How it all came to be and where it’s all going.

Originally, the site was developed by Anna’s brother, Anthony Harvey who himself runs a successful Dynamic Database and Networking business called not surprisingly, ‘Dynamic Database Design’. Using Microsoft Frontpage. The first Time4Balance website was created.

Several years on, facts had changed, the content needed to be tweaked and given a more ‘present day’ feel. Although only several years, in web site design, that can be a lifetime.

The job to re-do Anna’s Website came down to me, Graham Smith, Anna’s partner. With my extensive knowledge and experience of:

• Commercial printing vet
• Marketing and advertising wannabe
• Prepress prima donna
• Photographer dreamer
• Design mogul
• Photoshop whiz
• Quark maestro
• Artwork savvy
• Apple Mac network and server guy
• Email and Unix file sharing server stressed Eric
• Not to mention a unquenchable thirst for web knowledge, coding and Web Standards and Usability…
it came down to me to provide the head and fingers.

What you see is a work in progress.

Wordpress.org, the self hosted version of WordPress (not to be mistake for the very popular and easy to use FREE consumer version, Wordpress.com) is not just a Blog platform, although it lends itself very well to this purpose. It is more, much more than just that. It allows for complete adaption, customisation, tweaking and hacking… anything can be built with WordPress, complete e-commerce websites are just a fraction of what can and are being developed. Complete magazine and news style websites are the norm, as are photographic and design portfolio sites. In short, anything can be created with WordPress, if you have the time, knowledge and motivation.

Knowledge of CSS, XHTML, PHP, MSQL is required to really maximise the WordPress experience.

This versions of Wordpress 2.3 runs from a Windows based hosting with support for ASP.NET, ASP, PHP, MySQL and MSSQL databases. Full email facilities are provided including webmail and anti-virus support.

The installation was made after downloading the Wordpress files and installed directly over FTP to my server space with the invaluable help over at York Networks.

During this time, (and because I was so impressed with Nathan’s attitude, I also moved many of my previous domains and email packages from 123-Reg to York Hosting. Quite simply, the most complete Hosting solution I have come across, and I just don’t mean frivolous wasted extras or freebies, but the support you get is very accessible and friendly. I had many many questions and Nathan got back to me with details emails and replies to ensure the changeover went as smoothly as possible.

About York Hosting.

For users who may be a little confused over why I am talking about hosting and installing Wordpress myself, this is simply because there ARE two versions of Wordpress. The more accessible and consequently more used is the free Wordpress service over at Wordpress.com (not org. Easy to set up, configure and get going. This is ideal for people who just want to point and shoot.

The other option is the one I have been talking about and its a more powerful and customisable way of manipulating Wordpress into what ever system you want, be it, Blog, Website, Website & Blog, CMS (Content Management System). etc. It is utterly powerful and adaptable and so allows for growth with a never ending supply of plug-ins from skilled Wordpress coders.

Credit Due

Since Wordpress has thriving community and a loyal band of followers, customising Wordpress to your own specific needs becomes a considerably less painful way then other CMS (Content Management System) applications. There is a huge library of resources, plug-ins, scripts, themes, ideas and about anything else you can think of.

This site has been built using some of these plug-in’s, scripts and hacked bits of code, so what follows is just a thank you and a credit to the people responsible for making WordPress what it is today.

• Pearsonified : Ideas and code for implementing XHTML and XML Site Maps.

• UpStart Blogger : Provided the intial theme template from which I adapted and customised considerably.