Dear John,

I appreciate your feedback. I am sure different people have different
expectations of tipitaka.net. And, I will try to meet all reasonable
expectations. As I have written previously, the improvement of the
site is a continuous process. The changes this time is only the
homepage. All other pages on the site remain the same.

Let me give you a hand with the homepage. On the top left hand corner
of the page, you will find the links to all three major sections of
the site: namely, SuttaSpirit, PaliScape and DhammaStudios. If you
scroll the page down to "Community SPACE", you will find the latest
postings on the mailing list and the bulletin board. Scroll down
further, you will see the good old "What's New" section, with links to
the latest materials. You will see the list is inserted with a map for
"Sights and Sounds", a new section which I am trying to build up.
Immediately to its right, you will find project updates and links for
PaliScope and SuttaSpectra. Underneath that is the latest from "Access
to Insight" and "The Buddhist Channel". There is also now a monthly
recommended link for the cyber-explorer.

I hope that is useful.

As you can see, all the elements from the previous homepage (Y2005)
have returned. These include the daily quote on the top of the left
column, and the news headlines on the top of the center section. I
have also brought back elements from the Y2003 homepage, such as the
digital clock on the top right corner, and a countdown to Vesak which
I will put up later. Another element under consideration is the
shout-box. Every element (old or new) on this new homepage requires
some degree of re-coding, but each retains its previous characteristics.

A video clip has been introduced since October 2007. Much of the
contents on the right column is not new, the column itself as a
collection is new, which can be expanded, condensed or modified in the
future. The new homepage absorbs the original design of
CommunitySpace. This merge reintroduces CMS/portal design style to
tipitaka.net. The portal design was first attempted in 2003. In 2005,
XML/RSS was dominant, and we see the automatic update of the mailing
list on the webpage. This overtook the Y2003 portal design. (Btw,
anything prior to 2003 is purely static HTML.)

Eventually, I hope the site will evolve into a community/collaborative
site, where members can share experience and information more
effectively. In the meantime, the redevelopment of the new homepage
continues until you see the closing bar at the bottom of the page.
Following that will be a few rounds of enhancements and refinements,
as well as development of the subsections, like the bulletin board,
bookmarks, sights and sounds, and readings. The CMS engine for
PaliSynthesis, SuttaSpectra and PaliScope will also be improved over
the next few months.

metta,
Yong Peng.

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, John Kelly wrote:

I have a completely different reaction to Nina concerning your new
home page - I don't like it much at all. The first thing I see when I
go to it is a video of Christopher Hitchens, a bunch of recipes, and
so many assorted things (most of which have very little to do with the
Tipitaka [the name of the website]), that it looks like it can't make
up its mind what it wishes to be. I'm sorry, I certainly don't mean
to be disrespectful - you know I'm a big fan of all the great Pali
work that you do - but you did ask for feedback, and to be honest,
this new page just doesn't work for me. Most importantly I can't find
the link to the Pali stuff any more (maybe I'm just a little
thick-headed, since Nina said it is easy to find!). Help!

> I will improve the organisation of the material as and when necessary.