Bigger and Better!
Exciting times for SMN – and you’re part of it! – 15 October 2010
Rapid expansion of the magazine since start up in February 2010, whilst maintaining high quality content, has been my priority in driving SMN to the top of the tree in terms of scale model magazines.
Everyone will have their own view of that, which is just fine by me, but I want SMN to:
- Offer the best overall content of any scale model magazine
- Offer the best walkaround reference available to modellers
- Offer the best and most extensive modelling help and ‘how-to’ available anywhere
- Offer the best value for money scale model magazine anywhere – bar none!
These aims are at the centre of what we are all trying to achieve here at SMN and from the conversations I have at the shows we attend, discussions on our Facebook pages and e-mails that come to me direct the feedback I am getting is fantastic and I thank you all for that.
New server and software to drive SMN into the future
So, going forward SMN’s structure in terms of server capacity, the software that drives the magazine and all that technical stuff needs to be kept in top form, able to cope with the high demands a complex and enormous online magazine brings.
SMN is such a huge resource that we decided to take the magazine to the next level in terms of capacity and capability and have made the appropriate investment now – to be proactive ahead of time.
The move has taken place!
For the past few days, we have built the ‘new’ magazine on our new server using our latest software, led by Francis and a small team of IT developers. As you’ll see, SMN still looks much like it did before the switchover, but we have taken this opportunity to improve still further some of the navigation; Finished Now and other areas are in line for a structural ‘makeover’ to make your SMN experience even better than at present.
The workload, especially for Francis and the developers, has been (and to a degree continues to be) enormous as they migrated all the content across to the new server whilst at the same time juggling their time so that you, our subscribers and visitors, continue to see the usual exciting new updates and content we have all become accustomed to.
In the event the transfer went pretty smoothly and we are all continuing to check and test everything so that we can be confident all has gone well. Please do let us know if you spot anything odd or not right and we’ll quickly rectify it.