Our New Website

We have a new website with a lot of new features and a new look. Some of the more notable features are listed below.

Content Management System

We are using an advanced content management system that allows volunteers to be given access to maintain the entire site. All website content, from the menus to articles to cat listings is now fully managed within this system. New pages or even entire sections of the site can be added at any time with no cost and little effort.

This system also allows easy expansion in the future, as there are thousands of feature components that can simply be "plugged-in". Things like event calendars, photo galleries, online stores, etc.

A New Concept for Adoptable Cat Listings

We have set-up a social network, or rather a "social catwork", for our kitties. Using this you can easily browse our cats that are available for adoption. You can search and filter the cat profiles in order to find your ideal feline.

On the subject of cat profiles. Each cat now has their own, and they show a lot more information about the cats than the website did previously. We can now mention specifically what special needs a cat has, what types of animals they are social with, etc. The profiles can also be expanded to show much more if we want. Each profile can also have photo albums, in addition to the cat's main photo. This gives us the ability to put up as many photos of each cat as we want. Videos are also a possibility. Another plus is that the system makes it very easy for volunteers to add cat photos, and isn't picky about the format or size.

The social catwork also has some interesting possibilities for the promotion of HPPH. For one, we can advertise having the first cat social network in the Fort Wayne area, and perhaps the first cat shelter social network ever. Secondly, we could open up the social catwork to local cat lovers and allow them to have profiles as well. They could then post comments on the cats and photos, or even interact with the kitties and have a volunteer responding back from the kitties. This would give some interesting opportunities for community interaction, and could be taken as far as volunteers have time for. Volunteers could also be given profiles on the site and people could get to know them.

New Web Host

The website is now hosted on a much more powerful and reliable server. This is more of a technical thing, and may not be noticed by many. But suffice it to say that it is more stable, secure, and speedy.

Search Engine Friendly

The new site is more search engine friendly. And, should give better search results and hopefully more traffic.

Homepage Slideshow

The homepage now has a slideshow. Each "slide" can have a caption as well. At the moment we just have some cat photos as the slides. But ideally we would put up a photo of the facilities, of the staff and volunteers, of groups of kitties, and other such things. We could also put up seasonal announcements this way.