And finally... BITS Website refresh completed (Traveller RPG)

That took a lot longer than I intended, but finally the BITS website has been properly refreshed.

Due to the amount of time that we had access issues (exacerbated by BITS going into near hibernation post pandemic) the updates were pretty significant.

• Migration of the site to a different server at the host.
• Upgrade of PHP by 3 major versions.
• Recover of the old RapidWeaver site (from my old MacBook).
• Finding an interim way to convert an old Rapidweaver format file to a later release that's happy running under Apple Silicon.
• Getting frustrated as I couldn't find a way to download a version of Rapidweaver I'd bought on the App Store that had been withdrawn by Real Mac Software, paying to upgrade to the current version (albeit under offer at Christmas) and then finding the download files and generic licence for the older version a month later in the Rapidweaver support system.
• Updating the theme to one that worked with the new version.
• Changing all the copyright and trademark and licence references to reflect Mongoose Publishing's ownership.
• Removing commenting due the UK OSA.
• Updating all the product references, adding in the products that have come out in the interim, chasing purchase links to DriveThruRPG from RPGNow.
• Explaining why BITS doesn't do membership anymore.
• Removing the legacy software pages (these may return, but I haven't had much call for MacOS Classic files for a long time).
• Feeling very sad at the number of people and websites we've lost as I cleaned up the links.
• Striping out the webring (as it seems to be defunct).

Things I didn't do.

• Migrate to Wordpress. Possibly still on the cards, but that would have been a block of work beyond this and I wanted to get this done. I'm not entirely sure I want to do this myself.
• Update the PowerProjection.net site (that's coming).
• Fix the redirect from bits.org.uk - that needs Andy Lilly to change something with the host for that domain. Should happen this week.

Anyway, nice to get this particular weight off my back!

9 February 2025