Platinax restructuring and redesign very soon

Platinax is a desperately poor mess. Go to the homepage - what are visitors supposed to do? In the words of Seth Godin, there is no banana.

The site lacks functionality, has poor navigation, is a generally poorly presented mess, and suffers accessibility issues to boot.

I actually commissioned a CSS-only version of the template months ago, but have had problems integrating it into a site that is essetially built on tables.

Therefore I’m experimenting with using WordPress as a Content Management Solution for all of the site excepting the forums and directory.

So far the integration with the CSS template has been mostly fine - the problem has been then redesigning the site in CSS only, which has led to some odd errors I’m still correcting.

I’m also completely sick of using MovableType. I’ve complained before about SixApart’s otherwise dire lack of responsibility in tackling spam issues themselves, leaving them promoting a blog platform that until only very recently was very open to spam attacks.

I admin a number of WordPress installs as CMS solutions, and have *never* had a problem with spam on any of them - for a very long time WordPress has had useful tools such as open proxy blacklisting on top of blacklisting by keyword.

Platinax needs a CMS approach, and although I’ve experimented with Drupal, I just enjoy the simplicity of Wordpress. I also love the way it is built on RSS, with every category - even page - having its own RSS feed as required.

I think the emphasis of the site will change as well. I want to engage more as a writer, and turn Platinax into something of a “super-blog” - a blogging and resource site covering wide areas, where each individual category would have a unique voice of its own, almost like a collection of individual blogs under one authorship.

It also allows for wider collaboration - there’s definitely room to bring people on board for guest or regular contribution.

Oh - it’s also not unlikely that Platinax will become a limited company very soon - I take legal advice in Edinburgh next week because one company has already let me know that if they see further complaints on th Platinax forums about their services, then they will sue me.

I’m hoping to start going live next week, but I’m sure it will be rocky.

I’ll also make sure I announce the switch-over when it happens. :)