For the first time in the 2+ year history of this blog, i've done a major redevelopment of the script that the blog runs off. Now when I say 'major redevelopment' I really mean total redevelopment. For the better part of the last week, i 've totally rebuilt this blog from the ground up (or really, the database up), with a new totally updated script. Please contact me if you notice any bugs, faults, etc.

I've really strived to have this new blog resemble the old one as much as possible, but the regular readers will notice a lot of changes, summarised below:

Layout: probably the most striking change, the old blog had a very much of a single-entry layout. This new one has more of a multi-entry layout, which is in-line with pretty-much the blog 'standard' these days (eg wordpress, blogger, etc).

For example, this means that when viewing the blog index page you will be displayed the 5 most recent entries to the blog listed one after another. In order to add/see comments for an entry, you have to click into the entry-specific view (by clicking on the respective 'comments' link).

Adding Comments: This is probably the biggest reason why I changed the blog. Most would have noticed the significant amount of comment-spam the old blog had been receiving of late. Now, in addition to some keyword filtering, in order to add a comment you must fill in an image verification code (i.e. read the image and type into the field what it displays). I expecting that this will stop 99% of the spammers in their tracks.

Also for my more frequent commenters (especially Andrew ;)), the add comment form now has the ability to 'remember' you so that you don't have to keep on typing in your name, website details, etc, every time that you make a comment. This works with cookies so some people may have to adjust their browser settings if it doesn't work.

Btw, the comments from the previous entries will have an erroneous date line at the bottom of them; this is caused by some of the database differences between the two versions of the blog script, and unfortunately there was no easy way to just have the one correct timestamp.

No view count: Yes, the good old view count has disappeared. Because of the new multi-entry layout of the blog, this makes the view count impractical (not that it was too reliable or practical before, Mr Refreshers i'm talking to you! (you know who i'm talking about... hehe)).

I'll be doing a proper life-blog entry soon. Once again, please let me know if anything is stuffing up, and of course your feedback/reactions are more than welcome.