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This page lists new features, changes, and fixes that occur on the site. It does
not list what new titles have been added recently; those are listed on the Recent Additions page. Server Hiccups July 6, 2010 I had some issues with the server which caused some unavailability. I'm fairly certain I've fixed the issue but I'll keep a close eye on things for a few days.
Looking Forward May 1, 2010 I'm starting the process of outlining the next version of Classic Reader and would like to reach out to the users of the site for any input. Do you have any thoughts or ideas about new features you'd like added or improvements to existing features? Let me know via the contact page or post in our Facebook discussion.
Back to adding titles April 6, 2010 I've returned from my trip and have recommenced adding new titles to the site, beginning with the remaining volumes of The Writings of Abraham Lincoln.
A little break... February 24, 2010 I'll be on vacation for a month traveling in and exploring Taiwan. I'll still be checking in daily but may not add any new titles during this time. Once I'm back, though, I'll have plenty of free time to add new contents.
New Preference Item February 4, 2010 A 'Default Sorting' preference has been added to the member control panel. This preference sets the default sorting for browsing the categories (either by title or author).
iPhone/iTouch Version Released January 29, 2010 The first draft of the iPhone/iTouch version of ClassicReader.com is now available at http://i.classicreader.com/ It's brand new and still warm from the oven so it could be a bit flaky. New features will be added and problems corrected over the next while. Feel free to play around with it and let me know of any ideas or problems via the Facebook Discussion page or our contact page.
Update on iPhone/iTouch Version January 29, 2010 I'm nearly finished with the iPhone/iTouch version of ClassicReader.com with only a few finishing touches to complete before launching the first draft. It should be ready by tomorrow afternoon. Please keep in mind that it is a draft, or beta, version and will not be feature complete right away. As such, I welcome your comments, problem reports, and suggestions.
Mobile Content & Anniversary January 13, 2010 I've been working on an iPhone/iTouch version of Classic Reader and should have the beta version available in the next 7-10 days. This version should also be accessible on most mobile devices. I'll post a note here when it becomes available. I was taking a glance at the FAQ page on Classic Reader and realized that it'll reach its tenth anniversary in late March. I should probably do something to celebrate. Hmmm.
The Return of Ratings December 29, 2009 The user rating system has returned after a too-long absence. There's still an issue with rating short stories but that'll be fixed soon as well. The link to rate a book can be found in the Additional Book Info box on table of contents pages.
Additional Book Info & Checklist December 9, 2009 I've added the display of additional book info such as date added, translator, edition, etc, to each book. The information is available in the upper-right of table of content pages. The "Mark Book as Read" feature is back! I seemed to have overlooked it when I implemented the new site design a while back. My bad.
A Case of the Splits November 30, 2009 I've split up title listings on author pages into two columns when they exceed 30 titles. This should reduce the amount of scrolling required to view the listings.
Contact Re-established November 23, 2009 I've setup a new contact form for any of your questions or concerns about the site. This one resolves the abuse issues of the previous one. You can reach it at http://www.classicreader.com/feedback.htm
Lots o' Lucy Maud Montgomery November 12, 2009 As many may have noticed, I've been adding quite a few Lucy Maud Montgomery works lately. I'm trying to get all of her short stories (hundreds of them) published on the site before year's end. Things have been a bit slow at ClassicReader.com recently as I've been working on the development of another web site, and my day job has kept me tired. Hopefully, things will pick up in the new year with some new developments.
September 6, 2009 After taking most of the summer off to get married and to enjoy the fine weather, I'm back to adding new titles. I just came back from a week-long backpacking trip in the Rockies and look forward to a bit of sit-down work :o)
Missing Images Fixed February 19, 2009 I've fixed the issue with the missing images in illustrated books. It seems I changed the way
they were handled by the software but forgot to make the changes to the database to reflect
those changes.
September 26, 2008
I've switched the site to the new design today. Some features are not yet operational (such as the
Checklist) but will become so in the next few days. Hopefully, things go as planned and I can get back to adding
new titles soon.
September 5, 2008
I've been making pretty good progress on the new site design and have reached about 80% completion. I expect
the redesign to take about 2 more weeks or so; I have to squeeze it in between my day job and other obligations. Again, you
can check out the progress at beta.classicreader.com
August 13, 2008
As you may have noticed, I haven't added any new titles in a while. The reason for this is that I am working
on an updated version of Classic Reader. This new version incorporates a new design and will also host new features. There's
no ETA yet on the launch but a preview version may be viewed here (please note that
it is not fully functional at the moment).
April 18, 2008
I'll be updating all of the server software over the next couple of days which may result in the
site being unavailable for short periods of time. Sorry for any inconvenience.
October 16, 2007
I've eliminated most pop-under ads from the site. It's a revenue loss but it should make things more
enjoyable for all.
Sales of the ClassicReader Library Disc have resumed.
September 25, 2007
I've split up the author listing on the Short Stories category to reduce the page to a more manageable size. The
listing is now split into an alphabetical order and presented in an expanded format (with title listings).
March 3, 2007
As some of you may have noticed, Classic Reader was not accessible for approximately four days last week. This was due to the collapse of the registrar I used to register this domain name. The domain classicreader.com was due to expire and I wasn't able to renew it due to the non-performance of the registrar (RegisterFly). I've managed to get the domain transferred to another registrar and have regained control. The site should now be operating normally.
October 3, 2006
I've split the huge list of titles (nearly 3100) into separate pages for each letter
of the alphabet. This should make it a bit easier to find a particular title and result in a faster-loading
page.
April 4, 2005
Today marks the final addition of new titles for at least the new two
months. I leave for the west coast next Monday and have to freeze development of the
site until I get a laptop computer in June/July. I'll, at that point, be able to work remotely when
I'm not at my job at the bakery.
March 31, 2005
After noticing no activity in the annotation system for the past while, I tried
using it and found that it was broken (you couldn't add or edit annotations). I've located
the cause of the problem and have fixed it. I apologize for any inconvenience.
March 28, 2005
Sales of the Classic Reader DVDs and CDs have been discontinued until I return
from the west coast of Canada, sometime in the Fall. I will continue to add new titles until
my departure in two weeks.
Today's additions have pushed the total title count to over 3000. As a milestone, it's not
as great as the first 100 or 1000 titles but a milestone nonetheless. My goal had been to surpass
5000 titles by year's end but, depending on how long I'm gone and whether I can work from the
west coast, I may not attain that goal. I'm making sure that, if I can secure a laptop, I'll be
able to work on Classic Reader remotely by moving all of the processing software from my home
PC onto the server and creating a DVD copy of all the data (for this website and others).
March 23, 2005
I've resumed the additions of new titles with the addition of 19 new authors
and 33 new titles. The preponderance of new titles are in the
Short Story category, where I'll be focusing my efforts over the
next week or so.
In about three weeks, I'll be leaving for Saturna Island
on the west coast of Canada to start work and will not
be adding new titles for some time after my departure. I'll be able to fix any errors and possibly
add a new title now and then once I secure a laptop to work on.
March 22, 2005
I've just completed a website consisting of a dictionary of poetical
quotations. I've been working on it for the past week-and-a-half, which is the reason
for the dearth of new titles. I should be resuming the addition of new titles tomorrow.
March 1, 2005
It appears I'll be heading back to the West Coast for 6 months as of April in
order to spend the Summer/Fall working. Since it's a temporary move, I won't be bringing my
computer with me. This means there won't be any new titles added to the site during
that period (April-October).
I decided to do this in order to build a bit of a financial safety-net after seeing revenues
from this, and another, web site fall by over 50% during January and February. Hopefully things will
have recovered by the Fall so I won't need to this again next year.
February 24, 2005
I've added 4 new author biographies and 12 author portraits.
February 22, 2005
I've added 9 new author biographies and 22 author portraits. I've also added icons
to author listings to indicate the presence of portrait and/or biography.
January 27, 2005
I've replaced most of the images that served as links with text-only links. This
should reduce download times a wee bit.
The DVD version of the ClassicReader.com Library is now available as a single DVD or as a
quarterly subscription. The CD-ROM is still available but contains only the first 2600 titles.
January 15, 2005
I'll be taking the next few days off to work on another web site I maintain.
During that time, no new titles will be added. I'll get back to adding new titles early next
week.
I've just ordered a DVD writer in order to create a DVD version of the Library CD-ROM and to
offer a quarterly subscription DVD. Hopefully, this'll be ready by the end of next week.
January 6.1, 2005
Due to some very offensive comments being posted on a couple of the books,
all comments included with ratings will be reviewed before being posted. The rating itself
is immediately posted.
January 6, 2005
The CD-ROM version of ClassicReader.com is almost to the point where
it'll be full (currently 625MB). Within the next few weeks, as more titles are added,
the ClassicReader.com library will become too large to fit onto a CD-ROM. I'm working on
a DVD version to eliminate this limitation.
January 1, 2005
Added book info and the ability to rate short stories. That had been an
oversight on my part.
December 23, 2004
I'll be taking the next few days off for the holidays so no new
books will be added until next week. Happy holidays!
December 14, 2004
I repaired some errors in six books that caused them to be either truncated
or have misordered Tables of Content. I also found the cause of these errors and fixed it.
December 1, 2004
I've renamed the 'Children' category to 'Young Readers' to take into account
the fact that titles in this category aren't necessarily just for children (I found myself
reading parts of the Green
Fairy Book while formatting it today.) I'll be collapsing the sub-categories into their
respective parent category this week and devising a better way to divide the listings into
smaller chunks.
November 23, 2004
Fixed some errors with the Feedback form that were introduced when I made
changes to the book-serving software last week. I'd been wondering why there hadn't been
any messages coming in.
November 18, 2004
A new feature has been added that allows members to mark books as read. These books
will then be listed in the Member Control Panel. Books marked as read are also indicated by a red
check mark in category and author listings.
While I was at it, I also took the time to make a large number of behind-the-scenes changes
to the book-serving software which, hopefully, will be invisible to users (they will, however,
make things easier for me.)
November 15, 2004
During the last site design update the "Printer Friendly" function apparently
stopped working. I was informed of this today and have corrected the problem.
November 10, 2004
I'll be getting back to adding new books over the next few days. I've been
busy designing and building my personal web site (gooby.ca),
a project that I've been putting off for a while, and getting in some hiking before winter
sets in.
I also noticed that the search form wasn't working on many pages. This has been corrected
and a slap to the forehead administered.
October 24, 2004
Book ratings (1-5 stars) are now displayed in category and author listings.
October 23, 2004
Users of the site can now add their personal reviews of the books. If you wish to
add a book review, go to your chosen book's Table of Contents page and scroll to the
bottom and follow the review link. Reviews, if available, are posted at the bottom
of a book's Table of Contents page.
October 22, 2004
The site sports a new, cleaner design to begin a new period of expansion for this site
(and a few others I manage). I've just completed a cross-country move back to my hometown on
the east coast of Canada. Along with this change of location, I'm also devoting myself
to managing this site (and a few others) on a full-time basis. It's a leap of faith to give
up a secure day job and throw oneself into the uncertainty of self-employment, but I'll
do my best to succeed.
As with previous design changes, some parts of the site will continue to use the previous
design until they are switched over (search results, forum, etc).
Other news:
- Although it's old news, you can now add a rating to the books on a scale of
1 to 5. What is new is that you can now also add comments to your ratings.
- The fact that there is news is news itself. I've been fairly lax in updating
this page on a regular basis (this is the first update in a year!). I'll endeavour to
add news of changes, major and minor, on a more regular basis.
October 17, 2003
I've switched the site to a new design and hope to finally get back to adding
more books on a regular basis. Other news:
- I've added more author biographies and will
be adding more author pictures in the near future.
- Annotation tool has been updated to allow choice of color, styles
and positioning (either inline or in the right margin). The annotation
tool has its own box located on the left side, where applicable.
- Printer friendly pages are now available.
- Single-book searches are back! You can search sitewide or search within a single book using
one form.
- User reviews and ratings are the next items to be added, hopefully within
a week.
As with previous design changes, some parts of the site will continue to use the previous
design until they are switched over (search results, forum, etc).
November 22, 2002
I'm switching the site to the new database and backend software today.
This is akin to a slow-motion train wreck. There will be problems accessing
parts of the site until this changeover is complete.
November 8, 2002
I'm currently in the process of overhauling all the software that
this site runs on as well as restructuring the database that contains
the books. This is being done in order to simplify maintenance and to
make the addition of new features possible.
During this period, some features may become temporarily unavailable
while they are being worked on. Most notably, the annotation system
will need to be placed on a read-only status in order to safely move
it to the new system. This may take up to 3 days to complete (check
this page for updates on when this will take place).
I welcome your comments and feature suggestions on this topic. You may
discuss
your views in the new forums.
October 21, 2002
Forums have been added to the site to
facilitate discussions of literary topics.
September 23, 2002
Donations can now be made by credit card and electronic check.
You no longer need a Paypal account to donate (although you may still
donate via Paypal).
November 17, 2001
I've completed a major design change which should be more flexible and more
easily allow for the inclusion of new features. The plain format will continue to
be available. A few parts of the site, such as search results, will be in the
previous format for a while longer.
October 30, 2001
The ability to download complete books is now available.
You must register in order to use this
tool (this is to prevent search engine spiders from redundantly
indexing the complete books). Registered users of the site will find
a new link in the "Toolbox" bar entitled "Get Complete Book" when
viewing the table of contents for a book. The complete books are displayed
in a plain format and includes a table of contents.
October 26, 2001
Modifying the book-serving software turned out to be a more time-consuming process
than I had originally thought (it also required a minor restructuring of the database).
I've finally completed the testing phase and have applied the changes to the site. You
won't see very many apparent changes other than the change in URL's for Table of Contents
pages (the old URL's will continue to work as usual). The ability to download complete
books should become available by the end of the month.
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