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The next release will be 3.2.2 (unless anything happens to suggest it should be a bigger step, to perhaps 3.3).

I thought I would occasionally post details of changes already in place, even though the release date is not yet decided, and probably weeks away. So here are a couple of interesting ones:

An improvement to Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
Search engines, especially Google, are always “improving” their algorithms for determining site ranking on their search results pages. We know that currently a site’s “meta description” is one of the key factors they use. You can set this at Administration > Family trees > your family tree > General tab. As a general rule this should be a brief, but meaningful phrase describing your site. Keep it below 156 characters though.
It is also important (to Google) that each page of a site has a different meta description, which until now kiwitrees site’s did not have. Now you can still set the site (Home page) as before, but every other page will have it’s own automated meta description. This is created from a combination of the family tree title and the page title. So for a typical individual’s page it might be “John Smith 1851–1910 – Our Families”

An option to add a subtitle to your family tree. (see attached image and/or my personal web site)
There have been a number of requests for this or something similar over the years. So now, at Administration > Family trees > your family tree > General tab there is an option for the “Family tree subtitle”.
Do give it some careful thought before using this though. It is displayed in-line with the main title, at a 40% font-size. So it increases the overall length of the title. This can cause ugly wrapping if it gets too long for the space available, more so on smaller devices. If you need a long title / subtitle you might need to also customise the header css styles to accommodate it.

More research links added to the sidebar module
In fact so many (75 now in total) that I needed to re-write both the display and the configuration page to make it easier to manage. All links are now grouped by the location they specialise in (including a large “International” group for sites like Anccestry.com and FindMyPast). Each also includes a symbol to indicate where they are pay-to-view sites. See attached image.

Added a “Site maintenance mode” option
Another often requested feature. This is a yes/no option (normally ‘no’) set on the Administration > Site administration > Site configuration page. Setting it to ‘yes’ disables the entire site for everyone except you as the site administrator. This will allow you to easily take the site offline for an upgrade, and be able to test it before making it available to users again. The old “offline.txt file will no longer be necessary. See attached image.

All of the above are now completed. My next major project will be to convert all sub-menus (charts and lists) into modules so they can have individual enable/disable and access level controls.

If anyone wants to test 3.2.2 as it progresses (beta testing – DEFINITELY NOT for live site use) email me and I’ll explain how to set up a test environment and obtain the beta code from github.

Nigel
My personal kiwitrees site is www.our-families.info

Update 7 May 2016:
The item My next major project will be to convert all sub-menus (charts and lists) into modules so they can have individual enable/disable and access level controls. is now complete. So all menus now have configurable access controls.

Currently the sub-menus are NOT sortable though. They are automatically sorted into alphabetic order (A-Z) based on the displayed / translated names. I have no plans to change this, but happy to rethink that decision if there are strong views that manual sorting would be better.

Nigel
My personal kiwitrees site is www.our-families.info