Unlike last year, I didn’t get much time to settle in before getting stuck into working – a few minutes after dumping my stuff into my room, James and I headed straight to the Media Centre at the uni to meet with the new editor of The Waterfront newspaper. For the next year, James and I are responsible for managing the new website that we have developed for the paper. Apart from actually building the website, our job also includes taking each issue of the paper as it is released, and putting it online. Earlier that week we discovered that a new edition was being released on Monday – in time for the start of fresher’s week.

Crap.

That left us with 2 days to get the content from the paper onto the website, get the website ready to go live, and launch it. So that’s what we did. On Friday night there was a concern that we wouldn’t be able to get it done in time, but as you can probably tell from my last post, we made it. The new website went live – with the first edition of the waterfront fully loaded on at 9am on Monday.

Of course, as far as the public is concerned, the website is complete – but in reality it is far from it. We still have no ability to add articles to the database without using complicated SQL statements, and we still have no ability for users to contribute to the website. However, over the next few weeks, we are hoping to start addressing this issue (hopefully before the next issue is released on Friday!).

So that all our hard work doesn’t go to waste, take a look – www.waterfrontonline.co.uk and let me know what you think.

Welcome to the very first blog post on the new Waterfront Online website. This new blog will cover all the exciting changes that are happening to this site – from new features, to updates and problems that are encountered along the way. In this first entry, I am going to introduce myself and James (the other technical web editor), I’ll tell you what Project Metis is all about and a bit about what we are hoping to achieve over the next few months.

The Development Team

I’m Dafydd Vaughan – one of the joint technical web editors for the Waterfront newspaper. I’m currently in my third year at Swansea studying for a Masters in Computer Science. For the past few years I’ve worked for a web development company based in Cardiff. Through this I’ve been lucky to be involved in several large projects for companies such as Thomas Cook, the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, Neilson and the Association of Project Managers. For Project Metis, I have been involved in designing the new look for the site and testing all the new features we’re going to be implementing.

I work on this website with James Gawn – the other technical web editor. James is also studying for a Masters in Computer Science here at the university. James has been developing PHP based websites since early high school and has put this knowledge and experience to the test in developing this new site. James has been involved in putting together all the code that runs the site.

For more information on James, Myself or any other Waterfront team members, take a look at the “about” section of the website.

What is Project Metis?

What exactly is Project Metis? Well put simply, it is everything that you see on this website. In actuality it is much more than that. Project Metis covers everything you can see, but also all the systems and management applications running behind the site that keep it ticking over smoothly.

Back in July of this year, James and I applied for the position of Web Editors with the aim of polishing up the existing website and making a few improvements to the way news articles were put onto the site. After a few meetings with the senior editor and current web team, it became clear that the website was in desperate need of a major overhaul. With this in mind, James and I set about designing and producing a completely new website that is easy to maintain and keep up to date.

A few months later and here we are. A brand new website for the students of Swansea. Of course, we are no where near finished. There is much more work still to be done, and this is what we will be working on for the next few months.

At this point I am going to attempt a bit of mind reading and pre-empt the inevitable question “why ‘Project Metis’?”. Well, this is a very good question with a quite simple answer. A week or so into development we realised that the website was in effect a large piece of software and so as is tradition in the Software Industry, we decided we needed a project codename. In general, the code name is used in place of the official name of the software until it is released – one of the reasons for this is they are generally easier and sound nicer. A few searches of the web for certain key words brought back a list of Greek Mythological gods – one of which is Metis. Metis presided over all wisdom and knowledge – quite appropriate for a university newspaper. Hence Project Metis was born.

What are the Plans?

We still have a lot to do. Although this is a nice snazzy new website, it is still very much a one way affair. We can put stuff on here for you to read, but there isn’t really any way for you to contribute to the site. Some of you may have noticed the lack of a “comment” button at the bottom of this blog. This is one of the things we are planning on fixing.

Over the next few months we are hoping to allow you to comment on blog entries and articles (much like the Have Your Say on the BBC News website). You will be able to register, and maintain your own profile on the site and most importantly, you will be able to make this site into what you want it to be. This is your university, your student union, and your website. Without you contributing to it, we don’t know if we are doing things right.

As we add these features in, we will tell you about it on this blog and we will be asking for feedback from you with ways to improve it.

And Finally…

Now that I’ve been through most of the points, I think I should get back to developing all the nice features I’ve been talking about. Until we get the comments up and running, if you want to get hold of us, head over to the contact us part of the website, and send us a message.

Dafydd Vaughan
Senior Technical Web Editor
Waterfront Online

Work is continuing on Project Metis – expect a detailed blog post on this in the next week or so where I will formally introduce the project and a new blog covering the ongoing developments. The front end of this new website is 99% there and we are now in the process of making the final changes and implementing the back end content management systems. With any luck, we should be able to go live in time for Freshers Week at Swansea University.

In other news, one of my systems has been put to the test during the enrolment of new students at Hereford Sixth Form College. The ‘enrolment 2006′ system was built to enable the new students at the college to submit their GCSE results electronically to the student records system. The website went live on Thursday last week (results day) and has been used by the majority of students to submit their results.

Finally, this is my final post as a teenager. I’m 20 tomorrow – very very scary!

That’s all for now, keep an eye out for the Project Metis entry coming soon.

Daibach

Most of my summer is going to be spent working for a website development company based in Cardiff Bay. I’ve worked in the same company every summer for the past 5 years so I’m very familiar with a large number of their clients and websites. I’ve got to be quite careful what I say about the work I’ve done/ am doing there, especially with regards to websites that are under development (which are pretty much a no-go area), but I might make the occasional comment.

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Another site I will be working on over the summer (which has absolutely nothing to do with my summer job or my freelance work) has been nicknamed Project Metis. This website is being developed by myself and James Gawn – my flat mate in Swansea. The site is a huge replacement for the current website dedicated to Swansea University’s student newspaper – The Waterfront. For this project, I am in charge of design and will be producing all the graphics and styles for use on the site. Expect many comments about this project as the development gets underway. We are expecting to have the public side of the development live by September, so keep an eye out!

Websites aren’t all I have planned for the summer! Next weekend I have a BBQ with some of the Comp Sci department staff, graduates and students (for more see this blog entry). Also, very soon Dan and I are visiting Global Gathering – the UKs biggest Dance music Festival.

Judging from the speed at which the past 3 weeks have passed, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’ll be the start of University very soon! At least I have a very busy summer to keep my occupied.

That’s all for now!

Since the Summer Ball / Escape into the Park back at the end of June, we spent the week packing, cleaning and drinking in preparation for moving back home.  On the last Thursday of term Ian and I went out and joined Helen, Gemma, Gemma and Emma on their last night in Swansea.  Helen is spending the next year in New Zealand as part of her course and Gemma P is spending the next few months in Australia, so it was sort of a good bye party.  The photo on the right was taken at the end of the night in Time Swansea.  By this point in the night there were only 4 of us left – me, Emma, Ian and Helen.  More photos can be found in the media section.

A few days later, I completed my move back to Abergavenny and am now living in my new bedroom in the extension.  I’ve also started my traditional summer job in Cardiff so I spend most of the week down in the wonderful Cardiff Bay.

The past few months have been a very busy one for my business.  I’ve spent a lot of time and effort developing 3 new websites and am about to embark on another.  My greatest achievement this month so far has been the launch of a new website for the town of Crickhowell in South Powys.  This small town relies heavily on its community atmosphere, and maintaining this is one of the purposes of the new website.  Since early this year I have been working with Jan Morgan at the Crickhowell Resource & Information Centre to develop the design of the site as well as implementing the systems in use.  The new site has made use of systems I have previously built such as a news module, events calendar, links and contact forms but also incorporates some brand new systems.  One of which enables all community groups, tourist attractions, accommodation providers and businesses to have their own updatable page on the website.  As you might be able to tell, I am quite proud of this website!  It doesn’t end there though!  Plans are currently being drawn up for the second phase of developments which could include a community blog and visitor photo albums.  Feel free to check out the website at http://www.crickhowellinfo.org.uk.

Another website I have been working on recently is a site to promote a book containing a series of bike rides within / around the Blaenavon World Heritage Site.  The new book has been written by a local cycle enthusiast – Alwyn Thomas – who has spent the last few months compiling these rides.  The website I’ve produced – all though very small has been designed to give visitors a taste of what can be found in the book.  Extracts from the book are available on the site as well as details of where the book can be bought from.  I’ve also included a PayPal buy now button so the book can be bought online easily.  Again, feel free to take a look at the site at http://www.odynbooks.co.uk.

The final website I have produced this month is an internal website for Herford Sixth Form College.  The website has been developed so that the college can efficiently gain access to applicant’s qualifications before final interview at the end of August.  On GCSE results day, every applicant will log into the website with their username and password provided to them by the college and input their GCSE grades.  These will then be automatically added to the college’s student records database.  The system is expected to be used by well over 1000 students!  This is another website I’m very proud of.  It is the first of a series of systems I am producing for the college that aim to improve the efficiency of the way in which the college operates.  I would provide a link to the system, but it isn’t really any use as you can’t log in without a username and password .  The best you’ll get is the screenshot on the right! Sorry.

There are a few other bits and pieces I could mention, not least including Project Metis, but these can wait for another time and another update (maybe later today depending on how I feel).

But for now, I think I will say goodbye and go make myself some food.