Welcome to a fresh new version!
20 April 2008
Until now, the My Life of Travel website has been a part-time project which has grown organically on its own, and has been slightly neglected due to the developers having hectic work schedules.
Over the last year, we have worked many nights and weekends building a brand new version of the site, adding features and improving site usability as suggested by you, our members. We are proud of the result and think you'll like it as much as we do.
Have a read through some of the upgrades and new features, and let us know what you think. We are going to be spending a lot more time on the site from now on, and hope to spread the word even faster over the coming year.
Updates & new features
Logo
Long overdue and desperately needed, we've designed a funky new logo. Though the main logo is the rectangular shape, we have 5 stamps which will rotate at the top as you navigate the site.
Usability
Probably the biggest overall improvement to the site is the improved method of navigation and the amount of information displayed about entries before clicking through to them. From a member's homepage, once you select one of their journals, you will now see a full list of journal entries down the left of the page. Before clicking one, you can now see exactly how many photos, videos, and text content the entry contains, all of which will help you decide whether to click through and view the entry.
With usability in mind, we have also significantly improved the photo albums. You can now navigate an album quickly and easily without reloading the entire page. We have used the same method to open animated journal maps on demand, keeping the site faster and more friendly to navigate.
Animated Maps
We have spent a lot of time creating the new animated journal maps, which have turned out almost exactly as we planned, though still needing a few tweaks which we'll get to very soon. Using the Google Mapping API to provide a high level of detail, we have created an animated trip line highlighting every chronological location in the journal. We are still tweaking various zoom levels which are proving fairly tricky but we'll have them sorted very soon.
Videos
As many of us now use video while travelling, we've adding the ability for you to easily add your YouTube videos to your journals. Simply add your videos to your YouTube account and then use your username to import them to your journals.
Find Travel Buddies
We've finally got round to adding a future trip calendar. You can add as many future trips as you like and can select whether you are looking to meet anyone during any of your upcoming trips. If you are looking for travel partners, you will appear on the Travel Buddies page and will be searchable by other members looking to meet up.
Connect to Friends
We always had a feature to shortlist your favourite members but it was hidden in your control panel where nobody could find it. We've brought your friends list to your homepage now so you can easily click through to your friends to see what they're up to. You can add any member as a friend if you find their journals interesting, making it easier to find them at a later time.
Hey, if lots of people add you as a friend, you'll soon find yourself on the 'Most Popular Members' page.
Member Profiles
We've added a brief profile page which lets you add a photo (with a neat cropping tool), along with a short profile description which you can use to write something about yourself.
Member Guestbook
Another feature that was previously hidden away was the Guestbook. This allows you to view a list of logged-in members who have viewed your journals. Your homepage Guestbook lists members who have viewed any journal, whereas a Guestbook on a specific journal lists members who have viewed that particular journal.
Featured Members
Any member who writes interesting or informative journals stands a chance of being added as a 'Featured Member' by one of our admins. Once added, you stand the chance of being randomly featured on the homepage or in site newsletters.
If you think your journals are great and you haven't been added, drop us a line containing your username or a link to your homepage, asking us to add you.