[Nathan Robinson]

Today's update:


myArmoury.com Collection Galleries
A Completely Revamped Section!


Hanwei / CAS Iberia Charlemagne Saber
A hands-on review by Chad Arnow


Windlass Steelcrafts Falcata
A hands-on review by Greyson Brown


Vince Evans European Hanger
A hands-on review by Steve Grisetti


Angus Trim Single-handed Falchion
A hands-on review by Jason Elrod

As always, you can see our Complete History of Updates listed right from our home page.

[Nathan Robinson]

As announced above, part of this week's update is the complete revamping of the Collection Galleries.

I've been collecting since the early 90s and in that time there's been many drastic changes to my collection caused by an ever-evolving focus, new curiosities, waning interests, good economic times, bad economic times, etc.

Photography was once a key part of my professional career. This site came about when photography intersected with my interest in arms and armour. From that was created the collection gallery of photos that documents MY Armoury. Photography is now more of a hobby than a profession, save for a paid gig now and again, and I've been selling off much of my studio equipment over the last several years. In fact, a fair amount of those proceeds have been used over the last four years to purchase the newest things in my collection. It's an ironic enmeshment of the two hobbies that seems to stay consistent.

Shown below are the newest items I've been able to document and add to my gallery.

Please have a look and use the brand-new "I like this" feature on each collection page to tell me if anything grabs your attention!

Swords:


Albion Armorers Dane Two-handed Sword
Added to Nathan's collection


Albion Armorers Soldat Grosse Messer
Added to Nathan's collection


Arms & Armor Custom Bastard Sword
Added to Nathan's collection


Arms & Armor Custom Swiss Saber
Added to Nathan's collection


E.B. Erickson 17th Century Hanger
Added to Nathan's collection


E.B. Erickson Continental Basket-hilt
Added to Nathan's collection


E.B. Erickson Landsknecht Sword
Added to Nathan's collection


Phoenix Metal Creations Pappenheimer
Added to Nathan's collection


Vince Evans Basket-hilted Saber
Added to Nathan's collection


Vince Evans Browned Backsword
Added to Nathan's collection

Daggers:


Arma Bohemia Composite Rondel Dagger
Added to Nathan's collection


Arma Bohemia Ear Dagger
Added to Nathan's collection


Peter Johnsson Medieval Dagger
Added to Nathan's collection


Tod's Stuff Low Countries Ballock Dagger
Added to Nathan's collection


Tod's Stuff Landsknecht Dagger
Added to Nathan's collection


Vince Evans Early Scottish Dirk
Added to Nathan's collection


Vince Evans Highland Dirk
Added to Nathan's collection

Other items:


Arms & Armor Custom Bec de Corbin
Added to Nathan's collection


Also added are three items to Steve Maly's collection:


Albion Chevalier Sword
Added to Steve's Collection


Arms & Armor Aunlaz Dagger
Added to Steve's Collection


Arms & Armor Nordland Axe
Added to Steve's Collection

[Nathan Robinson]

This update's hands-on reviews have been collecting dust in our publishing queue for quite some time. They're not as relevant as they were when the authors submitted them. That's on me, not the authors. It's been a priority for me to get these things out the door and to remove the hurdles that have been in the way.

Over the last two months, I've made time to do a bunch of updates to myArmoury.com that have taken several hundred hours of work. Most of the work completed was behind-the-scenes and will never be noticed, but the changes were necessary to ensure the site can grow and evolve in the future. The site was created in 2003 and is in dire need of updates. Because of the sheer size of this place and all the articles and pages contained here, it has grown into a monster. I never built this thing to be so content-rich and so as time has gone on, adding updates has been an ever-increasing chore. I've started the process of digging through literally everything and making it template-driven and able to be automated. This helps with the upkeep of the site and will also make it much easier to get future updates out the door.

While we don't have a ton of backlogged content, there are several pieces that have been log-jammed for quite some time. The reasons vary, but at the end of the day, it's because I simply haven't had the time to do the production, source the imagery, and whatnot, given that I have a day-to-day grind of a day job and all the maintenance chores this site already requires. Getting the site into a state of being a lower-maintenance kind of thing has been paramount to allowing me to use the small windows of free time to do future-focused work rather than just keeping up with the daily needs.

As an example, I had four years of updates to my own collection gallery that needed to be photographed, written, and produced. The collection galleries are an important part of this site for me, as it is the section that started it all. Originally, this site was simply created to host MY Armoury online. It's grown well past that, but the original spirit of sharing is still a common thread to everything on this site. I wanted to give that section a complete face-lift and so I did. A completely new interface has been created, making for a much more pleasant viewing experience. I've also added more than a dozen new items to the various collections for you guys to visit.

For the last few years, there's been a member-initiated donation drive for the site. The last couple years have resulted in the site's hosting bills being completely funded by you guys. Being a man who works for his living, this makes me feel that I owe you all something in return. So that means that I do what I can do to find the hours and put myself to work.

There is still a lot more for me to do and I don't have the time to fully document everything as I'm doing it. I do, however, want you guys to know that quite a lot of work is being done behind the scenes and while a lot of it sits in the background unnoticed, it paves the way for the many things that will be noticed.

Thanks for sticking with us.

I've started to create a log that briefly documents site changes, additions, and fixes. Here it is:

Hands-on Reviews

• Every single hands-on review was re-coded to make future updates much easier to produce
  
• A new "I like this" feature has been added to allow members to mark items as "liked"
  
• Photos are shown in "lightbox" format, offering a better user experience and the ability flip through them as a slideshow using previous/next functions
  
• Converted all hands-on reviews to a common format that allows them to be added to a member's list of "favorite pages"
  
• Added a link to the main review index page to Informal Reviews submitted by members of our community
  
  
  Collection Galleries
  
• An all-new design for the collection galleries has been adopted
  
• Each page in a collection gallery includes a list of the entire collection with easy navigation
  
• Current and retired items are separated
  
• A new "I like this" feature has been added to allow members to mark items as "liked"
  
• Photos are shown in "lightbox" format, offering a better user experience and the ability flip through them as a slideshow using previous/next functions
  
• Many new items have been added to the galleries of Nathan Robinson, Chad Arnow, and Steve Maly
  
• New photos have been taken to replace older photos for items in the galleries of Nathan Robinson and Chad Arnow
  
  
  Topics
  
• Added “Topic Suffixes” to denote special topic types such as "DIY Projects" or "Product Reviews"
  
• Clicking a Topic Suffix shows a list of only topics of that topic type
  
• Can sort a forum showing only topics of a certain type or even unmarked topics (see the bottom of a forum page that has topics of a certain type)
  
  
  Topics
  
• Under each post's author near the list of posts and reading list books is now shown the author's count of spotlight topics, page likes, etc., with links to display them
  
  
  Forum Search
  
• Can limit searches to only include Spotlight Topics
  
• Can limit searches to only include topics of a special type (those with a Topic Suffix)
  
• Added "view your topics" search at the top-right of the forum index page alongside "view your posts"
  
  
  Member Profiles
  
• Added a count showing the topics a member has started along with the ability to list them
  
• Added a count showing the Spotlight Topics a member has started along with the ability to list them
  
• Added a count showing the Liked Pages a member has marked along with the ability to list them
  
  
  Photo Galleries
  
• Added a few all-new complete albums
  
• Many new photos have been added throughout
  
  
  Marketplace
  
• By using the sorting pull-down menu at the bottom of a forum’s topic list, members can now sort topics by their type: sold, pending, removed, or unmarked (available items!)
  
  
  Contests
  
• A whole new backend system for contests and giveaways has been developed, making it easier to publish and coordinate a contest
  
• All types of contests can now be software-controlled, including tracking eligibility, managing entrants, and the picking of winners
  
• Contest winners, history, entrants, etc., are now all stored in the site's database rather than manually
  
  
  Bookstore
  
• Fixed a few bugs and optimized some things across the entire Books Section
  
• Added more reference points for “Book Suggestions” for even more recommendations
  
• Updated the way it communicates to Amazon's database to ensure future compatibility as they change their API
  
  
  Miscellaneous Bug Fixes and Changes
  
• Many, many, many core systems were optimized or redone to make the site faster overall
  
• The codebase behind forum Searches has changed and is more efficient now
  
• Fixed a bug in the way certain usergroups are displayed
  
• The codebase for showing a topic has been re-coded to be much less of a strain on the server
  
• Guests can no longer use the search function. This removes strain from the server
  
• The backend coding for all pages on the site has been drastically changed, allowing for a more template-driven system to be employed. This makes future updates much easier and also paves the way for allowing a site redesign that would have otherwise been very difficult.
  
• Many additional spam prevention measures have been added
  
• Many security upgrades have been added
  
• All members, even those without "enhanced" membership subscriptions, now have a small quota for attaching images to private messages
  
• Sitemap indexes were created to help Google and other search engines better index our site
  
• Several SEO (Search Engine Optimization) improvements were adopted to bring in visitors from brand-new demographics and whatnot to try to continue our goal of helping grow the hobby related to historical arms and armour
  
• Reset the site's "most members ever online" counter since it was representing a fluke day that had 460 people online at once due to us being linked to by several sites on a holiday
  
• Contest winners are now in a usergroup and are no longer tagged with a special "Contest Winner" rank, allowing ranks to be used for other things in the future
  
  
  Admin and Moderator Functions
  
• New functions were created to ease and automate the job of forum moderation
  
• New functions were created to help the admin manage the site, automating many previously tedious manual tasks

[Stephen Curtin]

Nathan

I think I can safely speak for everyone when I say thank you for all the hard work you put in to make this great site even greater. Personally, I'd say that I spend a couple of hours most days here, so I'm very greatful that the place is still around, not to mention constantly getting improved. So again thanks Nathan and everyone else involved in keeping myArmoury going.

[Scott Hrouda]

Where's the poll option to select "all of the above"?

Thank you for the hard work and wonderful site. It's interesting to learn a little of the history of this site and how it continues to evolve beyond your original parameters. I think the recent changes show a dedication to the future, wherever it takes myArmoury.

[Chad Arnow]

As part of this re-vamp, I took the time to update pictures on a few of my items. The original photos were either poor or didn't reflect the piece as it is now. Here they are:


Albion Armorers Sovereign


Albion Armorers Baron



Arms & Armor Custom Medieval Dagger

I hope people enjoy them.

[Jean Thibodeau]

WOW, to say I'm impressed would be a huge understatement ! Just reading the list of improvements, tweaks and upgrades that run in the background or add functionality to the membership and even visitors was exhausting ! One can only imagine how much work Nathan had to put in doing all this on top of just the day to day maintenance of this site, and not even mentioning the time that Nathan has to put in doing his day job that pays the rent and having a personal life ! ( I assume he finds some time to have fun or talk to other people or even just fondle his collection. ).

Just looking at this one update may take a few hours and I think I'll reserve a few hours just for this later.

Anyway, I don't know how I can do justice to thanking Nathan for creating this site and maintaining it as it has become a very important piece of my life that I, " obviously " , visit every day to learn something and have pleasant discussions.

Oh, and it's a very rare day I don't learn something new here.

( Will have to think long and hard to be able to vote on this poll as I would have to say " ALL OF THE ABOVE ", I guess I will have to choose one after I check out all the choices in the poll, but whatever become my choice will probably be my favourite by just a small margin over all the rest ).

[Nathan Robinson]

I thought I'd quickly point out that by voting in this update's poll, you're giving us valuable general feedback on where to take this site. By marking hands-on reviews and collection gallery items (not just the new ones, but every one on the site!) with the new "I like this" feature, you're giving us specific feedback about what catches your eyes' attention.

[Addison C. de Lisle]

Wow Nathan; this is a huge update! I had noticed the little labels next to Marketplace and other posts, but didn't see this coming. Thanks so much for all the work you do on the site!

Also, that Peter Johnsson dagger in your collection is gorgeous!

[Nathan Robinson]

Neat:

lots of pages liked by lots of people

[Nathan Robinson]

[Sander Marechal]

These are all fantastic updates. Thanks!

[Nathan Robinson]

[Mark T]

Nathan: Just a quick note to say thank you for all the work you put in here ... it's not unnoticed, and IS greatly appreciated!

Cheers,
Mark T

[Henrik Zoltan Toth]

Good evening!

It would be probably usefull to mention the historical established origin of the sabre in the review.

After Lampert of Hersfeld, the sabre was given by Anastasia of Kiev, mother of king Salamon to II. Otto, bavarian prince, in 1063.

He gave help to preserve the hungarian throne. The sabre was known in the hungarian royal court as the Sword of Attila.

The floral motivs (palmetta-style) and the very long elman is characteristic for the (second half of the) 10 th. Century, therefore it is probably of hungarian or kiev-rus origin.

Regards:

Zoltán

[Nathan Robinson]

[Chad Arnow]

[Chad Arnow]

I'd also like to thank Nathan for the hard work on all this. I know his job keeps him insanely busy, but this site is still a big enough priority for him that he'll finish a hard day of work then settle in for hours of coding for this site, working nights/weekends/etc.

I think oftentimes his hard work behind the scenes makes the site look more easy and efficient to run than it actually is. We have very little downtime, lots of features, and a healthy amount of traffic all due to his hard work.

So even if you guys don't see lots of stuff going on on your end, there is almost always behind-the-scenes work/coding/brainstorming going on to keep the site healthy and growing.

[Jason Elrod]

[Jean Thibodeau]