Around Carson 2.0

I’ve been working on a few changes under the hood at Around Carson. Most of you probably won’t notice anything, it’s just a couple of things to try to keep up with the “Web 2.0” crowd and to clean up some things I wasn’t too happy about.

The main thing is that I’ve enabled tagging on the site. “Tags” are basically just keywords or categories that I can assign to any entry I post here. At the bottom of the post there will be a list of tags, and if you click on any of the tags, you’ll get to see all the entries that have that tag. So, for example, if you click here: traderjoes, you’ll see everything I’ve written about the new Trader Joe’s store. It’s a small thing, but it’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a while. And since this site is running on a homegrown system, I had to do all the programming myself. It’s a learning experience. That’s what I keep telling myself.

Also, related to the change to the new tagging system, I got rid of the confusing and half-thought-out multiple blog concept I was toying with. It used to be that on the left sidebar there were three “blogs” listed: the Around Carson Blog, the Construction Blog, and the Site Updates Blog. I never really knew where I was going with that idea, and the way I implemented it was kind of half-assed. So for the last eight months, ever since I launched this new system I haven’t been happy with the way it ran. So, as part of this switch to using tags, I did away with the “Construction Blog” and the “Site Updates Blog”, and I just set up two new tags: construction and update. They take the place of those old “Blogs”, and I’m a lot happier with the way the site works now.

I’ve got more stuff in the works, too. I want to create an RSS feed for each of the tags, so if you’re only interested in getting news about, say, the Ormsby House, you can subscribe just to that tag feed. And I’ll probably build a “tag cloud”, which is where all the tags used on the site are listed, with the more common ones standing out in bold. Just more ways to explore the site and find out what I’ve been writing about for the last year and a half. Plus, I need to go back over those last 18 months worth of entries and add tags to all of them, so that should take a bit of time. Looks like I’ll be busy!

And this is the 18-month anniversary of this site. It was in May of 2005 that I first got a bug up my butt about creating a site like this. It’s not quite as successful as I wanted it to be yet, but that’s my fault for not getting out there and promoting it. I do have a bunch of loyal readers, though, and I started it right when the Reno blogsphere was starting to skyrocket, so I was able to ride that wave a little bit. So now I’m just hoping for bigger and better things, and to get some of you to chime in and start posting (hint hint). And I’ll just keep trying to make this website the online home for what’s happening in Carson City. One step at a time.


Around Carson 0.1

0 comments

  1. I too enjoy your site and read it daily! I have great memories of Carson. Your recent post about Bodines’s was another favorite memory. Congratulations on the growth of your blog and daily readers.

  2. I too enjoy your site and read it daily! I have great memories of Carson. Your recent post about Bodines’s was another favorite memory. Congratulations on the growth of your blog and daily readers.

  3. Great site! I read as much and as often as I can from my office “dungeon” in blah-town Columbia, SC. My sweet aging dad lives in Carson City and my wife and I visited last Christmas, not my first time but was for my wife, but unfortunately we won’t get to visit this upcoming holiday season. She fell in love with the area! I have been searching for employment in Carson City and Reno and surrounding areas for almost a year with no luck yet so we can live there and do all the things that we love to do in the valley and in Tahoe such as skiing, hiking, fishing, camping, dropping nickels….We miss my dad and the brother and sisters so very much and your site makes it somewhat easier on us. It’s almost like being there, honestly. I’m presently helping my dad work on his business flyers and business cards from this coast just to ease the pain, gotta do something ya know! I wish you lots of fortune with your amazing site. It’s almost like being at home away from home. Keep up the great work!
    David and Michelle in S.C.

  4. you know I love this site…I check it everyday…keep it up…I was just thinking about how you probably would appreciate some contributors but I haven’t made it a habit to carry my camera around with me enough to help you out….but you are my go to guy for all things Carson City…

  5. I too enjoy your site and read it daily! I have great memories of Carson. Your recent post about Bodines’s was another favorite memory. Congratulations on the growth of your blog and daily readers.

  6. Aroundcarson is huge pleasure. I found it a few months ago in the free supplement that the Nevada Appeal puts out and have been enjoying it every day or so since then.
    Was great to see the complete report on the Ormsby, and pics. I do hope they will put on display the model you found of the first Ormsby.
    We moved to Carson 5 years ago. Your site fills us in on a lot of the goings-on that we do not get from the newpapaper or radio or TV. I particularly like your Then and Now articles and always spectacular pictures, especially on the Carson subjects.
    We stopped by the house at Nevada and 8th Street today to check it out after I read about it on your site. Interesting that the units have separate street addresses, one for the unit with front door entrance on Nevada, a second for the unit with front door on 8th. Looks like the units (two stories) are pretty big.
    Thank you for what you are doing.

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