or are submitted to me.

The photos on the Marching Band splash page are a bit dated.  I need to take new pictures of the signs and add the 2002 Chapters flag.  This should be taken care of in early September following the first football game.

Additional copyright/licensing information to be added, I am considering participating in the Creative Commons copyright program and using some of the generic information that they've drafted and made available on their site.

Due to a quality problem with the 2002 video, I may not have this right away.  2001 had issues with audio quality which was fixed many months later, the 2002 tape that I was given has problems with video glitches throughout the show.  I will see what can be done about this, and also inquire about 1990, 1991 videos if/when time allows.