(testing site – not for public use – official site: www.nawg.co.uk)

Version History of the NAWG Website

Contents
  • Major releases
  • List of releases
  • Release notes
    •

    Major Releases

    Version Year Description
    5 2025 Created by Kevin Machin, using Django.
    4 2018 Created by Henry Curry, using Ionos Website Builder.
    3 2018 Created by Henry Curry, using Wix.
    2 2014 Created by Kevin Machin, using WordPress. A separate article has details of the releases for 2.x.
    1 2010 Created by Pam Fish and Adrian Robinson, using WordPress.
    0 2001 Created by Pam Fish, using Microsoft FrontPage.

    List of Releases ↑

    Release Date Summary
    P.14.1 28-May-2026 Improved the handling of privacy aspects.
    P.14.0 22-May-2026 Redesigned and reimplemented the way persons and roles are handled.
    P.13.3 16-May-2026 Testing the water regarding site emailing capabilities.
    P.13.2 12-May-2026 Fixed issue with "staff" logins requiring two attempts.
    P.13.1 10-May-2026 Upgraded to Django version 6.
    P.13.0 01-May-2026 Secure connections (HTTPS) capability added.
    P.12.0 01-Apr-2026 Added feature for listing all documents.
    P.11.0 21-Mar-2026 Now using three sites: "dev", "test", and "live".
    P.10.0 17-Mar-2026 Preparations for having a "live" site and a "test" site.
    P.9.0 11-Mar-2026 Reimplemented the command for generating new content items.
    P.8.0 02-Mar-2026 Logging in and out has been implemented.
    P.7.1 24-Feb-2026 Added support for various content [‍[tags]].
    P.7.0 18-Feb-2026 Created tools for use with the writing groups directory.
    P.6.0 07-Jan-2026 Changed purple colour scheme to blue.
    P.5.0 03-Dec-2025 Multiple document types now supported. New and simpler colour scheme.
    P.4.0 24-Nov-2025 Improved handling of documents.
    P.3.0 07-Nov-2025 Added display for list of people. Broken links are shown in red.
    P.2.0 27-Oct-2025 Colour theme added.
    P.1.0 23-Oct-2025 Front page uses tabbed display.
    P.0.0 09-Oct-2025 First preview release, shown to NAWG staff only.

    Release Notes ↑

    P.14.1 ↑
    • Redesigned and reworked the handling of privacy apsects, for more flexibility and reliability.
    P.14.0 ↑
    • Refactored persons and roles handling, including privacy/consent aspects.
    • Phone numbers, websites, email addresses, postal addresses, and postcodes are now handled as objects.
    • Phone numbers are also "encrypted" to deter harvesters from finding them. This is done the same way as email addresses.
    P.13.3 ↑
    • Created test case for emailing capabilities.
    • Quick fix to get the "contact us" form working.
    P.13.2 ↑
    • Refactored the login and logout views to be much simpler. This fixes an issue where two attempts were required when logging in as "staff".
    • Restricted display items such as pages, articles, documents, now give a "forbidden" (403) HTTP response; if the user is not logged in with sufficient access.
    • Some improvements were made to the JavaScript code. In particular, for the login form.
    P.13.1 ↑

    • Upgraded packages:

      • Django to version 6.0.4,
      • Gunicorn to 25.3.0,
      • Pandas to 3.0.2.
    • All committee material is now restricted to staff, with the exception of AGM material, which remains public.
    P.13.0 ↑
    • Added capability for HTTPS connections.
    • The system automatically periodically checks for SSL/TLS certificate renewals.
    P.12.0 ↑
    • Added feature and quick link (on home page) for displaying a list of all documents.
    • Added middleware for tracing details of requests and responses.
    • Explicitly setting the HTTP headers for "X-Frame-Options" and "Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy" via middleware.
    P.11.0 ↑
    • Deployment supports three sites: "dev", "test", and "live".
    • Banner status is set automatically for non-live sites, to warn visitors.
    • Consolidated resources that don't change across versions, e.g. Link magazine back-issues.
    P.10.0 ↑
    • Deployment architecture changed in order to accommodate having a "live" site and a "test" site.
    • Tools and directory structures adjusted to support the above.
    • Web server listening on port 80 (standard HTTP).
    P.9.0 ↑
    • Reimplemented the new command, for creating new content, as a Django "manage" administrative command.
    P.8.0 ↑
    • Logging in and out has now been fully implemented.
    • Implemented the "contact us" form.
    P.7.1 ↑
    • Added placeholder handling for various content tags, including: [‍[accounts]], [‍[form]], [‍[gallery]].
    P.7.0 ↑
    • Developed a command line tool to generate markup and document for the writing groups directory, using markdown source material.
    • Developed a command line tool for generating markdown source from the membership data. Not ready for production, pending work on cleaning up the membership data.
    P.6.0 ↑
    • Changed the colour scheme for the outer container elements, from purple to blue.
    • Simplified the login page.
    P.5.0 ↑
    • The handling of documents, both for display and downloading, now supports multiple types, including: PDF, markup, markdown, and plain text.
    • A new and simpler colour scheme has been implemented, based on content component types, rather than on access levels.
    • The background image of the zinnia flower (for the "welcome" panel) has been replaced with the cover of the December 2025 edition of Link.
    • The text for the site banner and the site status are now configurable, rather than hard-coded.
    • Reorganised and consolidated the information about Link magazine, so that it's not spread across so many pages.
    • Improved performance by keeping some data in memory, rather than reloading it on every request.
    • Improved web server and application logging, to help diagnose issues.
    P.4.0 ↑
    • Improved handling of documents, including the ability to download them.
    • The list of people is now sorted alphabetically by full name.
    • The single person display now includes a link to their biography, if there is one.
    • Improved the usefulness of the "meta" information that's displayed at the bottom of each page.
    • Refactored the data layer for better handling of table names and more efficient loading.
    P.3.0 ↑
    • A list of people involved with the association can now be displayed.
    • Broken links are displayed in a red colour.
    • Created tests for the data and content software layers.
    P.2.0 ↑
    • Applied a visual theme, based on gradient colour schemes.
    • Primary keys, rather than "slugs", are now favoured in hyperlinks. For example: http://our.site/page/123456/, rather than http://our.site/page/short-name/. This makes people's saved links more "permanent", i.e. more likely to stay working over a long period of time. Names can change but the numbers won't (or at least shouldn't).
    P.1.0 ↑
    • Decluttered the front page and added some imagery.
    • Tabbed display on the front page.
    • Added rounded corners styling.
    P.0.0 ↑
    • First implementation with Django.
    • Deliberately dull colour theme, so as to focus on functionality.
    • Explained and documented as not yet for public use, as not all features are ready.

    Author: Kevin Machin ♦ Created: 04-Aug-2025 ♦ Access: public ♦ Page: site-history ♦ Parent: admin