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Over the past few days we've been enhancing the site layout and making things look a little nicer. You'll notice page modules now have rounded corners; some page modules have been reconfigured to fit cleaner on the page - stuff like that.
Another big change is with the blogs - we have finally gotten away from simply displaying the TypePad blogs as a plain design within a frame of the MostMetro site. Now we have fully utilized TypePad's Advanced Templates so that frames are no longer used, and instead the blog pages you see are actually being served by TypePad - but with our site design. If any of you are bloggers, I highly recommend TypePad - and just pay for the pro version, it is worth it.
Next, we've taken a next step in tying everything on the site together by adding neighborhood blog feeds on each neighborhood page. And if venues have their own blogs, their feed will be displayed on their venue page (see Coco's for an example). If you see a venue on Dayton.MostMetro without a blog feed and you know they have a blog (because maybe you're the owner?) - just let us know and we'll add it.
Finally - Yesterday we had some issues with our site, especially with the Google Maps. That is, we some issues with IE users. We have since fixed the problems, but I HIGHLY recommend you use Mozilla Firefox browser as opposed to Internet Explorer. Firefox renders our Google Maps much faster, and it is simply a better browser. And no, I'm not an anti-Microsoft person. In fact, our site is developed entirely on a Microsoft platform. And I have always used IE over browsers like Netscape and others. But I've been using Firefox for about a year now and I swear by it. If you don't have it, download it for free here.
Our next phase of this site includes online advertising - afterall, we do need to make SOME money to keep this thing going, right? You may have notice some Google ads at the bottom of the page - this is simply an experiment to see how much money those things actually generate. After two days we've made...well, let's just say it isn't worth mentioning. We'll keep them for now to see what happens, but I don't anticipate keeping them for long.
One of the goals for MostMetro.com is to highlight and promote our local businesses in Dayton. It is these places that make our city unique, and if we can get more people to realize that many of them are fantastic places that deserve our support, we will see our city thrive. Over the next few months we'll be working on a banner ad system for local businesses. If you are interested in participating, let us know - the first businesses to contact us will get some sweet deals. In fact, we will start by accepting gift certificates to your business in exchange for ad space. We will then give out those gift certificates to users who sign up (which will remain free). So not only will you get your business advertised on our site (26,000 hits since October), but this is a great opportunity to gain some new customers who will want to spend the gift certificates we give away.
We're still hammering away the details, but contact us anyway and we'll work with you. And thank you for your support in our efforts to promote the urban core of Dayton!
Well, we never claimed to be the first of our kind - city websites have been around for a while now. But it is nice to see others out there are successful, and it gives us hope that our MostMetro site does indeed have future...
Link: Anytown, Online
By BOB TEDESCHI
New York Times.
BEFORE the days of the printing press, town squares served as the main forum for exchanging community news and gossip. Now comes the virtual town square.
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In the Region
Long Island, Westchester, Connecticut and New Jersey
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Across the United States, citizen bloggers and deep-pocketed entrepreneurs are creating town-specific, and even neighborhood-specific, Web sites where the public can read and contribute items too small or too fleeting for weekly newspapers. Suburban towns across the greater New York area are joining in, giving residents a new way to avoid traffic snags, find a lost dog or just vent about a local hot-button issue.
Do you live in one of our Dayton MostMetro neighborhoods? Are you active in the neighborhood association? Would you like a new way to help promote your neighborhood and let people know about your neighborhood's history, what houses are for sale, when the next big neighborhood event is, etc.? Then let us know who you are - we'd like you to represent your neighborhood on Dayton.MostMetro.com by being a guest blogger on our Neighborhood Blog, adding events to our Metro Event Calendar, adding photos to your neighborhood page, adding Metro Places that we may have missed, and adding places for Rent or Sale (coming soon).
We have over 1000 Dayton MostMetro readers and that number is growing every day. One of our original goals for the site is to give residents and businesses their own voice as we try to promote the many positive things about our community. So if you or somebody you know would be interested in helping the cause, we would like to hear from you.
You may have noticed a different look to the site since yesterday. We had originally designed the site for 1024x768 resolutions, but recently I saw what the site looked like on 800x600 (yes, some people actually still use this resolution) and it looked horrible. So we reduced some sizes and it now fits in an 800x600 screen. Which means that there is a bunch of blank space on the right side for people with larger resolutions, but no worries - that means we have plenty of room for advertising space!
And yes, speaking of advertising - we will soon be looking for sponsors. As urban advocates, we will ONLY be advertising locally owned businesses. So if you are a business and you would like to help support what we are doing, let us know and we will work with you.
Here is an interesting use of Google maps. Imagine if we did this on MostMetro - hmm, where did I put my camera....
Link: globeandmail.com: Personal Tech.
After a lot of reworking, we FINALLY have our Metro Event Calendar completed. I really don't think you'll find a more user-friendly calendar out there - try it and let us know what you think.
With over 170 Metro Events already listed in the system (thanks to Anna@MostMetro), we may be on our way to having the MOST Metro Events of any portal website in Dayton! If you see one missing, just drop us a note.
Link: Dayton MostMetro.com.
Ok, if you took part in our Resident Spotlight feature last month where we displayed a number of resident profiles to show the Urban Nights tourists exactly what kind of people do live in Downtown Dayton, you're probably asking yourself - why can't I see that on MostMetro.com?
Well, the short answer is: we're working on it. We'd like to do something special for our online version of the Resident Spotlight, so it is taking a bit longer. But don't worry, it is in the works. And yes, we'll be asking more of you to help us out and contribute more profiles.
Stay tuned....
We have done our best with the info that is out there to accurately display the urban neighborhoods and metro places. Initially our requirements for a neighborhood to be included are at least one or more of the following:
-Must be a Historic District or Downtown District
-Must have an active neighborhood association with a website
-Must be in close proximity to the Downtown Central Business District
-Must have a significant number of Metro Places
-Must have documented and well-defined boundaries
-Must have a mixed-use "urban" feel (as opposed to strictly residential)
For Metro Places, our criteria is:
-Must be located in one of the Districts and Neighborhoods on the site
-Must have a physical location where the public can actually visit
-Must be able to be classified in our existing Metro Place Categories (Restaurant, Park, Condo, etc.)
That said, we know that though we have 272 Metro Places at the time of this blog post, there are plenty more to be "discovered". So if you see any Neighborhoods or Metro Places that are missing, please let us know along with any details you can provide. If it meets the above criteria, we will likely add it.
Thanks for your help in making this YOUR MostMetro.com!
Thank you for visiting Dayton MostMetro, Dayton's newest city portal where you can see up-to-date news about urban development in Dayton, Ohio. Check out our Districts and Neighborhoods section where you can use our custom interactive maps to explore Downtown Dayton and many of our historic neighborhoods. We are working to bring you even more features, including Event Calendars, Home Search, Neighborhood Photo Tours and more. Dayton.MostMetro.com is designed and developed by ResConnex, Inc. - a technology consulting company based in Dayton, OH. The concept was born as a realization that Dayton’s citizens need to be pro-active to solve the problem of a negative city image; it is our responsibility to replace apathy and disenchantment with hope and aspiration. Having lived part-time in Columbus, OH this past year, we discovered Columbus RetroMetro.com - a site that helped us understand all of the urban districts and neighborhoods in Columbus and ultimately gave us the info we needed when choosing our "home away from Dayton". Paul Bonneville is the creator of Columbus RetroMetro and his love and dedication for Columbus and the urban movement inspired us to do something similiar for Dayton, OH. As a company, we are utilizing our creativity and talents as technologists to advocate for Dayton by educating our community about the under-current of energy that defines Dayton’s urban movement. Dayton.MostMetro.com Mission Statement:
- To create a community portal that will Educate future Dayton metropolitan residents about events and initiatives in the downtown area
- Promote a positive self-image for citizens throughout Greater Dayton
- Generate enthusiasm and energy with others that are working to make a positive contribution to our community
We welcome your comments and feedback - let us know your ideas. And keep checking back - we hope to have something new every day!
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