Website Code Updates

Just a page letting you know what has changed and when (in reverse chronological order), since the launch of this incarnation of the website in October 2023. For previous incarnations of this website, please see the History page.

Version History

22^nd June: version 7.6.2

• A few CSS improvements and tweaks,
• Multiple back-end improvements,
• More work on my skeleton implementation for ActivityPub (still not ready for use yet),
• Upgraded third-party MVC framework.

7^th June 2024: version 7.6.1

• Various performance and code standards improvements.

28^th April 2024: version 7.6.0

• A few CSS improvements and tweaks,
• Improved server-side caching to boost performance,
• Upgraded third-party MVC framework (with multiple breaking changes to previous version).

31^st March 2024: version 7.5.11

• Added RSS and Atom feeds for my latest artwork.
• Upgraded third-party MVC framework.

12^th March 2024: version 7.5.10

• Added microformats2 markup to all artwork pages,
• Moved detailed text descriptions on artwork to a <details> element,
• Some minor tweaks to CSS (done as part of the IndieWebCamp Brighton 2024 hack sessions).

5^th March 2024: version 7.5.9

• Added ability to add detailed text descriptions to Complex Images.

27^th February 2024: version 7.5.8

• Added a sparkline graphic to my blog (on blog index and homepage),
• Upgraded third-party MVC framework.

20^th February 2024: version 7.5.7

• Some curious changes for the 404 (page not found) error page,
• A few CSS improvements and tweaks,
• Upgraded required module for the third-party MVC framework.

3^rd February 2024: version 7.5.6

• Implemented an initial version of Dark Mode if you have set a preference for it in your browser or OS,
• Upgraded third-party MVC framework.

23^rd January 2024: version 7.5.5

• Inital (minimal) implementation of POSSE Posts functionality,
• Tag Clouds for blog and posts,
• Back-end improvements to the sending of Webmentions,
• A few CSS improvements and tweaks for smaller desktops and mobile devices.

10^th January 2024: version 7.5.4

• Added an Atom Feed to the blog (in addition to the existing RSS and JSON feeds),
• Added an ai.txt file to block (compliant) AI bots from using the site’s content as training data (I’m not holding my breath for this to work!),
• More work on a skeleton implementation for ActivityPub (still not ready for use yet),
• A few CSS improvements and tweaks.

6^th January 2024: version 7.5.3

• Added badges to this page (right column on desktop, bottom on mobile) for valid HTML and RSS, and support for Microformats, Webmentions, and IndieWeb (these last three from indieweb.org/buttons).
• Fixes for various RSS validation errors detected by the W3C Feed Validation Service.
• Fixes for various HTML validation errors detected by the W3C Markup Validation Service.

5^th January 2024: version 7.5.2

• Added “Produced by human, not by AI” badge, courtesy of https://notbyai.fyi/, to site footer,
• Added microformats2 markup to “Latest Artwork” and “Latest Blog Posts” sections on site homepage,
• Added XSLT and CSS to my site news RSS feed,
• Some minor HTML and CSS changes to the homepage to fix W3C HTML Validation errors.

4^th January 2024: version 7.5.1

• Added XSLT and CSS to my blog RSS feed,
• A few more minor CSS tweaks across the site.

2^nd January 2024: version 7.5.0

• Added JSON Feed to blog as per JSON Feed version 1.1,
• Changed the Bluesky social media icon to their new logo and added Apple launch icons,
• A few CSS improvements and tweaks,
• Various substantial back-end improvements, re-organisation of version control, etc.,
• Upgraded third-party MVC framework.

18^th December 2023: version 7.4.1

• More intelligent server-side caching for blog posts,
• Blocked a few more AI scrapers in my robots.txt file,
• A few minor bug-fixes and improvements for security and accessibility.

7^th December 2023: version 7.4.0

• Moved blogroll from being a large chunk of static HTML to being database-driven, and added XFN 1.1/XOXO 1.0 XMDP, and h-card microformats2 markup to it,
• Added ability to download the blogroll as an OPML for importing into an RSS feed reader.
• Added domain attributes to category elements in blog RSS feed,
• A few minor bug-fixes and improvements for security, performance, and accessibility.

29^th November 2023: version 7.3.2

• Added a good old-fashioned blogroll to The Artist’s Notebook,
• Added a “Date Modified” date to blog posts if the post has been modified after publication,
• A few minor improvements to schema.org and microformats2 markup.

2^nd November 2023: version 7.3.1

• Added social sharing links to blog posts, and ability to subscribe to blog via email,
• Improvements to implementation of Open Graph protocol metadata,
• Improved print styles for blog posts,
• Upgraded third-party MVC framework.

18^th October 2023: version 7.3.0

• Initial skeleton implementation for ActivityPub (not ready for use yet),
• Fixed some incorrect canonical links in HTML meta,
• Some minor tweaks to blog post layout and styling,
• A few minor bug-fixes and improvements for security, performance, and accessibility.

12^th October 2023: version 7.2.0

Hopefully the last in the flurry of post-launch fixes and additions, and now I can hope to move to a more considered and thoughtful schedule for the continual development of the website.

• Initial implementation for sending Webmentions and PingBacks,
• Link added to blog posts to provide ready-formatted citations in common academic formats,
• Added full pagination links to the bottom of pages listing blog posts,
• Fixed some non-validating elements in RSS feeds, and formally discontinued a few long-obsolete RSS feeds,
• A few minor bug-fixes and improvements for security, performance, and accessibility.

9^th October 2023: version 7.1.0

• Implemented receiving (not sending, yet) Webmentions and PingBacks using Webmention.io,
• Implemented microformats2 on blogposts, as part of IndieWeb,
• A few minor post-launch bug-fixes and accessibility improvements.

6^th October 2023: version 7.0 (re-launch)

A whole new codebase. This new version is a little more up-to-date, introducing newer and faster-loading image formats (AVIF and WebP), and discarding JavaScript libraries since I only ever used 1% of their functionality anyway. It uses a slimmer and more up-to-date MVC framework as well.

Future Roadmap (in no particular order)

• Ability to follow my blog using ActivityPub e.g. on Mastodon, PixelFed, etc.,
• Ability to follow my artwork using ActivityPub e.g. on Mastodon, PixelFed, etc.,
• Display responses to blog posts received via Webmentions and PingBacks.