I spent the entire weekend working on a long-overdue project for TRC: a shiny new directory.
The directory we had was written by yours truly, over a decade ago. The code was custom PHP, had to shoe-horn it into WordPress, and it was just clunky. I’ve invested in a great new plugin that lets us do the directory natively in WordPress instead, and its working out great! I stated last week moving everything but the business directory into the new setup, and then spent ALL weekend entering the business directory.
187 items got moved into the new setup, and 180 items are on hold until we can get more information or at least verify the places are still in operation. The directory is quite old… I came across one business where I confirmed the guy retired a decade ago, and another where the guy had died 5 ago. This purge really needed to happen.
I went live with it last night, and so far it looks great. I’m hoping to get some feedback on it, but its early.
This is the first stage in what I am calling “Version 9.1” of TRC. We’ve been running on WordPress for about 5 months now, and I felt it was time to go to the next step. The oldest parts of the site still being used are my home-grown php scripts that run the directory, calendar, and memoriams. Everything else from that era was phased out, and its time these parts got an upgrade.
The Directory is now upgraded, and for my next trick I’m moving onto the Calendar. I’m looking into a plugin that would also integrated it natively into WordPress, and make it much easier to manage. After that, I may even look into something to replace the Memoriams / Obituaries. More to come later…
