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About Jimpix

Jimpix.co.uk is a small independent website based in North-West England - it started in December 1999.

The site is run as a hobby, as it's a fun place to learn about web technology and to have a tinker with username generator related stuff.

Apart from the blog, which runs on Wordpress, the rest of the site is run on custom code, rather than using a Content Management System. It uses a MySQL database, runs on an nginx server, uses PHP scripts and is hosted by Zume.net.

You can read (lots and lots and lots) more about the site via the timeline below, or via the change log.

Jimpix timeline

The ancient history of jimpix, should you want to read all about it.

  • Site Overview / Quick Timeline

    Site Purpose

    The site was originally set up as a way to display things we enjoyed, such as photography, desktop wallpapers, and designs made using a now ancient and expired technology called Flash. Later it provided a way for people to send ecards, then a username generator was introduced in 2011, and then ecards were removed from the site in late 2022 following a decline in popularity of that part of the site.

    From about 2002 until May 2024, the site ran on a scripting language called Active Server Pages, which meant it had to be hosted on Windows IIS servers.

    Site Hosting / Scipting History

    The domain was first registered for free with a company called Freenetname and static HTML content was hosted on their server for a few years.

    Later on, dynamic content was added, and ASP content was hosted on a separate site called jimpixsearch, until we moved to a Canadian company called Alentus, some time in 2003 or 2004.

    In those early days the site ran on MS Access databases - there was a separate .mdb database for each part of the site.

    When the site became busier and people were sending lots of ecards, we moved to a hosting company called Tagadab - which later became simplyhosting.com when acquired by team.blue.

    Moving to Tagadab involved moving to a Virtual Private Server, and upgrading from the world of MS Access databases, to MySQL.

    That was a bit of a steep learning curve, learning to manage a Windows 2012 R2 Server, and setting everything up ourselves rather than having it all done by the hosting company.

    At the same time we also started to send out transactional emails using a company called Mandrill, which was later merged with Mailchimp.

    Following the decline of the ecard part of the site, and the increasing popularity of the username side of the site, the ecard part of the site was closed down in November 2022.

    In May 2024 the site moved to running on a scripting language called PHP (though previously PHP also ran on the Windows IIS server, alongside Classic ASP). We also moved hosts to Zume.net, running on an nginx server.

    Ecards

    For a few years the site received quite a bit of ecard traffic - this quotes some old stats:

    • December 26th 2004
      • since December 7th 2004:
        • Had 56,884 hits
        • People have sent 12,262 ecards
        • Of which 7,878 have been read (so far)
    Still want to read on?

    If you really, really want to read a detailed history of the site, read on below or jump to the change log for a super-detailed history of the site in a change log format. Click on any image thumbnails to view the larger image.

  • Site Go Live!

    31st December 1999

    While the world was partying like it was 1999, the jimpix.co.uk domain name was first registered on the last day of 1999. Copies of the site have not been saved but some screenshots are displayed below.

  • First Archive Found

    21st January 2001
    Jimpix Snapshot 21st January 2001

    The first archived version shows the main parts of the early version of the site, including things like:

    • Tiling wallpapers
    • Desktop wallpapers
    • Photos
    • Flash
    • Links
    • Web Design

    First snapshot showing the ecards had been added to the site, allowing people to send photos and wallpaper designs as ecards.

  • Ecards Arrive

    2nd December 2001
    Jimpix Snapshot 2nd December 2001

    First snapshot showing the ecards had been added to the site, allowing people to send photos and wallpaper designs as ecards.

  • White Site Design

    27th September 2002
    Jimpix Snapshot 27th September 2002 Jimpix Snapshot 27th September 2002 Jimpix Snapshot 27th September 2002 Jimpix Snapshot 27th September 2002 Jimpix Snapshot 27th September 2002 Jimpix Snapshot 27th September 2002 Jimpix Snapshot 27th September 2002
    • A new white site design introduced.
    • At some point Flash ecards Flash ecards had been introduced.
    • Photo galleries added to the site.

  • Hex Looper

    7th August 2004
    Jimpix Snapshot 7th August 2004

    A tool I made to display pretty tables with nice coloured cells. I wish I'd kept a copy of the code.

  • Blue Header

    2nd July 2007
    Jimpix Snapshot 2nd July 2007 Jimpix Snapshot 30th April 2007

    A blue header added to the site. We had made some ecards for the Myotubular Trust. Guestbook still in place.

  • Jimpix Logo Appears and Video Ecards

    8th February 2010
    Jimpix Snapshot 8th February 2010

    On the 18th June 2009 a new site design went live, introducing drop-down menus on the main navigation bar. Additionally, a some point between3rd March 2009 and the 8th February 2010:

    • The jimpix logo started to appear on the site's header
    • On 29th January 2010 video ecards were added to the site. At some point around this time, started to host the video images on either Youtube or Vimeo and worked out a way to parse through Youtube or Vimeo XML to create video ecard records on the ecards table automatically, rather than having to manually type in the data. That was fun 😊
    • "Make Your Own Ecards" were added to the site on 15th September 2009, which allowed users to enter their own text, which was then loaded into Flash .swf files.
    • Ecard User / Membership functionality added to the site on 20th September 2009

  • 2011 - Username Generator Appears

    2011
    Jimpix Snapshot 11th May 2011 Jimpix Snapshot 11th May 2011 Jimpix Snapshot 11th May 2011 Jimpix Snapshot 11th May 2011 Jimpix Snapshot 11th May 2011 Jimpix Snapshot 20th May 2011 Jimpix Snapshot 23rd August 2011 Jimpix Snapshot 29th September 2011 Jimpix Snapshot 1st October 2011 Jimpix Snapshot 21st January 2012

    Most significantly, the username generators pages first started appearing from 10th May 2011 onwards.

    Some feedback from site visitors about the ecards:

    • ...beautifully simple to use
    • Your site is the only one that has cool stuff to send. The rest are stupidly jokey, crass, fluffy, vomit-inducing, juvenile, badly drawn, nauseatingly sincere, ugly.
    • I like thought provoking/inspiring/eccentric/interesting etc... I love your photos & your doodles. I never use the "prepackaged" type of ecard.
    • Lovely simple clean designs with the added sparkle of a little flash!
    • I am finally not ashamed to send e-cards anymore...non of the usual drivel
    • Your designs are the most visually thoughtful and artful that I have come across.
    • Your cards are cool, by far the best I have found, without pathetic, cartoonish ilustrations and soppy rubbish.
    • i really enjoy your cards. in fact, i'm going crazy about it! make some more. . . .:)
    • Nice site with no signing up hassle - thank you!
    • Just to let you know, this is the best ecard site I've ever found. Superb designs, really beautiful.

  • Bootstrap Version Go Live

    4th December 2013
    Jimpix Snapshot 4th December 2013 Jimpix Snapshot 7th February 2014 Jimpix Snapshot 9th February 2014

    On 4th December 2013 the site moved to using the Bootstrap CSS framework - as taken from the updates page for that date:

    • Today I've launched a new version of jimpix.
    • It uses the mighty Bootstrap mobile first front-end framework.
    • Basically it means that jimpix will now work well on mobile phones and tablets.
    • If you resize your browser (e.g. by making it narrower) if you're using a PC / Mac / Linux, then you'll see that the page is "responsive" so the elements on the page rearrange themselves in a tall stack, rather than invoking the horizontal scroll bar.

  • Bootstrap 5.2.1 - Blue Navbar and no more ecards

    3rd May 2023
    Jimpix Snapshot 3rd May 2023

    The site's design has hardly changed since December 2013 - the main change was that on 3rd May 2023, the site was upgraded to use Bootstrap Version 5.2.1, and the red theme was changed to a blue theme.

    On 8th April 2023 the links on the main navigation bar were changed to link directly to the username pages, and the ecard content was archived, following the move to stop people sending new ecards from 14th November 2022 onwards.

    On 5th August 2024, a page was added to the site allowing old interactive flash ecard designs to be viewed on a browser using an open source Flash Player emulator called Ruffle.

Change Log

IDDateCategoryUpdate
23415-Aug-2024cat:usernamesAdded 'pgp word list' username category
23305-Aug-2024cat:ecardsAdded 'flash.php' page to ecards section, allowing old flash content to be viewed using the Ruffle - Flash Emulator (https://ruffle.rs/).
23231-Jul-2024cat:usernamesAdded blog to the site, and added Google AdSense ads to the busiest pages.
23129-Jul-2024cat:usernamesAdded 'username-font.php' page to site.
22913-Jul-2024cat:usernamesRemoved old "Copy to Clipboard" route which opened usernames in a modal window, and then the user had to click Copy again. Set up new route using code from https://clipboardjs.com/, after seeing it in action on https://css-pattern.com/.
23029-Jun-2024cat:siteRemoved Freestar ads from the site (been using them since November 6, 2017).
22723-Jun-2024cat:usernamesAdded `username-combinations` pages, one for each username category.
22814-Jun-2024cat:siteFreestar ads: Page Speed Optimization enabled (product designed specifically for Cumlulative Layout Shift) that will help with search results and load times. With this enabled, a user will need to interact with the page before the ads are called.
22610-Jun-2024cat:usernamesSite returned to first in results for "username generator" for US Region on mobile, had dropped as far as 30th since moving hosts late last month. Still 2nd though for US region on non mobile google search results.
22524-May-2024cat:siteOver the past few weeks rewrote site to run on PHP instead of Classic ASP. This evening moved site to Litespeed Server hosted by Zume.net, eventually to move off simplyhosting.com as I will no longer need to administer a Windows Server to run the site
22407-Jan-2024cat:usernamesSite crashed for some reason - had been running on Windows 2012 R2 server from July 2015 to 7th Jan 2024. Set up new Virtual Server running Windows 2022 Server and moved all content to new server. As a result of crash site moved off google search results for US region from number 1 to nowhere in sight.
22322-Dec-2023cat:usernames- Removed Twitter and Open Graph HTML tags - Tidied up minor SEO issues - On `username.asp` page - send data to page using form not querysring. - Reinstated `word.asp` word lookup page - send data to page using form not querysring. - Changed site nav 'jimpix' page to white text on blue gradient across top of page - Changed link to 'fav.asp' on top nav so link says 'Favourites' rather than linking to a Font Awesome heart icon - Added drop-down in top-nav to `Other` content - experiments and word generator
22207-Dec-2023cat:usernamesAdded password generator to username experiments. Same as passphrase generator code, but with no options to tailor output.
22112-Nov-2023cat:usernamesPut username experiments back on the site as I missed them.
22031-Oct-2023cat:usernamesRemoved auto-word lookup from `username.asp` page as it was breaking the site.
21922-Oct-2023cat:usernamesUpdated 'username.asp' to include auto-word lookup related usernames via AJAX script.
21808-Oct-2023cat:usernamesDeleted all username experiment pages, username variations page, syllables usernames page, social media username pages, and plain text usernames and word generator, changed top nav to just have username generator, random username generator, one word usernames, 200 usernames in a list, favourites and ecards. Added detail to username generator main page with background info about usernames.
21705-Jul-2023cat:siteDeleted "m" spotify tool from the site.
21619-Jun-2023cat:usernamesRemoved all content linking to word.asp including navbar search form as it was crashing the site.
21410-Jun-2023cat:usernamesAdded search form to main navigation bar linking to word.asp.
21510-Jun-2023cat:usernamesChanged ads around a bit, hard-coding ads in main ad include files instead of the include files containing a 2nd include file.
21016-Apr-2023cat:siteUpdated whole site to use latest version of Bootstrap (5.2.1), and added Google Fonts for main body text and h1 headings.
21116-Apr-2023cat:usernamesSplit username-generator and random-username-generator results into 2 columns with skyscraper advert on right-hand side split.
21316-Apr-2023cat:siteFixed bug on contact page, I realised I had not uploaded a new version of the page that I'd written after moving from Mandrill to SendinBlue transactional emails. Contact form was therefore not working from Decemeber 2022 until 16th April 2023.
21214-Apr-2023cat:ecardsDeleted all user related ecard data (ecards, user accounts, reminders, address book).
20910-Apr-2023cat:siteChanged to global navigation across the site, put one top level nav icon for ecards instead of including a 2nd one for photo ecards. Put username content summary on jimpix homepage, containing content which used to appear on words/usernames-home.asp.
20708-Apr-2023cat:usernamesRemoved Fonty McFontface from the site.
20808-Apr-2023cat:ecardsRemoved all user account content from ecards part of the site, moved top-level ecards navigation off site, archived ecard content and put username links on navbar instead.
20623-Feb-2023cat:usernamesCreated "other.asp" username page grouping most username generators under one landing page, and changing top-level nav to only include username generator, random username generator, one word usernames, list of 200, other, home and favourites.
20411-Feb-2023cat:ecardsUpdated site to say all ecards and related ecard data will be deleted on 14th April 2023, which is 6 months after the site was updated to confirm users could no longer send ecards from the site.
20511-Feb-2023cat:usernamesAdded new Syllables username page, and added new Syllables category to the other username pages.
20028-Dec-2022cat:siteRemoved all Mandrill Transactional Email scripts, replaced with Sendinblue.
20128-Dec-2022cat:ecardsCut down more of the ecard content, tidied things up a lot.
20228-Dec-2022cat:siteRe-did all scheduled tasks
20328-Dec-2022cat:siteRemoved AWS account and hosted all files locally again (mainly non photo ecard images)
19903-Dec-2022cat:usernamesAdded tiktok username generator.
19814-Nov-2022cat:ecardsRemoved option to send ecards from the site - ecards being wound down / removed.
19723-Aug-2022cat:ecardsNew version of 'popular.asp' ecard page
19629-May-2022cat:usernamesAdded new username categories for hills (Scottish, Welsh, Irish and Alps) and deleted Mister Man category after remove duplicates process meant that category only had 12 words left in it.
19522-May-2022cat:usernamesAdded Lake District and Yorkshire Hills username categories. Also changed Fonty McFontface page to return gradient backgrounds as default.
19401-May-2022cat:usernamesRevamped fonty-mcfontface page to return random fonts / backgrounds etc. and removed separate mcfontface single page for permalink.
19128-Apr-2022cat:usernamesAdded link to fonty-mcfontface-single record from fav.asp
19328-Apr-2022cat:ecardsPut back documentary and short film ecard categories, even though nobody sends them. Kept for posterity!
19227-Apr-2022cat:usernamesAdded link to fonty-mcfontface-single record from username.asp
19014-Apr-2022cat:usernamesAdded fonty-mcfontface-single to allow permalink to specific result from fonty-mcfontface record.
18924-Feb-2022cat:usernamesAdded go.asp to track which social media sites and domain name registrar links are clicked on from username.asp and fav.asp.
18820-Feb-2022cat:usernamesUpdated username.asp and fav.asp to include links to look up username beign checked, on domain registrar websites, to allow quick check to see if domain names linked to the username are available.
18722-Jan-2022cat:usernamesReinstated Yourword username generator experiment after fixing the logic issue which made it run slowly, and added case options to the page as well.
18619-Jan-2022cat:usernamesAdded 3 new username categories: Period Table, Common Antibiotics and Common Medications. Updated 200 words list to include ignored words and updated one word usernames page to limit lengths based on actual word lengths. Updated Plain Text and Passphrase pages to returned ignored categories and removed Yourword Passphrase Generator as not used a lot and was slow running due to bad design of code.
18524-Dec-2021cat:usernamesAdded Mister Men username category. I would have added a Little Miss category but it doesn't contain enough words (needs to be at least 50 words per category).
18319-Dec-2021cat:usernamesAdded Christmas and Shipping Forecast username categories.
18415-Dec-2021cat:usernamesAdded a number of new River username categories, and a World Places username category.
18111-Dec-2021cat:usernamesAdded new variations username page to the site.
18209-Dec-2021cat:usernamesRemoved Courier New font from username results format as it took took much space up on mobile screens (too wide).
18019-Sep-2021cat:usernamesRestored use of Google Fonts on website, changed username results to use Courier New font and made text size in username results responsive so it's smaller on mobile screens.
17917-Sep-2021cat:usernamesReversed change made on 11th September 2021 (Updated username pages to remove advert above navbar, and changed text on main username homepage to include a random username when first accessing the page. Also added additional intro text to landing page on main username page.) as it dropped the site to 3 in google results for 'username generator' and impacted advertising income.
17811-Sep-2021cat:usernamesUpdated username pages to remove advert above navbar, and changed text on main username homepage to include a random username when first accessing the page. Also added additional intro text to landing page on main username page.
17724-Jul-2021cat:usernamesOne week after putting in stripped back username setup, put back to the all singing all dancing versions, with username checking, favourites, sort, and copy to clipboard. Ads also load when first accessing the main username pages. Removing ads and fancy stuff for 1 week made no impact on google results for "username generator" search, still 3rd behind Nordpass and Lastpass. Also added back Font Awesome to username pages.
17317-Jul-2021cat:usernamesRemoved many username features which didn't seem to get used much (sort results, copy to clipboard, check availability, favourites).
17517-Jul-2021cat:siteRemoved Google Fonts from main CSS, and removed link to Font Awesome
17617-Jul-2021cat:usernamesUpdates made to content on main username-generator.asp and random-username-generator.asp pages to improve scores on Lighthouse report. Performance hit still in place when first load page due to loading Quantcast content. Also changed main username pages to not display ads when first loaded to see if it improved google results score.
17203-Jul-2021cat:siteDeleted Projects, Emojinode and Musalytics folders, they were not used.
17103-Jun-2021cat:usernamesAdded a new Plain Text Usernames page.
17018-May-2021cat:siteAdded option to Musalytics to add individual tracks to playlists.
16913-May-2021cat:siteReinstated Emojinode
16812-May-2021cat:siteReinstated Musalytics
16709-May-2021cat:siteMany tweaks and updates to menus, CSS, username lists font-sizes, fixed usernames JS bug which caused sort results to jump to the side when clicking to the left of the heart icon, added in the "back to top" footer button to the bottom of all pages, made heart icons turn fully read instead of having a red outline which adding a username to favourites, and all sorts of other little updates like that.
16608-May-2021cat:siteUpdated loads of pages to ensure HTML is valid, and changed main and photo ecard pages to use different form layouts.
16505-May-2021cat:siteChanged advert setup so all content delivered via include files which will speed up updates.
16303-May-2021cat:siteLots of tweaks on site to improve score on Lighthouse tests ready for Google Core Web Vitals. Removed header logo, changed spacing on username results, and lots of small things like that.
16403-May-2021cat:siteDeleted Emojinode, Petitions and Musalytics from the site. They were hardly ever used.
16230-Apr-2021cat:siteUpdated site to use Bootstrap 3.4.1 and jQuery 3.6.0 to fix security issues (with Bootstrap and jQuery). Old versions were Bootstrap 3.3.6 and jQuery 1.12.0.
16125-Apr-2021cat:siteAdded musalytics to website.
16015-Jan-2021cat:siteRemoved Cookie Consent and replaced with Quantcast Choice
15906-Jan-2021cat:usernamesAdded moth names username category
15806-Dec-2020cat:usernamesAdded latin and IKEA product name username word categories
15730-Nov-2020cat:usernamesAdded chunk, reverse etc. options to list of 200 usernames, and added initial capital options to username, random username and one word username generators.
15629-Nov-2020cat:siteAdded emojinode to website.
15521-Nov-2020cat:usernamesUpdated Fonty McFontface to include gradient fill on backgrounds, and added in option to choose categories on the page. Also added a couple of hundred new food words to the food category.
15412-Nov-2020cat:ecardsReinstated photo gallery pages
15111-Nov-2020cat:ecardsAdded a 200 ecards per day limit for users to the site.
15211-Nov-2020cat:ecardsUpdated emoji TinyMCE plugins to use Twemoji 13.1 designs, including the new Unicode 13 emojis such as the seal etc. Reset emoji use count stats and fixed bug on process ecard page which meant use counts on some emojis were not getting updated.
15311-Nov-2020cat:usernamesUpdated emoji username experiment to use new Twemoji 13.1 designs, including new Unicode 13 emoji designs, but only includes emojis with no spaces in their names.
15005-Nov-2020cat:usernamesPut username sort functionality back again, after deleting it on 14th August 2020
14802-Nov-2020cat:usernamesFixed bug on fancyfonts and spoonerisms username experiments, now font selection form works correctly. It errored before if font select set to 'random'.
14902-Nov-2020cat:ecardsMoved login / user page links to top-right of pages instead of top-left since that's where that type of thing normally is on websites.
14701-Nov-2020cat:usernamesAdded new Fonty McFontface page to the username generator section. Updated main pages to only return username categories with more mainstream words in (don't include categories where the ingnore flag = 'y' when the category is set to random). Also updated random username generator - it didn't remember the categories that were selected on first submitting the form.
14431-Oct-2020cat:siteDeleted Feedburner RSS feed with about 960 subscribers on it.
14531-Oct-2020cat:ecardsFixed ecard bug which meant it wasn't possible to edit future dated ecards.
14631-Oct-2020cat:ecardsEdited homepage to make it more mobile friendly, removed lots of text, reduced thumbnail images from 200x150 to 75x56 in the most part.
14328-Oct-2020cat:usernamesChanged format of forms on username-generator, random-username-generator and one-word-username pages, returning them to the compact inline layout that used to be in place before 25-OCT-2020.
13725-Oct-2020cat:usernamesRe-introduced favourite username functionality to the site. This time it's on its own, without the sort functionality being in place at the same time. Improved the javascript code that makes the favourites work, and added the favourites page. This time the favourites page has the option to copy the favourites to the clipboard.
13825-Oct-2020cat:word-generatorPut favourites functionality back on the word generator
13925-Oct-2020cat:usernamesAdded option to copy all username results to the clipboard and to dispay the results in a textarea in a modal pop up.
14025-Oct-2020cat:usernamesAdded "chunk" option into Bells and Whistles, which allows you to return a random chunk of a word, and also added option to add a number to the start and / or end of username.
14125-Oct-2020cat:usernamesChanged format of forms on username-generator, random-username-generator and one-word-username pages so each field has its own label, and the forms are no longer inline. Intention is to make it simpler to see what each form field is for, at the expense of a more compact form layout.
14225-Oct-2020cat:usernamesAdded lots more words to minecraft category, and added a Harry Potter Spells category.
13505-Oct-2020cat:usernamesDeleted usernames twitter and instagram accounts
13605-Oct-2020cat:ecardsDeleted jimpix ecards twitter account
13130-Sep-2020cat:usernamesSet up Jimpix Usernames on Instagram
13230-Sep-2020cat:siteChanged rule to block bots from the site using method from <a href="https://sublimecoding.com/blocking-bots-in-iis/">Sublime Coding</a>
13330-Sep-2020cat:usernamesAdded option to change font on Fancy Fonts and Spoonerism Experiments
13430-Sep-2020cat:usernamesAdded direct link from main username-generator.asp page to look up rhyming etc. words linked to the user-inputted word, instead of only being able to access it from the username checking username.asp page
13016-Sep-2020cat:usernamesAdded Harry Potter and Tolkien username categories.
12906-Sep-2020cat:usernamesAdded option to put random numbers at start and / or end of username. Also added option to mouse over username to see the original word making up the username, in the event you have reversed or shuffled the letters that make up the username.
12805-Sep-2020cat:usernamesAdded shuffle option to the Bells and Whistles tick boxes.
12602-Sep-2020cat:siteSet up UsernamesJimpix and EcardsJimpix accounts on Twitter.
12523-Aug-2020cat:ecardsRemoved Make Your Own Ecard option, and associated ecards. Take up was low of the new feature, so removed Make Your Own options to simplify things.
12421-Aug-2020cat:siteSet up IIS Request Filtering to filter out various Bots like SemRush, Yandex etc. etc.
12319-Aug-2020cat:usernamesAdded extra adverts to username-generator.asp, random-username-generator.asp, username.asp and word.asp pages.
12215-Aug-2020cat:usernamesRemoved moving letters and yourword username experiments.
10814-Aug-2020cat:word-generatorMoved Word Generator from generators folder to words folder, in the same place as the other generators.
11014-Aug-2020cat:word-generatorRemoved username combinations page, word filter page and 'word' page since those pages were rarely used.
11114-Aug-2020cat:usernamesRemoved option to sort usernames.
11214-Aug-2020cat:usernamesRemoved prefix and suffix username page.
11314-Aug-2020cat:usernamesRemoved favourite username functionality.
11714-Aug-2020cat:word-generatorRemoved favourite word functionality.
11814-Aug-2020cat:word-generatorRemoved option to sort words.
11914-Aug-2020cat:siteAdded redirect rules into web.config to redirect all HTTP to HTTPS, and to redirect all www to non www. Used web.config instead of doing a hack in an asp include file.
12014-Aug-2020cat:usernamesCreated a Jimpix Usernames Twitter Account and linked to it from usernames part of the site.
12114-Aug-2020cat:usernamesSet up Twitter Cards on the main username generator page.
10412-Aug-2020cat:usernamesRemoved "usernameism.asp" page that provided variations on a username. It wasn't used much and was a bit over the top...
10211-Aug-2020cat:ecardsAdded Make Your Own Ecard facility to the site
10511-Aug-2020cat:ecardsMoved ecard and photo ecard and preview pages to run on PHP.
10611-Aug-2020cat:ecardsAdded a Nice ecard category, using clever javascript code from Codepen
10711-Aug-2020cat:ecardsAdded a Religion ecard category, all based on the new make your own ecard page setup, so all of the content can be edited.
10108-Aug-2020cat:ecardsWhen creating new ecards from Vimeo, I used to extract the data from the video using XML, such as in <a href="https://vimeo.com/api/v2/video/443856794.xml">this example URL</a>, for this <a href="https://www.vimeo.com/443856794">video</a>. However, that method is now deprecated (https://help.vimeo.com/hc/en-us/articles/360042975791-Deprecated-APIs-libraries-and-upload-methods). Instead, there is a new method called oEmbed (https://developer.vimeo.com/api/oembed/videos). I changed to using JSON to get the video data, so a sample URL is <a href="https://vimeo.com/api/oembed.json?url=https%3A%2F%2Fvimeo.com%2F443856794">here</a>. For the page to create new ecards from external vimeo data, changed to use the new URL and to use JSON instead of XML.
10025-Jun-2020cat:usernamesRemoved flickr image options from username pages (username experiments, usernameism page).
9703-Jun-2020cat:word-generatorFixed issue on word generator page, where clicking on a word to look it up resulted in the wrong word being returned.
9803-Jun-2020cat:ecardsRemoved cryptic icons on ecard user account pages and replaced them with meaningful text descriptions instead.
9903-Jun-2020cat:ecardsChanged the user account drop-down in top-left of the screen to make it more obvious that it contains user account options. Previously the drop-down heading just had the user's name displayed, so the user had no idea that it was a useful drop-down menu.
9612-May-2020cat:usernamesRemoved Youtube, Map and Voice username experiments and Youtube from usernameism page as Youtube API expired and I can't work out how to get it working again.
9508-May-2020cat:ecardsReinstated facility to alert users about when their ecards cannot be sent to the recipient
8023-Feb-2020cat:usernamesRemoved username variations pages from usernames section.
8123-Feb-2020cat:siteRemoved spoonerisms pages from the site (but leaving the spoonerism username experiment in place).
8223-Feb-2020cat:ecardsChanged to using Twemoji emojis on the rich text editor on send-ecard pages instead of Joypixels / EmojiOne emojis.
8323-Feb-2020cat:ecardsChanged Process, History-Check, View, History and Manage Ecards pages to run via PHP instead of ASP, so they support unicode characters and native emoji characters
8423-Feb-2020cat:ecardsMerged the "sent ecards", "received ecards" and "search ecards" pages in the member's section, into one single manage ecards page.
8523-Feb-2020cat:siteChanged all ASP pages to use parameterized queries
8623-Feb-2020cat:ecardsChanged design of View / History Check ecard pages (adverts removed and design updated).
8723-Feb-2020cat:siteRemoved photo gallery pages
8823-Feb-2020cat:usernamesAdded what3word maps and moving letters username experiments
8923-Feb-2020cat:usernamesChanged design of username experiements homepage
9023-Feb-2020cat:usernamesAdded option to username checking page, to be able to drill down to the individual words which make up the username, and from there, look up other usernames related to that word (e.g. rhyming / related etc).
9123-Feb-2020cat:usernamesChanged the my favourite username page, to add in link to look up details of each word that makes up the username (e.g. rhyming etc), and also returned the availability results one site at a time instead of in a big chunk, hosting the PHP on jimpix instead of siteground (the main check on username.asp was moved to a local PHP file on 3rd Jan 2020)
9223-Feb-2020cat:word-generatorAdded favourite words functionality to the word generator.
9323-Feb-2020cat:word-generatorAdded an individual word page to the word generator section, which returns a random word and other related words (rhyming etc).
9423-Feb-2020cat:usernamesAdded an individual username page to the username generator section, which returns a random username and other related usernames (rhyming etc).
7903-Jan-2020cat:usernamesMoved username checking functionality to be hosted on jimpix instead of on siteground, and delivered check results one by one instead of in a big chunk of HTML.
7830-Oct-2019cat:ecardsFixed ecard bug where message contents were deleted if Preview option used. Probably broken since May 2019. Sorry for any inconvenience caused by this issue.
7725-Aug-2019cat:siteChanged to v3 Google Recaptcha on Contact page.
7611-Jun-2019cat:usernamesAdded elastic username generator
7509-Jun-2019cat:usernamesAdded option to display individual usernames on its own. Also added bouncing and blinking typography sections to the typography username experiments page.
7405-Jun-2019cat:siteStarted hosting username JS and CSS files on Amazon AWS
7312-Jan-2019cat:usernamesReduced number of usernames checked on username checking page to 10 instead of about 18, and returned all results in one chunk of HTML to allow one call to PHP checking page instead of 18 calls to the page, to reduce load on PHP script. Reduced load on remote PHP script hosted by Siteground
7202-Jan-2019cat:siteLaunched the spoonerisms section.
7127-Dec-2018cat:usernamesUpdated design of passphrase generator with "yourword" option to include results in textarea field.
7024-Dec-2018cat:ecardsAnother u-turn - members ecards will not be deleted at all, unless there is 15 months of inactivity on the account.
6916-Dec-2018cat:ecardsChanged my mind - won't delete user accounts after all!
6824-Nov-2018cat:usernamesRefreshed design of username experiments page
6720-Nov-2018cat:usernamesAdded new passphrase generator with "yourword" option
6627-Oct-2018cat:ecardsRemoved option for new user accounts to be created. Provided notice that user accounts will be deleted on 1st Jan 2019. Also linked username pages to new username-api website.
6504-Jul-2018cat:usernamesAdded option to passphrase generator to allow words to be split with dashes, symbols, numbers etc.
6319-May-2018cat:siteAdded a Cookie Consent solution from https://cookieconsent.insites.com/, found via https://www.cookiechoices.org/intl/en/
6419-May-2018cat:siteRevised the Privacy Policy to make it compliant with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which came into force on 25th May 2018.
5826-Nov-2017cat:usernamesMoved username pages over to https
5525-Nov-2017cat:usernamesPut back favourite usernames options onto standard username pages.
5625-Nov-2017cat:usernamesRemoved bells and whistles special versions of pages
5725-Nov-2017cat:usernamesBells and Whistles versions of usernames re-instated
5923-Nov-2017cat:usernamesRemoved right-hand sidebar from the 3 busiest username pages
6023-Nov-2017cat:usernamesAdded grid display of random usernames to the 3 busiest username pages, before form is submitted
6123-Nov-2017cat:usernamesAdded username variations pages
6223-Nov-2017cat:usernamesAdded option to check username availability - click on a username to check availability across a number of popular social media websites
5412-Nov-2017cat:usernamesAdded passphrase generator
5302-Nov-2017cat:ecardsRemoved Google reCaptcha from send-ecard pages.
5018-Oct-2017cat:siteAdded custom search field onto main navigation
5118-Oct-2017cat:usernamesCreated 4 new versions with those options included on them (with bells and whistles, favourites and sort options).
5218-Oct-2017cat:usernamesStripped back the "bells and whistles" options from the 3 busiest pages
4903-Oct-2017cat:usernamesRemoved Sort and Favourites options. Too many bells and whistles!
4824-Sep-2017cat:usernamesAdded option to random username generator and username generator pages, allowing users to add their own text to only return words including that text
4618-Sep-2017cat:usernamesRevised favourite username button functionality
4718-Sep-2017cat:usernamesAdded button to show / hide favourites options from usernames
4210-Sep-2017cat:usernamesTidied up navigation for username pages
4310-Sep-2017cat:usernamesAdded Snapchat and Facebook Name pages
4410-Sep-2017cat:usernamesAdded option to sort username results
4510-Sep-2017cat:siteDeleted various generators from the site (horse and name)
4122-Aug-2017cat:usernamesAdded ability to delete individual favourite usernames from the favourite usernames list
4020-Aug-2017cat:usernamesAdded favourite username (my-favourite-usernames.asp) functionality to the usernames pages, using Javascript Local Storage
3915-Aug-2017cat:ecardsUpdated the password reset process to use a password reset link instead of sending a new random password in an email
3813-May-2017cat:usernamesNew tiles and 3d username experiments added
3728-Apr-2017cat:ecardsGoogle Recaptcha validation added to the send ecard pages
3517-Apr-2017cat:usernamesAdded username experiments homepage
3617-Apr-2017cat:usernamesAdded youtube username experiment
3216-Apr-2017cat:ecards"Popular" emoji category added, and new emoji designs added
3316-Apr-2017cat:ecardsEmojis used on the send-ecard pages now include the title attribute
3416-Apr-2017cat:usernamesNew username voices experiment added
3015-Apr-2017cat:usernamesRemoved username circle and initials experiments
3115-Apr-2017cat:usernamesUpdated Username Experimentspage - red navigation banner added
2906-Apr-2017cat:ecardsRemoved all ecards from the site which had Flash content
2712-Jun-2016cat:usernamesEmoji Username Generator added to the site
2812-Jun-2016cat:ecardsRich text editor added to ecards
2615-Nov-2015cat:siteEcard FAQ page added to the site
2529-Oct-2015cat:siteSSL facility added to site for user / members section
2428-Jul-2015cat:ecardsThe first animated GIF ecards added to the site
2320-Jul-2015cat:ecardsFlash ecards removed for good
2204-Jul-2015cat:siteMoved hosting company, to Tagadab
2114-Jun-2015cat:ecardsEcard users now alerted via email if ecards cannot be delivered
2028-Dec-2014cat:ecardsEcard user accounts which have not been used for more than 15 months will be automatically deleted
1912-Dec-2014cat:ecardsOption added to allow users to upload their own images to use in their ecards
1826-Aug-2014cat:ecardsWhen signing up for a user account, you can just use your email address as your username
1724-Aug-2014cat:ecardsOption added to allow users to set reminders for events - e.g. birthdays - email reminders sent 3 days before the event
1610-May-2014cat:ecardsEcards using flash animations changed to display a static image when viewed on smart phones and tablet devices
1517-Mar-2014cat:usernamesNew random name generator added
1426-Jan-2014cat:ecardsNotification emails changed to HTML format
1317-Jan-2014cat:ecardsEmail delivery moved to a new provider - Mandrill
1204-Dec-2013cat:siteNew site design - using Bootstrap
920-Jun-2013cat:ecardsMoved site to host Vimeo and Youtube thumbnail images externally
1020-Jun-2013cat:ecardsAdded quick way of adding video ecards to the site
1120-Jun-2013cat:ecardsHomepage tweaked to show recent additions / popular content and the most popular categories for the past week
803-Jun-2013cat:ecardsAddress book added to ecards users section
612-Nov-2012cat:ecardsImproved the ecard search functionality
701-Jun-2012cat:usernamesRandom username generator added
518-Dec-2011cat:ecardsFor those of you who are members, you can now search your sent ecards - handy when checking which ecards you have sent, and whether or not they have been read
420-Sep-2010cat:ecardsAdded a new ecard users section which will allow you to track sent / received ecards, and various other such bits and pieces
306-May-2010cat:ecardsAdded option to have a future send-date on ecards
229-Jan-2010cat:ecardsStarted to include video ecards on the site
123-Dec-2009cat:ecardsAdded option to send the same ecard to multiple recipients - up to ten at the same time
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