Welcome to the updated Flights From Hell website. You’ll still find all of the stories and comments that the previous site had – all 369 stories and 4,020 comments were individually cut and pasted into the updated site. But you’ll also find that surfing through our pages offers a much more enjoyable and satisfying experience.
Changes were made out of necessity as well as for desired improvements. The software previously used – Microsoft FrontPage – is acutely outdated and non-supported. It also lacks a lot of features that people have come to expect from today’s websites and blogs. WordPress was selected as its replacement because of its compliance with web standards, for the many great tools and resources that are available for it, and because it’s much more suitable for sites with dynamic content. It provides improved organization and easier navigation, quicker load times, a cleaner and less cluttered appearance, unique web addresses for posts (permalinks), tags for sorting of stories by key words, and a more prominent display of comments.
Accompanying the change in software were changes made to the site itself. An Airport story category was added (some of the stories that were in Odds & Ends were moved into it), the Luggage & Delays and the Plane & Weather categories were split into individual categories, Flying Hell Features was renamed “Flying Hell Blog,” and the Flying Hell News, Blog Links and Guest Blogs pages were discontinued.
Unfortunately there was no way to transfer requests for comment notifications over to the new site. Those seeking to find comments that they made on the previous site can use the search engine to find their names on the updated one. Also, story ratings could not be moved over. And for the record, noted publication days for stories that originated on the other site aren’t necessarily the day in which they were originally posted (months and years correctly reflect when the stories were posted on the previous site, however).
The manual transference of loads of material from one site to another undoubtedly resulted in some errors. If you find any (e.g. comments out of chronological order), or if you have any suggestions on how to make the site better, please email us at contact@flightsfromhell.com.
Finally, special thanks goes to those who contributed towards Flights From Hell’s increased success – folks who’ve shared their stories, posted comments, offered advice, provided information, and helped to inform others about the website.
Here’s to many more years of flying together into the crazy skies.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Looks lovely! Looking forward to seeing more wild and wacky stories on the new and improved Flights from Hell site.
I miss the link to "latest stories" — now it looks like I need to scan all the categories to find the latest stories.
I agree. I don't always have to time to read these daily. Can we get that link back??
Love the new layout! I know it was a lot of work, but very worth it!
Jody and Jodi,
The 10 most recent stories are now featured on the Home page. The first 4 stories are fully written out, and the remaining ones are in excerpt format. Click on "Previous Entries" at the bottom of the page to go to excerpts of the next 10 most recent stories and so forth.
Jodi and Jody,
I've been thinking about your comments and I can see how visitors wouldn't necessarily know that the most recent stories are on the Home page. To make things clearer, I retitled the Home page to "Latest Stories."
Nice call – I appreciate the suggestions!
Awesome! Thank you. I had no idea they'd be right there — much easier. I love everything about the site. Its much easier to navigate and the color scheme makes it easier on the eyes.
Great job!
Thanks Gregg! The "latest stories" makes it easy for those of us who can't hit the site every day. I agree that on the whole it's easier to navigate.
Love the new look, when is Dinners from Hell getting the upgrade?
Thanks theblackdog.
It's difficult to say when the upgraded Dinners From Hell website will be published. I'm still busy with some matters involving this one. An announcement will be made on both sites when Dinners is completed. Look for the site to be streamlined so as to provide a greater emphasis on the stories. Please feel free to email me any suggestions at contact@dinnersfromhell.com.
Thank you for information…