I have been displeased with the back-end operation of Mount Sutro for some time now. I had made plans a while back to overhaul the software I use and to rewrite my custom code. It never happened. Well, I have decided that I am sufficiently displeased enough to assign some time to this task. The last major code change was done in September 2002, one year after I started publishing the site. Though the purpose and direction of the site have changed over the course of the past three years, the underlying way it operated has not.

Starting this week, I will be redeveloping Mount Sutro from the ground up. Instead of posting the blog (currently sub-titled "One Last Breath") to the phpBB-powered Forum and syndicating it on the main page via PHP script, I am going to install and customize a more suitable publishing application. WordPress and Textpattern are my top two candidates for this task. A retool of the Forum is planned. I continue to be happy with the performance of Coppermine, the software driving the Gallery, so aside from a fresh install (new version) and tidying up of my custom code, no changes are planned there.

I have no plan to entirely redesign the visual look and feel, but some changes will be made. Invalid links will automatically be redirected to their new destinations or to a 404 page containing a search feature and site map.

I welcome any comments and suggestions.