With summer almost over and the kids starting back at school, I’ve decided to adjust my work week to better accommodate their schedules and more effectively utilize the time they’re away.  I plan to keep this schedule throughout the school year, but will post another update if something changes.

Starting immediately, my typical work week will run as follows:

Available:

• Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday
  8am – 4pm

Unavailable:

• Weekends & Holidays
• Wednesdays *

* Note:
I may still end up working occasional Wednesdays, but my youngest is slotted to be home with me that day – so I’d like to leave it open for now.

A new version of VedaCMS (v7.1) is available.  This is a major release that includes several new features which significantly change the core behavior of certain scripts. If you’d like to upgrade to the newest version, please submit a ticket from the help desk.  The biggest changes are as follows:

Membership System

• Site-Wide Protection
  The membership system now includes an option that allows you to protect the entire website as opposed to just individual pages.  Enabling this option creates a basic login page that users must passs through before seeing any part of your site.
• Enable/Disable Memberships
  You now have the ability to temporarily disable individual memberships without deleting them entirely from the system.

Mailing List

• Message History
  The Mailing List tool now saves a copy of any messages you sent out, which can be viewed or re-sent later.

Calendar

• Private Notes
  When adding an entry to your Calendar, you now have the ability to enter a private note that can only be seen by you.

Photo Gallery

• New Photo Viewer with Slideshow
  A completely new photo viewer has been implemented that includes an automatic slideshow feature (which can be customized or disabled within the settings area).  This viewer completely replaces previous versions, so you should not request a VedaCMS upgrade if you don’t want your photo viewer to change.

Page Editing

• Undo Last Save
  You now have the ability to undo your last page save, which allows you to revert to the previous version of your page in the event of an editing mistake.
• Create New Pages
  You now have the ability to create new pages for your site. This is an experimental option that is limited in terms of design customization.  In order for this to work, I have to create a template file for your site that is based on your main design shell.  The photo for any of your add-on pages would be a static image that set for the template, so if you wanted a unique photo on a new add-on page, I’d have to make some customizations for you.

An experimental new package option called ‘Priority Scheduling & Rush Job‘ has been added to my web design service page. This higher fee option allows someone to jump ahead in my schedule (regardless of current availability) and receive an expedited development timeline for the initial demo (1 week instead of 2).

I’ve avoided offering something like this previously because my regular development schedule is already booked to the maximum of what I’m comfortable taking on with regards to maintaining a healthy amount of time with my family. However, because I’m now regularly booked out at least at least six or more weeks in advance and am reluctant to increase my standard fee yet (to even out demand), I’ve decided to try this as an option instead for those companions who have requested it in the past.

Because I will be working during what would normally be my off-time hours to meet the conditions of a priority booking, I will only be offering this option once a month.  My contact page will have a note under the ‘Current Availability’ section that displays the next available date for a Priority Booking spot.

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An addition has been made to the Copyright and Trademarks section of my terms of service agreement (section c). This new information provides more specific language about the definition of copyright holder once a website has been delivered and paid for. Specifically, it is assumed that all ownership and copyrights are transferred to the companion for whom the site was designed and NOT an unknown third party that may have handled the billing portion without my knowledge. It also outlines more clearly that I do not provide resale or proxy development services in ANY form through an intermediary person or management service. The only person authorized to request and contract my design services is the companion for whom the site is intended.

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VedaCMS: Change Album Order

As of v7.4, VedaCMS now finally allows you to change the display order of albums.  This does not apply to the member album, which will always display last. To change the album order, simply click the up or down arrow displayed to the left of the album thumbnail within the main album list page of the CMS.

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