SilverCORD Version 2.0: INCH Edition

In August, 2015, I released version 2.0 of the SilverCORD class registration website. It represents a collection of incremental improvements, made over the course of over a year.

New Colors and Icons

Say "good-bye" to the bright yellow and turquoise, and give a hearty "hoo-yah" to muted yellows and bright blue and green! And to go along with the cool new colors, feast your eyes on a great set of icons, courtesy Incors.

Updated Class Registration

A big drawback of the original website design was that previous class registration data always needed to be erased every trimester, limiting availability of historical information. The data storage was rewritten, to improve views of the past and enable the future addition of transcripts.

Updated Class Information

Class information has been enhanced with a Requirements section, Pre-Requisite, Co-Requisite, and Restricted check box. Pre-Requisite is not quite working yet, but the Co-Requisite setting notifies the Board if a student is not registered for classes that go together, such as both sessions of a two-hour class.

Restricted classes are multi-trimester classes that only accept new students in the first trimester that they are being offered. For instance, it does not make sense for anyone to jump into the middle on an ongoing, year-long Chemistry class. Restricted classes are treated as "full", for subsequent trimesters, preventing new students from signing up.

Event Log (Admins)

This administrative feature records account logins and data changes, leaving a "bunny trail", if anything needs to be corrected later.

Entire Class Catalog (Admins)

This page is most useful for detecting discrepancies in class registration. Filtering and sorting features make it easier to find the information you need.

Presenting SilverCORD 1.0: INCH Edition

Greetings, fellow INCHlings!  Smack-dab between Christmas and the New Year, I have released the first major revision of the INCH Registration site, featuring SilverCORD 1.0!

When I first designed inchregistration.com in the summer of 2008, I knew nothing about databases or how exactly the website would be used.  I did a lot of things that ultimately made it harder for me to maintain and upgrade it.  But I’ve learned a lot from the experience, so over the past few weeks, I’ve spent countless hours redesigning the guts of the website.  These changes will not only make updates easier and faster, but will also pave the way for some exciting new features, which I hope you will like!  The domain address and classic yellow color are unchanged (most of the changes are under the hood), but here is what’s different:

New Password Encryption

I’ve standardized how I process passwords, which unfortunately means that all your existing passwords will no longer work.  When you first try to log on, please press the “Forgot Password” button, to have the website e-mail you a new password.  Use that the first time you log in, after which you should change it to something easier to remember.

Removed Family Pictures

Most of the family pictures were way out of date, so I’ve removed them all and humbly invite you to e-mail a new one to Farrah!  If you know a thing or two about digital photos, you may upload your family picture yourself, through your INCH account.

SilverCORD 1.0

If you’ve visited the online manual (silvercord.wisdomsbeginning.com), this name should ring a bell.  In an effort to market this website’s features to other co-ops and small schools, I branded it SilverCORD and gave it a cool new logo.

Login Page

I’ve moved the “Account Login” section to the upper-left corner of the login page, to make it easier to log in.

Menu-Based Navigation

The familiar gaggle of buttons on the “Account Home” page have been replaced with a new menu, which now appears at the top of every page.  I hope to eventually improve upon its plain appearance, but it’s fully functional and its contents reflect your individual account privileges.

New Picture Slideshows

We’ve been seriously lacking in pictures (on both websites), so I’ve put in considerable effort to build a new slideshow system, for showcasing families, field trips, and other events.  Farrah has already spent several hours putting up some great pics from our own collection.  Please choose “Pictures” from the menu, and check out the slideshows!  Note that only paid INCH members can view these photos, so they’re safe from the prying eyes of strangers.

Redesigned Member Directory

The old member directory was a bit clunky, so I totally re-wrote it.  You can now find any member’s primary contact info at a quick glance.  Click on the apple icon next to the name to get more details.

More Coming Soon

Next on my sights is the class catalog and registration.  There are several improvements/changes I wish to make, ahead of Spring registration, which will be upon us before we know it!  More details on the way….

Please let me know what you think, and certainly if anything on the site is annoying or broken.

Greg

Your Friendly Neighborhood “Webservant”