June
Carden Guide is Changing:
In January we reported that we would be re-developing our website from top to bottom, a new look and feel, new features and new capabilities. The path of this major undertaking has taken several twists and turns, including some new opportunities and yes a few setbacks. Nevertheless things are progressing nicely.
Behind the scenes one major change has already taken place. In March we realized that our web-host would not be able to meet the requirements of the new software to be implemented. Our search for a new web-host turned into the development of a new strategic partnership that has strengthened our capacity to withstand technical hurdles in a way that we had never imagined. Zach, at Sidekick Digital has already proven to be an invaluable resource. After a crash of our website on Easter Sunday he facilitated the move to the new server in a matter of just a few hours. Some of our regular visitors may have noticed a few irregularities on the site such as broken links and error messages in the days after the move. For this we are truly appologetic. It was the natural outcome of an installation from back-up into a new server environment. Most importantly there was hardly a blip in the on-line registration proceedures for the Carden Nature festival. For that we are very grateful.
A Regional Guidebook:
Another unplanned development is the evolution to a new name. Through the course of evaluating all aspects of our website it became apparent that we should take a new name that reflects the regional nature of our expanding service area. We have found that several potential customers in places such as Coboconk and Brechin pointed out that they were not located in Carden. After some soul searching we realized that they may have a legitimate point. While the name may not be an issue for website visitors, as they say, the customer is always right.
The name change to Regional Guidebook will be an evolutionary process. For the time being we will be keeping our current Domain, www.cardenguide.com although you will also be able to find us at www.regionalguidebook.com . In time we will make the change-over to the new Domain as soon as we have developed and tested a strategy to maintain all of the search engine connections to Carden Guide. Our customers will not want to loose the high volume of visitor traffic that they presently enjoy. There are several options available, although in the end, the change-over will be seamless and without loss of website traffic.
Meanwhile, development continues. The Joomla team has announced the release of update version 1.7 to be released on July 15th. As we are already in development mode, we have decided to include this release in the new version of our website, now scheduled for mid August. We will put the extra time to good use to include some features that were not originally planned.
See you in August!
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January 2011
Tuesday, 01 February 2011 00:00
Reid Byer
Carden Nature Festival soars to new heights:
 On-line registration opened on January 15th with seven people registering within the first few hours. By February 1st registrations are well ahead of that of previous years; 58 people registered in more than 130 activities. As always, the Carden Nature Festival has several organizational enhancements for 2011. The Saturday Night Banquet, guest speaker "The Ptarmigans Dilemma" and other activities have moved inside. The move from big tent to the great indoors should help make this popular event an easily enjoyable experience regardless of the weather. Vendors and information displays will be located in the lower hall. There is also a robust kids program based on a safari like activity that will keep the kids and adults thoroughly engaged.
Jan. 10th 2011,....Joomla! 1.6 (stable) is released.
 We have been following the progress, of this somewhat belated upgrade for Joomla! CMS, through the alpha and beta releases mesmerized by the frenzy of activity by a group of dedicated volunteer soft-ware developers. For as you see, the amazing software platform that Carden Guide runs on is "Open Source" and entirely free to the user. Although the release date is a little later than we had hoped we have made good use of our time renovating and reorganizing our office space in readiness for the next phase.
In a few weeks we will be installing 1.6 on our development website and migrating a copy of our current site to the new platform. Sounds technical doesn't it? Fortunately the Joomla! volunteers have taken care to develop tools to assist web operators in migrating to the new platform. Nevertheless, there are bound to be a few hic-cups along the way. It will take some time to progress through the learning curve, involved in understanding and adopting the many new features and capabilities. Our conservative estimate is that our new and improved Carden Guide Website will be ready in late May.
Gearing up for a new season........
We have also noticed signs of activity throughout our service area. We are clearly not the only ones making preparations for spring.
A very good January has the year off to a great start, - perhaps a harbringer of things to come.
Wednesday, 28 April 2010 00:00
Reid Byer
Step by Step, Inch by Inch:
It is now one year since we introduced our new website. By no means leaps and bounds but slowly, we are progressing toward our goal of offering a wide variety of content that is current and locally relevant. Several individuals have taken up our "Call for Contributors".
The Carden Nature Guide section has begun to take on a new life. After a year of relative inactivity, a new series of original material consisting of twelve articles, is taking shape. Good luck Ron and Jannet in all your undertakings as web-authors.
The Carden Fishing Guide welcomes Andre Carrier, who will become a regular contributor of a series of topical articles related to fishing in South Central Ontario.
Read more...
Saturday, 05 September 2009 20:13
Reid Byer
My Summer Vacation
At Carden Guide we did not take an actual vacation this summer. We did however take pause to reflect on the work that had been completed last fall and winter, in the construction of our new website, and to begin planning site development to take place over the comming months.
One of the key areas of interest has been the subject of website traffic.
Read more...
Carden Nature Festival Revisited
Friday, 01 May 2009 16:24
Reid Byer
Building on Success:
In about one month the Third Annual Carden Nature Festival will be underway. Carden Guide is proud to have been a supporter and service provider to the Festival from the beginning. It is already clear that Festival 09 will be another success. The Steering Committee under the guidance of Chair Lou Probst, the resources and amazing staff of the Couchiching Conservancy and a large cadre of volunteers have all pulled to gether to to make this annual event a significant communnity enterprise.
Read more...
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September
Monday, 16 August 2010 20:05
Reid Byer
Time Flies :
 It has been a very busy summer at Carden Guide. Much of the site has been reworked or refreshed, a lot of new content developed, and a new tag-line "On-line Magazine - Kawartha North".
Of special note, is the Real Estate Listings Category. Through the support of Remax Country Lakes Realty Inc. the real-estate listings pages have grown to more than 40 properties.
Our supporters:
Regular visitors will also have noticed a large number of new advertisers. In fact, we have introduced sixteen new advertisers. The support we have received from the local business community has been very encouraging; so much so, that we have begun new development of our Community Section.
Other New Stuff:
Read more...
Saturday, 09 January 2010 23:26
Reid Byer
January
Ice Fishing in the Kawartha Lakes:
One morning early in January I had the opportunity to sleep in for an extra hour and as I opened the bedroom door, daylight was already streaming in through the skylight on the cathedral ceiling above my stairway. The view from the top step looking westward over Lake Dalrymple is my favourite view from the house. I was forced to stop in my tracks as there on Lake Dalrymple ice was a fishing hut. Now, it was not a surprise, as I was well aware that as of January 1st.new fishing regulations are in place to extend the fishing season in FMZ 17 for several popular fish species. It was a New Year moment seeing for the first time ice fishing on Lake Dalrymple. How fitting, I thought, at the realization of the great adventures that might unfold in the cold Kawartha winter.
Beginning this month we have introduced our Fishing Guide pages and are seeking contributors. If you have a passion for fishing we would like to hear from you.
Read more...
Speed Kills?
Tuesday, 02 June 2009 19:20
Reid Byer
High-speed Internet is killer! .... if you know what I mean....
It is now one year since the introduction of wireless-high-speed-internet service in the rural parts of the City of Kawartha Lakes. The impact has been immediate and powerful. Our informal survey indicates that not only have many, if not most, dial-up customers switched to wireless but also many who previously did not have an Internet connection are now connected.
Read more...
Thursday, 02 April 2009 00:00
Reid Byer
New Website - New Technology - New Beginning
The Way we Were:
About two years ago when the Carden Guide website was first launched, we envisioned a community website serving the northern part of the City of Kawartha Lakes that provided low-cost advertising and promotional services to local businesses and free web-pages to local community groups. We have grown, all be it slowly, and happily, we have realized several successes along the way.
We became the web-services provider of the Carden Nature Festival. The third annual Festival will be held June 5th-7th 2009.
Our first few advertisers have reported good results in reaching new customers. Nevertheless, we recognized that our web-development technology and static web-pages had been completely outpaced by emerging technology.
After the introduction of wireless high-speed internet services in the City of Kawartha Lakes last June. we decided to make a big change.
Read more...
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