Today I launched my long-awaited (for me anyway) new version of my website! This is version 9, and the first major overhaul since July 2009.

This site has been in coding for about six months. Not that it's really taken that long. It's just I haven't been as dedicated to sitting down and doing the coding as I could have been.

Here is a summary of the main changed:

• A larger font on both the main content and navigation sections should make the site easier to read. The lighter colour scheme should also make the site seem friendlier in comparison to the old dark greens and grays.
• Blog posts have a new commenting system which should be vastly easier to use. I will also get alerts when comments are submitted so the months shouldn't roll by before I get around to replying.
• All blog tags are immediately visible now, and are in a 'tag cloud' format instead of a straight alphabetical list. This means that more frequently used tags are given a larger font size and hence greater prominence.
• My Music Library is no longer contained within this site. Instead, it is now accessible via it's own URL: music.bengamblin.com. This is because the interface for the library has grown substantially. Where-as before it was a glorified list of songs, now it is much more dynamic and I intend to improve it further.
• The postcode lookup has been altered. Now, instead of doing a full page reload when searching for a postcode, just the appropriate part of the page will change (using AJAX/JavaScript). This should make the system feel smoother. The Google Map within this section has changed from an interactive type to three images at different zoom levels. A link will jump to Google Maps for interactivity if that is required.
• 'My Map' (previously known simply as 'Map') has been enhanced. Immediate plotting of each and every route in the database has been disabled to improve loading times and page efficiency. Instead, all routes are indicated by their start point. The map can be filtered to show just point markers, just route start points, or both. By clicking on icons in the map, options are given to centre-and-zoom and display route (if applicable).
• Search has been re-coded and doesn't cause any (known) errors any more. The old options to search the music library have been removed. Search results now appear in their own in-site popup window (again using AJAX/Javascript) as do the Search Options.
• The 'Elsewhere On The Web' section has been given a permanently displayed box on the right of the screen. Before this was hidden away, only to be displayed when toggled. The icons have been refreshed to create a more uniform look and to prevent this box from using too much space.
• Advertising has changed slightly to ensure it's not too intrusive on the new design.
• More RSS options are available, including links to external feeds.

I think that's more or less it. Anything else is probably just coding changes. Now I've written that list I have to ask myself - what took so long!

Of course, being new there may be a few glitches here and there. I'll be keeping the site under review for a while and small things may change if they don't work as expected or cause problems (Commenting System - I'm looking at you!)

In terms of testing, I know that some browsers display this site better than others. IE6 users - you'll probably experience problems. All I have to say to that is 'sort yourselves out and get a decent, modern browser.'

I've tested this site as follows:

• Linux Mint, Firefox 3.6 (no problems)
• Linux Mint, Chromium 8.0.552 (no problems)
• Windows 7, Firefox 4.0b1 (no problems)
• Windows 7, Google Chrome (no problems)
• Windows 7, IE8 (display problems due to lack of CSS3 support but perfectly usable)

I don't have earlier versions of IE so can't test it there I'm afraid. If you can, I'd be grateful to know how well it works. Screenshots would be nice too!