Website and Companion Update: Search, Navigation, and Testing

My last update covered the website rebuild through October 6. Since then, I’ve been working on how the site behaves when you search for a photograph, move between pages, or read an update on your phone. There has also been more testing of the Dynamic Depth Photo Companion app.

Photograph search

I’ve updated the way the photograph search matches words. That includes handling words such as “woman” and “women” together and reducing unrelated matches. I’ve also checked the filters, loading more results, opening a photograph, and returning to the search results on desktop and mobile layouts.

The descriptions attached to photographs still matter. Some need more work before they can support useful searches, so this update does not finish the larger job of reviewing the photographs and their descriptions.

Finding the blog and moving around the site

The blog now has a direct menu entry. I’ve removed the old floating update card and kept the existing article and RSS feed in place.

I’ve also published changes to the shared navigation, footer, and blog layout. The aim is a more consistent experience as you move around the site. Checks on the article and search page included closing the mobile menu with Escape and returning keyboard focus to the menu control. I’ve also darkened the outline around links on cream backgrounds so it is easier to see which link is selected when navigating with a keyboard.

I’ve fixed the overlapping menus on the Remembrance page. It now has a single header in the desktop and phone-width layouts I checked. Opening and closing the menu, using Escape, and returning from the About page were also checked. The photographs and page content are unchanged.

I’ve also corrected the same overlapping-header problem in the community event layout, with desktop and phone-width checks on the 2024 Memorial Day Service page.

Facebook sharing still needs work. I’m also continuing to check the layouts on individual pages.

Companion app

A newer Android test build, version 1.11.14, was delivered for testing on October 8. It is not a public release, and device testing is still part of the work ahead.

The app work also includes a four-screen design review covering depth of field, exposure, camera settings, and custom values. That review focuses on more consistent controls, larger touch targets, and clearer text. The design is still under review; those checks do not establish how it will behave in an installed Android build.

App development is currently paused while I concentrate on the website repairs.

Work still underway

My immediate focus is on the website’s remaining layout, search-description, and sharing issues. Online sales remain paused. I’ll keep using these updates to explain what has actually changed and where more work is needed.