More site changes...

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.

New look for the site...

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.

globeandmail.com: Personal Tech

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.

New Metro Event Calendar

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.

Resident Spotlight - Where's it at?

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....

Can't find your neighborhood or venue?

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!