Introducing The Aldbourne Net!
This is an abridged version of a news article originally posted by Trish Rushen (on behalf of the Aldbourne Website Group) on the Aldbourne Community Website on 20th April 2010:
“Many of you will be aware that the Aldbourne Website Group has been working on a major refurbishment of this website for some time now. Questions have been asked about why it has taken so long, and why we are spending a large amount of money on the project. It seems an opportune time to address those points, and update you about the new site.
Firstly, it is very easy to build certain types of website these days. There is plenty of affordable or even free software that enables you to do this on your own computer, and there are also websites where you can put together your own site online. For many people, this fits the bill.
Our requirements however are markedly different. The Aldbourne Community Website was one of the first village websites, and it has always been maintained by a group of people. This is at the heart of our ethos, as we hope it creates an amenity for the village that everyone feels they have a stake in. Such an approach brings various challenges, some of them technical, but through the hard work of all our team and the support of many of our readers, we are now really making progress. The key part of the project is to rebuild this site (and add new ones) in a way that ensures its stability and flexibility for many years to come. This is not as simple as it sounds, and many hours have been spent researching different systems and technology, in order to find one that fits the bill.
We believe we have found the right one, and if you are curious you can read more about it here. It’s called “ExpressionEngine”, and we are pleased with all the functionality it brings. The advantage of choosing this CMS, as opposed to custom building our own one, is that we don’t become too reliant on any one member of our team. As far as it is possible, we are ensuring your village website becomes “future-proof”, so as website group members move on, and new ones join, the website remains live and useful to everyone in and around Aldbourne.
Another important decision we made was that we would employ a third-party web developer to build the site, according to our designs and site map. Such a thing does not come cheap, but we felt it was the best way to deliver a site with the scope and complexity that we envisaged. This requires funding, which we have successfully secured, and it should be noted that, apart from the website group members, this project has not cost the inhabitants of our wonderful village a single penny.
So, where is this new website? Well, we haven’t quite finished it yet, but now seems a good a time to give you a sneak preview. There may be the odd occasion when the site or parts of it are turned off while snags are fixed or information is ported over from this site to the new one, we apologise in advance for this inconvenient but necessary caveat.
In the words of our former webmaster, Peter Thurston, the new site already “knocks the socks off the old one”, and we hope you agree!
Other News
Subscribe via RSS
Website refurbishment news
It’s a year now since the original website for this village (The Aldbourne Community Website) was mothballed, and all the work…
…read more
Nature Notes for February 2012
Thanks again to the Ramsbury Amenity Group for access to their excellent “Nature Notes”. To access a pdf copy of the notes for February…
…read more
Ramsbury Surgery news
Ramsbury Surgery have confirmed that Dr Rodney Owen-Jones will be retiring on 30th June 2012. He has been at Ramsbury Surgery since 1983.…
…read more
Post Office Café now open!
Exciting news – the new café inside Aldbourne Post Office & Stores is now open for business!
Opening hours are 8:00am till 4:00pm,…
…read more
Whitton Team Benefice Church Services for February
Click on the download link below to see Church Services throughout the Whitton Team Benefice for February 2012.
Once the community…
…read more
One week of M4 roadworks at Junction 15
Resurfacing work will start on the M4 at Swindon on Monday night (30th January) for a week.
The overnight work will see the junction…
…read more
Calling all Hedge Experts
Calling all hedge experts – where is there a long Cornelian Cherry hedge in Aldbourne?
The website has received an enquiry about the…
…read more
Welcome to the Club!
Aldbourne Sports & Social Club is a members’ club in the village where everybody is welcome!
The small annual membership cost allows us…
…read more
Old Aldbourne photo - can you help?
Following on from an earlier post in the forum, here is a photograph taken in Aldbourne around the turn of the twentieth century. Julia…
…read more
Latest entry posted by: RB on 2nd February 2012
