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July 2009 
Coming soon... (plus a wonderful week to celebrate!)
Posted on Nov 13th, 2008
by 
Gaia Team
Gaia Team
Hello Gaia, and happy Thursday. :)
It's Siona this time, with a weekly update that's more of a heads-up than a review of what's been done.... a little peak around the corner into the remainder of November and the final month of 2008. (And no, I can't believe this year is nearly over!)
What lies ahead? Plenty of goodness:
¤ First up, we'll be unveiling a beautiful new (and slightly more interactive) home page at some point around Thanksgiving. It'll be a more welcoming introduction to our community and should make it easier for newcomers to start exploring. The general tone is very much as it is today, but the whole thing will look much more inviting and interactive. Jackson's been working miracles, as usual, and I'm excited to show off the results soon. :)
There'll be other neat additions with the big release, too (the ability to easily share your mood and add your own Gaia smilies) but those are the major points. Exciting, no? I've been saying that I think this is going to be the best winter ever (it helped that November 4th was a beautiful start ;), and now you know why.
¤ We're also about to (finally!) release a fix for a problem that's almost a tradition on the site. If you're like me, there've been times when you've carefully typed out a response, pressed the 'Add Comment' button, and had your words disappear in a puff of pixels... never to be seen again. Our new comment solution will put an end to this evil-wizardry, and if all goes well, we'll be using this same new editor in other areas of the site. Yay.
¤ Coming up shortly, too, is a 'save draft' feature, so you can take your time with your longer responses without worrying about losing them. We'll start by implementing it with discussions, but, as with the new editor, it'll eventually move to blogs and the like as well.
¤ What else? You've probably already noticed that over the past few weeks we've moved every item from the navigation bar up top into the sidebar to the left. Before December hits, we'll be removing that slim little lavender strip entirely—there'll be no need for the redundant top and we'll free up space for... well, it's a surprise. A really, really good one. :) You'll see.
¤ And last but certainly not least, our next major release (in mid-to-late December) will reveal a beautiful update to the whole of the Groups / Discussions areas. In addition to better integrating our 'libraries' (which currently just means books and quotes but, before the end of the year, will include music and films as well), you'll find a much more spacious, nicely laid-out, and sensible Groups area. We'll have screenshots before launch, so you'll get a glimpse before then, but for now, just know we're so, so happy to be finally giving those areas the attention they deserve--not to mention providing each of you with a more wonderful 'conversational' experience.
And oh! I almost forgot! Today is World Kindness Day, and, beyond that, you've still got a few days to participate in World Kindness Week. (And yes, I know... for most of you every day qualifies. :) Celebrate however you wish—with an extra-bright-smile, a visit to a neighbor, a spontaneous gift for a stranger—and don't forget to tell others about the holiday. It's a beautiful message to spread:
"The purpose of World Kindness Day is to look beyond ourselves, beyond the boundaries of our country, beyond our culture, our race, our religion; and realise we are citizens of the world. As world citizens we have a commonality, and must realise that if progress is to be made in human relations and endeavours, if we are to achieve the goal of peaceful coexistence, we must focus on what we have in common."
Love and hugs and I hope you've got wonderful plans for the upcoming weekend,
Access: Public
I'm so happy for little problems being cleaned up, but really, is there anyone who hasn't figured out that they can compose in notepad or hit ctl+C and keep their words safe? As problems go, pretty small. I think world kindness week should be all of our weeks. Why not?
tink: Oh, after years of skittery internet connections and hiccuping unstable browsers, I've had it drilled into me to only compose in text boxes. What would I do without copy-paste? And I agree! Perhaps we should nominate 2009 as the Year of World Kindness…
thank you for the update, Siona!
much love
Happily awaiting the changes. Thanks you.
All delightful news, and I too anticipate eagerly !!
For shorter stuff I have been doing “save drafts” all along by doing control a, control c, several times during writing, but I just hate it when my finger slips and I hit control v instead of control c. That's a fatal POOF !! So the new way will definitely be better !!!
I'm just glad someone is pushing a World Kindness Day or Week for those for whom it's NOT a habit, as it is for most of us !!!
Hugs to the whole Team,
OM Bastet
Great updates, and such wonderful work by the team! Thanks!
You've probably already noticed that over the past few weeks we've moved every item from the navigation bar up top into the sidebar to the left. Before December hits, we'll be removing that slim little lavender strip entirely-there'll be no need for the redundant top…
Happy mantra, the tabs went away?!?!? Well, suffice it to say, that I hadn't noticed, which means for me, at least, it was quite a “seamless” transition due to great web design. I suspect it was just as seamless for others, too…
Only one teeny little request. If the lavender bar goes away, please, please, please be sure to put the “Powered by Zaadz” somewhere? I have no idea why, but for some reason I'm quite sentimental about that last little vestige of zaadz….
HummingBird and OM and samugan… Thank you for your contributing your dear faces here. It's nice to know I'm not alone in my enthusiasm.
And jeepdog! I'm so happy your warnings about needing to spend less time here weren't too necessary; it's such a treat to see your words. Thank you for the kudos, and no worries at all about the 'powered by Zaadz'; my heart is similarly sappy. If you'll just scroll to the bottom of this screen… see? It's there, supporting everything.
World Kindness Week was very interesting where I live. A florist donated 20 dozen roses for the first 20 people who arrived at her shop. I was one of the lucky ones. The only requirement was that we gave the roses away to others in a random act of kindness. I had the best day of my life! The people I gave the roses to had many different reactions. A few even cried and told me they were having a very bad day until I gave them a rose. I'm thinking of just purchasing flowers now and then and give them away. Something so simple created alot of kindness and happiness.
My comment just went poof! Let me try again!
How exciting to have all these enhancements done and about to come that's making our Gaia experience more user friendly (which spells fun)! Thank you so much for your leadership Siona, for your team and each and everyone of you! My icon today and my status is dedicated to all of you. Hugs, smiles, love, light, and blessings! ~ Mila
Awww, I like the creativity that goes into typed smilies. <=-( Anyone can just program little faces (well, not everyone, and certainly not me, but you know what I mean).
As to World Kindness Day, Thomas Paine said: “My country is the world. My ethnicity is the human race. My religion is to do good.” Amen, TP.
Teresa: That is such a wonderful story… and I love how beautifully you stepped into the role. You've made me want to go out and buy a bunch of (organic) roses for Thanksgiving and pass them out on the street. :)
Sagittaria: See the little side-ways smiley above? I'm with you! I just know what there are many many here who like being able to include smilies and it's 'safer' from a code perspective to provide options rather than force people to hack their own versions in. You can always type your own, though… best of both worlds. ;)
Mila: Thank you right back (just in time for Thanksgiving, too!). We're lucky to have you here.