Regular users will have noticed a number of changes on the site in the last few weeks, as I’ve updated a few things, changed some graphics, and tried to bring the blog kicking-and-screaming into 2007.

Perhaps the most obvious change from the user perspective is the complete redesign of the Work pages, to separate them out more from the blog – in essence, to differentiate more clearly between the things where I know what I’m talking about and the things where I really don’t. It’s also quite important, as I know that several schools and sixth-form colleges link to the pages from their intranets, so it’s probably preferable for them that the work content is separated out more clearly from the blog.

More significant to the site, however, is the introduction of a formal comment policy. I’ve had almost a thousand genuine comments on the site over the last few years, and up to now I’ve been moderating on a pretty ad-hoc basis. But after a couple of complaints from people who’ve been personally insulted in comments, plus the wider debate in the blogging community about comment policies, I decided that I should probably feature one for the benefit of my users. So here it is.

The design of the site in general has changed, with the old side boxes replaced by a proper sidebar, the introduction of ‘notes’ (the smaller posts-between-posts) so that I can say things briefly without having to create a big dramatic headline, and some general tidying – including of the print function, so that you can once again print a clean copy of any page by employing your browser’s normal print function.

So, in summary: A few minor aesthetic changes, but underneath the surface everything is pretty much the same as ever. Remind you of anything?