Today, I've made the action system public. This is a new part of the site which makes suggestions, based on your personal data, for how you could reduce those emissions. There are a bunch of suggestions in there, and if you have any ideas of your own, then if you post them in the Forum, we'll add them to the list!
The release of the action system brings version 0.7 to completion, which was my target for this week. Next week I'll be developing the bit I've been really looking forward to - the social side of the site! This will allow you to view each others profiles, share data, and generally compete to be the greenest!
Thursday 28 June 2007
Wednesday 27 June 2007
Email reminders
Even though I work on the Carbon Diet every day, I often forget to add new data every week. Because of this, I've added an "email reminder" option in the user profile. If you enable it, the site will email you each week (or as often as you choose) if you haven't entered data for a while. The default is off, so it won't annoy anyone who hasn't turned it on explicitly, but it should be useful I think!
Tuesday 26 June 2007
New Forum
We now have a forum for users of the Carbon Diet site, where you can go and share your experiences, both about the site and about green issues in general. It's also the place to send in your bug reports and feature requests, so if there's something about the site you don't like, or something you think could be better, then get on over there and tell me!
There is another thing, which I forgot to mention yesterday. I've added a live chat facility to the help area of the main site, so if you have a problem, you can get hold of me straight away!
There is another thing, which I forgot to mention yesterday. I've added a live chat facility to the help area of the main site, so if you have a problem, you can get hold of me straight away!
Monday 25 June 2007
Action Testing
Calling all testers: I've uploaded some new functionality which only you can see for now. There is a new section on the site which makes some suggestions for actions you can take to reduce your emissions. We're still adding content, so there might not be many ideas on the list, but all the functionality is there now. It needs a good test, and hopefully I'll be able to make it public by the end of this week.
Thursday 21 June 2007
The Carbon Diet goes public!
Yesterday, I uploaded the first version of the Carbon Diet that is open to the public! You don't need to be a tester any more to use it, so it's open to the world now.
Since the last blog post, there have been a whole bunch of changes. You can now enter your data in different units, with sensible defaults depending on where you live, there is a whole bunch of explanatory text to guide you through the process, and all the graphical bugs should be ironed out. I've also added support for users in the US, so we're now international!
You can also store mileage with your fuel purchases, so although the site doesn't use it to calculate CO2, we should be able to add some fuel efficiency graphs for you in the future.
Since the last blog post, there have been a whole bunch of changes. You can now enter your data in different units, with sensible defaults depending on where you live, there is a whole bunch of explanatory text to guide you through the process, and all the graphical bugs should be ironed out. I've also added support for users in the US, so we're now international!
You can also store mileage with your fuel purchases, so although the site doesn't use it to calculate CO2, we should be able to add some fuel efficiency graphs for you in the future.
Thursday 14 June 2007
Redesign
Today I've been working on a complete graphical overhaul of the site, which I've uploaded early so that I can get feedback on it. I think it's much nicer than the last one, and it shows off the new logo as well!
There are also major changes to the workflow of the site. The site should now be much easier to navigate, and more internally consistent.
There are some changes still to be made before this becomes version 0.6 final, mostly to the tour and to the textual content of the new layout, but that can be tomorrow's job.
Take a look, and let me know what you think!
EDIT: I've just realised, I forgot to re-style the login and other user management pages. I'll fix it tomorrow ;)
There are also major changes to the workflow of the site. The site should now be much easier to navigate, and more internally consistent.
There are some changes still to be made before this becomes version 0.6 final, mostly to the tour and to the textual content of the new layout, but that can be tomorrow's job.
Take a look, and let me know what you think!
EDIT: I've just realised, I forgot to re-style the login and other user management pages. I'll fix it tomorrow ;)
More Updates
Last night I uploaded version 0.5 of the site, hurrah! This version is mainly backend improvements, so it's unlikely you'll notice anything hugely different, except possibly a few improvements in the calculations used and a few cosmetic changes here and there. I've postponed the suggestion functionality a little, because there are a few things I want to get right before I write that part.
However, one interesting new feature which you can use is available - the Carbon Diet now has a mobile interface, which you can use through your phone's web browser! This should make entering data much easier as you won't have to boot up your PC just to put an electricity reading in. It still needs heavy testing, but if you want to take a look, load up http://carbondiet.org/m in your phone's web browser.
In other news, I'm now taking a short break from paid work to develop the site full-time. I'm doing a graphical redesign this week, but then I'll hopefully be removing the tester restrictions and letting anyone sign up and get dieting!
However, one interesting new feature which you can use is available - the Carbon Diet now has a mobile interface, which you can use through your phone's web browser! This should make entering data much easier as you won't have to boot up your PC just to put an electricity reading in. It still needs heavy testing, but if you want to take a look, load up http://carbondiet.org/m in your phone's web browser.
In other news, I'm now taking a short break from paid work to develop the site full-time. I'm doing a graphical redesign this week, but then I'll hopefully be removing the tester restrictions and letting anyone sign up and get dieting!
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