Archive for the ‘Development’ Category

Revised Search Options

Wednesday, July 27th, 2011

Last week we launched some changes to the Search & Match area. Here’s an insight into the decision behind the changes and in particular why we removed the children options.

We often hear from members who can’t find anyone in their area (we are sure there are plenty more who we never hear from!) When we started to investigate why, it is often due to their search options. In particular, the children options can be confusing. For example the second children option “Do they want children?” offered the following choices:

Do they want children?

It’s important to note that these search options relate directly to how a member has answered the question on their profile.

Looking closely at the example above, these options are very similar: “Not sure yet” and “Let’s talk about it”. However, if I search only for people who have answered “Not sure yet”, I will be eliminating members who have answered “Let’s talk about it”. My perfect match could end up hidden behind this one tickbox!

Essentially we have to strike a careful balance between offering wide enough answers in the profile questions to allow everyone to express their personality/circumstance and keeping the search options broad enough to avoid eliminating potential matches from search results.

We assure you that we are listening to your feedback and we are reviewing the recent changes in light of that. The bottom line is that the Christian Connection team is focussed on connecting you with other likeminded Christians to ultimately help you find your perfect match. In order to do this, you may need to cast your net a little further!

Weekly update

Thursday, August 5th, 2010

We’re coming to the end of the second week after the site relaunch. Here are some of the things we’ve been working on:

Additions and improvements made this week:

  • Added auto-scaling monitor to boost server power at busy times
  • Enabled suggested profiles on member home page
  • Enabled expanded results in Search & Match
  • Added multiple asset hosts to speed up page load times

Here are some of the fixes we’ve made:

  • Set matches email gender to opposite gender always
  • Corrected end date in age search
  • Remove un-needed params from anonymous searches
  • Fixed error message on forgot password form if submitting an incorrect email address

Site Activity for this week:

10,784 emails sent this week
13,269 waves sent this week
1,376 new photos uploaded this week
457 new members joined this week

Friday evening update

Friday, July 30th, 2010

It’s a been a hectic week at the CC office and although it hasn’t been smooth sailing all the way, we’re pleased with where it’s at, as we go into the weekend.

You may have noticed the site was down from around 5:30pm this afternoon (for 38 minutes). Sorry for the inconvenience. Sam has been working on a major update to the Search & Match area, which has drastically improved the speed of the search. This in turn has improved the overall speed of the whole site. He needed to take the site offline whilst making this change.

Here’s a rundown of additions and improvements we’ve made since the launch:

  • Completely Re-factored search algorithms to speed up Search & Match
  • Improved fraud matching system to more accurately catch and block scammers
  • Upgraded database size and number of connections to better handle number of incoming requests
  • Increased number of server connections (dynos) to improve page speeds and avoid timeout messages
  • Increased maximum messages per day for full members to 30
  • Enabled deleting of sent messages
  • Improved asset caching and compression to load images and stylesheets faster
  • Made ‘last logged in’ date more readable

We’ve also been working on a few fixes and corrections:

  • Fixed odd characters appearing in mailbox messages
  • Removed previously deleted messages from mailboxes
  • Reinstated keyword search
  • Restored hidden members lists
  • Fixed blocking on chat

Thanks to everyone who wrote in with comments and suggestions. We have been listening to your feedback and we’ve started by making some immediate changes to the most important issues. We still have quite a few improvements which we’ll be making in the coming weeks. The new platform will allow us to introduce changes faster than the old site.

Thanks again for bearing with us, for all your positive comments and for being part of the Christian Connection community.

Launching the new site

Tuesday, July 27th, 2010

The new Christian Connection site has been launched and the response has been phenomenal. So much so, that it’s taken us by surprise.

We have spent months developing, testing and tweaking the new platform. We ran a beta programme and launched the new platform on our sister site in Australia. These were helpful dry runs, but nothing can replace the ultimate litmus test of moving the live CC site lock, stock and barrel onto a brand new platform. So last night we switched off the old site, packed everything into boxes, loaded the trucks, shipped everything to the new site, unpacked, moved everything into position, opened the doors and waited for people to arrive.

We were hoping for a positive response but the rate at which people started to arrive, surpassed our expectations and things on the site started to slow down. We immediately got to work and increased the capacity on our server and started making tweaks to the code to improve the speed. Unfortunately the bottom line is, that it hasn’t gone as smoothly as we’d liked and some of our members have been experiencing a frustratingly slow response time from the new site.

We’ve now managed to isolate the problem and the site is back up to speed. However, we’ve taken the step of disabling some features whilst we rework some of the code.

Thanks for bearing with us as we iron out these few teething problems. We’re still very excited about the new site and we hope you’ll also come to love it.

We have some exciting news…

Monday, July 5th, 2010

We’re very excited to announce that we’re relaunching the Christian Connection website.

Christian Connection has been leading the way for online Christian dating in the UK for 10 years and we want it to stay that way. So we’ve been working furiously on a brand new site and we think you’ll love what we’ve got in store.

The site is being completely redesigned with a new look and extra features to provide a much improved experience. Alongside the new design, you’ll find the site faster, more reliable and easier to find your way around. The site has also been through a rigorous testing process to iron out any bugs.

Here’s a screenshot of the new members area:

New members areaThe bottom line is that you’re here to connect with likeminded Christians and find your perfect match. Here are some of the features that we think you’ll enjoy and help on your way:

All new Search & Match

We’ve combined Quick Search and Compatibility Matching into one powerful new Search & Match area. This has been totally revamped to give you better search options and more accurate matching. You can now save your searches for quick access in the future.
Search and match screenshot

Mailbox

Always jumping back and forth in an email conversation to remember who said what? Now you can view sent and received messages as one threaded conversation. Each sent message is grouped with all the responses, so you can view the conversation and respond from the same page.
Mailbox screenshot showing how messages/conversations are displayed

New: Waves

Our most requested feature has now become a reality. You may have smiled in a text message or poked on Facebook, now you can wave on Christian Connection. Wave at someone who has caught your eye and see if they wave back. It’s a great way to initiate contact.
Wave screenshot showing wave button

New: Your Fans

Curious to see who’s added you as a favourite? Now you can, on your ‘Fans’ list. It’s another great way to see who’s interested in your profile and discover your potential match.
Screenshot of fans tab

New Members Area

The members area has been radically redesigned with a greater focus on you and finding your perfect partner. When you login you can now see a summary showing new emails and waves.
New members area screenshot

How can you get access to the new site?

You don’t need to do anything. We will move your profile and subscription to the new site. You will be able to login as usual and your subscription will continue as normal. It may take a moment to get used to the new site, but we think you’ll love the improvements. If you have any questions or problems, we’re on standby to help.

We will email you again, when the new site is up and running. Until then, please do continue to enjoy the existing site.