March 2003

A few new things…

I made a few little changes today:

• Altered the template used for the search results slightly so more results will fit on a screen.
• Added a list of the recently commented-upon entries in this Recent News weblog to the Recent Annotations page. Can regular readers think of anything else (annotation-oriented or otherwise) that would be useful on this page, as a one-stop-shop for viewing what’s happened recently?
• Added a list of the most recently added background items to the front page of the Background Info page.
• Changed the layout of the annotation forms slightly, to go along with recent improvements to the default Movable Type templates.
• Added an FAQ in an attempt to answer some of the questions I get asked most frequently about the site in general.
• Belatedly added background pages for William Prynne/Prin and Ralph and Sir Thomas Widdrington. (I won’t always mention when I add background items here, hence the new list mentioned above, but these characters have been the subject of recent discussion.)

1 comment | Permalink | Saturday 1 March 2003

Claire Tomalin answers questions

A while back I pointed to a place at The Guardian where you could post questions for Pepys biographer Claire Tomalin to answer. This week she’s answered them. (Thanks Kim.)

She says she’s tried to use this site in the past but has been “frustrated by the site crashing.” I’d love to know what browser and operating system she’s using, and what exactly happens, as I thought I’d squashed all such bugs weeks ago. If anyone knows how to get in touch with her…

18 comments | Permalink | Thursday 6 March 2003

What do you want from a discussion forum?

As previously mentioned, I’m currently looking at adding some kind of discussion forum. This would mean we can restrict diary entry annotations to more specific information, references and explanation, and move longer discussions elsewhere. This way those who are only interested in reading the diary and having obscure words and themes explained don’t have to wade through long conversations, and those who wish to discuss further can do so.

Continued…

59 comments | Permalink | Sunday 9 March 2003

Creating a guide to annotating

So it seems some people don’t want a discussion forum at all, and some think it might be a good idea. Given there appears to be little immediate demand, it seems a good idea to take a step back and look at what annotations should be. Having done that we can decide if our guidelines leave out other kinds of commentary that deserve an alternate home.

Continued…

44 comments | Permalink | Monday 10 March 2003

New annotation markers

You may have noticed the annotation format has changed, with the person’s name and the time now at the top. I hope this makes things easier for you.

Also, I’ve written something that marks which annotations are new since your last visit. It’s not foolproof, and because it relies on cookies(?) it’ll get confused if you use more than one computer or web browser to view the site. But I hope it’ll help make clear what you’ve yet to read. The Recent Annotations page is marked similarly.

Continued…

5 comments | Permalink | Friday 14 March 2003

Anyone fancy writing essays?

A thought occurred to me recently… I was wondering if anyone was itching to write more about aspects of Pepys or the time he lived in. If so, maybe it would be worth creating a new section of the site for such articles. Every so often a new essay/article could be posted up and readers could, as ever, post comments. Any topic related to the diary or the times would be welcome (individual people, politics, language, fashion, etc.) and they could of course be rather longer than diary annotations. It might be a daft idea, or there might not be enough people interested in writing things — let me know what you think.

Continued…

21 comments | Permalink | Wednesday 26 March 2003