I am happy to present to you the new and improved RaagVamdatt.com!
Changes In The Website’s Appearance
Regular visitors would have obviously noticed the drastic change in the look and feel of the website – that’s something that is hard to NOT notice!
But if you haven’t seen the old website, here are the screenshots:
The New RaagVamdatt.com
The New RaagVamdatt.com (Click to enlarge)
The Old RaagVamdatt.com
The Old RaagVamdatt.com (Click to enlarge)
The Old Old RaagVamdatt.com
This is the second complete redesign of the website. Here is the screenshot the original RaagVamdatt.com – this would help you see how the website’s look has evolved over time!
The Old Old RaagVamdatt.com
But it is not just a change in looks – a LOT has changed behind the scenes as well. (If you are technically inclined, there are more detail at the end of this article).
Following is the list of things that have changed.
Changes In The Website’s Speed
Again, this is something regular visitors would have noticed immediately – RaagVamdatt.com is now pretty fast!
The site now loads up quickly, and even if there is something slowing it down, the main content (in the middle column) loads up first. So you can straightaway start reading what you want to read the most!
Focus on Better Readability
This website is on personal finance, and the articles are thorough – which also means that the articles are quite long and are text heavy. Therefore, my main focus during this redesign was on better readability.
I am sure you would agree that the site now is a lot cleaner and easier to read.
User Registration and Log-In
Lately, I had received some complaints about the user registration process. This process has now been completely overhauled, and is working flawlessly.
If you are not yet registered with RaagVamdatt.com, register now in less than a minute. To know why you should register, please click here.
If you are already registered with the old RaagVamdatt.com
If you have already registered at the website, all your details (log-in ID, email, etc) except your password have been carried forward to the new site. All you need to do is visit the “lost your password” link in the left sidebar, reset your password, and you are all set!
Downloads
There are a LOT of things for download on RaagVamdatt.com – sample illustrations, calculators, income tax related forms, forms for post office schemes like PPF, SCSS, NSC, KVP, and more.
For the downloads too, I had received some complaints – like files not being available at times. Again, this process has now been completely overhauled, and is working without any issues.
Threaded Comments
The comments under the articles are now threaded – this means that you can now answer to a specific commenter right below his or her comment instead of leaving a comment at the very bottom of an article.
Future Plans
Of course, this is just the beginning. I have a lot more functionality planned for the website which would be unraveled over the next few months. So please stay tuned!
Your Comments and Feedback
So what do you think about these changes?Do you like them? Is there anything else you would want to see at RaagVamdatt.com? I would love to here these in the comments below.
Any Issues?
Although I have thoroughly tested the website, I am sure some issues might have slipped through… If you find a problem or bug, I would be thankful if you let me know through the comments below.
Under The Hood Changes (Only For The Technically Inclined)
If you are a programmer or have a technical inclination, you would be interested in knowing what has changed under the hood.
The answer is: Everything! The Content Management System (CMS) – which is like the engine in a car – powering RaaVamdatt.com has changed.
Earlier, the website was powered by a CMS called Zikula (previously known as PostNuke). It is an excellent CMS, and I am thankful to its developers because I have used it for more than 3.5 years to run RaagVamdatt.com. But lately, I was facing some issues with user log-ins and downloads (as described above). Also, newer functionality was not being developed as fast as I would have liked. This led to my decision to convert to a different CMS.
And now, RaagVamdatt.com runs on WordPress – a leading blogging software and an emerging CMS.
I am confident that this switch would mean a better user experience for the readers and a possibility of benefiting from lots of additional functionality in the future.
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