The iPhone app is available

Apple just approved the iPhone uploader. It's fully functional, though I'm working hard on making it more than an uploader. Anyway, I hope you'll appreciate the ability to actually use the app again!

The New iPhone App is Coming!

At the suggestion of and with the help of Igor Dutra, a "super fan of Wee Web and very active user" who happens to be a professional User Experience designer, I have pleased to announce that the Wee Web app has been updated to work with the new site architecture. It is an "uploader", which means that you can use it to take photos and select photos from your library and upload them to the site.

The new version of the app, now numbered 1.9, should be released on the iTunes store as a free app in a couple weeks.

I am reserving the version number 2.0 for when it has a couple of enhancements, including the ability to see the site from the app and some other enhancements to the uploading process. At that time, I'll send an email to everyone letting them know that the app is available.

For now, the app is written as a way to restore the iPhone functionality using best practices and high reliability.

All thanks for the good parts of the app should go to Igor, and all blame to me where the app doesn't yet reflect his excellent suggestions.

(If you would like to be a beta tester for the iPhone app, please let me know by sending an email to "support@wee-web.com". You will get the latest versions of the app a few weeks before everyone else, and you'll have an opportunity to weigh in on the new features and help me find bugs.)

Feeling like we're getting somewhere!

The last few months have felt a bit like walking on a treadmill: lots of motion but not getting anywhere. My development efforts have been dedicated to rewriting huge swathes of Wee Web's core code to make it more reliable, robust and maintainable. The effort is beginning to pay off: there have been very few bugs lately. Partly this is because the software is much simpler (which, as you know, is hard to do!) and partly it's because I have added regression tests to most of the site so I can see if any updates break anything.

There are still a few chunky bits of rewriting to do; however, it's getting to the point where I can start adding in new features. Some "beta" features for Premium members include:

• a slideshow view of any album's page 
• the ability to download a printable version of a photo

Coming soon include making the slideshow really nice; a rewrite of the iPhone app and (hopefully) photo printing or at least exporting photos in bulk to a service like Snapfish.

New and better uploaders

Internet Explorer, Chrome and Firefox are updated frequently; this sometimes breaks things on the site.

As part of the system upgrades, I have replaced Wee Web's "Flash Uploader" with a new "Easy Uploader" that will allow many of you to drag and drop photos (depending on your browser).

I have also updated the 'multi-file uploader' to the latest version. This uploader offers some very nice features, like preview thumbnails, but ultimately it is based on an old technology that hasn't kept current. It may go away at some point, particularly if the Easy Uploader eventually supports thumbnails.

You can find the new uploaders when you "Add More Photos" to an entry page. Please let me know if you have any problems with the new uploaders or with anything else.

Big Updates for Wee Web

Wee Web is getting a major upgrade.

Over the last month, I have been upgrading Wee Web's infrastructure and adding automated testing at every level of the code base. My goal is to make Wee Web more robust, faster, more secure and easier to enhance with new features.

I apologize to anyone who has had problems with the site. I believe that we are past the worst of it now. However, if you have any problems at all or discover something out of place, please email help@wee-web.com to let me know.

Protecting Your Kids: Why Starting Early is Important

There is a lot of information online detailing many of the hazards kids and teens face online today. The breadth of the risk ranges from cyber bullying to solicitation and more. However, this realm of concern and precaution starts only when kids are online themselves (around 5 or so). What parents do beforehand matters because they not only run the risk of creating issue for their kids by their own behavior online, but they are also demonstrating to their children what proper online etiquette looks like. 

For more on this topic,  listen to  "Is Your Child Safe in the Digital Age: How to Share without Over Sharing," a Mom Talk Radio show on which I appeared as a guest!

-Cory Bronson

Mothering Methodologies

With all the conversation in reaction to Amy Chua's piece from the Wall Street Journal on why Chinese Mother are better than American Mothers, I find AnnMaria De Mars' outlook on parenting quite inspiring. Her general thesis: let a child find what they love, and their interest and passion will fuel their success. In her efforts to help her children find what ignites them, she realizes that there are stumbles along the way, and that is part of the course.

Chua's article, I found - as have many others - to be a rigid approach to parenting and teaching children. The true merit I found in it wasn't in any of her tactics, but the underlying premise of her parenting style - boundaries. While the boundaries she set up for her children were far too rigid for my liking (not allowing a 7-year-old to use the bathroom until she has mastered a piano piece), I think that staying true to boundaries one has set for their child is important, and is something that I find lacking in American culture, particularly with time management, family-time requirements, and limits to computer/games/texting etc. 

However, there is no Utopian approach to parenting, and most parents find new inspirations along the way. 

What have been your parenting inspirations?

-Cory Bronson