News : Vinton Today Same Website, New Design

Things have been pretty quiet around town, but that's normal in January and February.

So I thought while we're all tucked safely and warmly in our jobs and home, staying out of the nasty weather, now would be a great time to catch up on some behind the scenes work on Vinton Today

For months there have been plans to launch the new site...otherwise known as the old website with a new look, and I'm sure numerous updates that I know nothing about, nor do I understand.

While Wordpress is an awesome format for some, we found that Vinton Today became the target of numerous hackers. It could have been because of the...26 MILLION visits to the site over the past 9 years, and the fact that the audience has grown so much that Vinton Today is getting around the globe making the site dare hackers to come and get us.

We bought a shiny new firewall that was supposed to stop the hackers, but I think they all climbed right over it and said, "Pffft! That's all you've got?" So our dear sweet tech gal, Kathy, spent most of her time there for quite a few months dreading our emails and text messages that said, "HELP! S.O.S. and HOUSTON, we have a problem!"

She had to make way too many phone calls to "tech support" arguing with people that are supposed to be smarter than we are. I'm sure the conversations went something like this.

"Hello, tech support? It's me again, the gal that's keeping Vinton Today online. We're being hacked."

Tech Support: "Here buy our shiny new firewall, that will save you."

Our Gal: "We already did.

Tech Support: "Then it's you or someone that is uploading onto the site. Change your passwords."

Our Gal: "Been there done that so many times already."

Tech Support: "Hmmm, perhaps it's us."

Lather, rinse and repeat conversations like this for several months. We decided that we needed a plan C. (For those that are new, plan A was our first site, now called Vinton Yesterday, Wordpress was plan B, and Plan C is what you're reading now.)

There were a few months last fall that we were fighting to keep the site up and running. 

That was also the time that our email became dysfunctional.

Most of the time our email would grab just one story, or sometimes none of the lists of stories that were put on the website.

So out of frustration for both of these situations, we reached the end of our rope and reached out to Wes, our original brain behind the ability to bring you Vinton Today in the first place. 

"Wes, would you be interested in relaunching our old website again, or is even possible?" I asked.

"Sure!" he said, so we've been chugging away, he with his brains, rewriting code, and updating and redesigning and I've been loading stories to both sites for a while now, and moving all of the ads and links.

For a gal that's in her 50's trying to remember how two different websites operate, dusting off the cobwebs and trying to remember how to load all of this onto the new site has been challenging to say the least. 

FINALLY IT'S HERE!

I hear that websites are supposed to update their site ever 3-4 years, and we were due for a change, but honestly, I hope this is really the last time we have to do this. Maybe we can just settle for a new look next time.

Moving a website it a lot like actually moving.  You pack things up and then when you go to unpack you find you're missing something, so you run back to the old house trying to find the missing half of the set, grab it and run back to the new house.

Along with all of these details, we are in the process of getting the email up and running again as well because we know that a lot of you miss that. 

So while we're all waiting for summer, (I was going to say spring but we all know that that's not a guarantee of warm weather) and are snuggled safely inside, I'll be here trying to get this new site loaded and updated so that we can get back to our regularly scheduled news site!

Thanks, everyone for your patience. Thanks, Kathy for the hours, and days, and sleepless nights on our behalf. And Wes, thanks for stepping in again, glad to have you back, can't wait to take the new site for a spin around the block!