TotSites

If you’re a fan of snorkeling, scuba diving or just enjoy the water, you might want to check out the new Underwater theme! We have actually been working on this design for well over a year but could not seem to come up with a design we actually enjoyed. Finally Max took over the project and came up with a fun animated design. If you’re patient and look around, you will notice many areas of the design are alive with action.

Check out the new design!

In addition to the new design we added a new feature as well. When you’re editing text for your site you will notice a new spellcheck icon. This should make it easier to catch those embarrassing spelling mistakes. I have family point out my “oops” all the time!

Have fun!

Brian

Just a side note: We have a toddler at home who loves Finding Nemo. When we were adding the bubbles to the design all I could think of was Bubbles (The Yellow tang in the fish tank) who was going crazy over the bubbles floating up from the treasure chest! The things that get stuck into our head! 

One of the more requested features was the ability to create your own “links” section. TotSites members wanted the ability to link to sibling TotSites and other online favorites directly from their TotSite. In some sense adding links to your site is nothing new (here are instructions on how to add links to other areas of your site), but up till now there was not a dedicated section on your site just for links. I’ll admit, as our children get older there are some cases when a “gift registry” doesn’t make sense. Not to mention being able to add some of your favorite links is always fun!

This new feature also allows you to add optional “introductory” text to the links section. This text will appear at the top of your Links section allowing you can introduce what type of links you will be adding to your site if you choose to. Depending on feedback - we may extend this functionality to other areas of TotSites as well.

You can choose between 3 options:

1. Links Section - Add your favorite links including: other TotSites, favorite parenting links, favorite “deal” site etc…
2. Gift Registry - If you’re still expecting or a Holiday/Birthday is near; adding a Gift Registry to your site can be very useful.
3. None - You can simply turn off both the Gift Registry and Links sections if you prefer.

By default the Gift Registry will be turned on for all members. If you choose to change it to the Link section, simply go to the Gift Registry and click on the “switch to links” in the task box. You will be prompted to confirm you want to change over to the links section.

We will be making minor changes to the links section based on your input. If you have any comments please leave a comment here in the Blog.

Brian

We added another spring design for you to choose from. This design is available to all TotSites members!

Check out the new design!

There are now several spring type designs to choose from including: Meadows, SunFlowers and now Spring.

Hope everyone gets a chance to enjoy the sunshine!

Brian

I just wanted to give everyone a heads up on what is happening here at TotSites… Tomorrow my wife and I will be welcoming our new baby girl into this world. As many of you know, having a new baby is exciting and exhausting at the same time. With that said, we plan on making some dedicated family time and will be a bit slower in responding to non urgent support requests. In addition, some of upcoming TotSites changes might be put on hold for a week or two!

Here is what we are working on now:

1. We are nearly finished with a feature allowing you to convert your gift registry to a links section.
2. Another Spring design should be available soon (to all TotSites members). Max is finishing the final touches as we speak. It should be done in the next couple days.

Here is what is coming next:

1. Due to popular demand, we will be adding a new feature allowing your visitors to leave comments on photos and journals.

That’s it!

Thank you for your understanding.

Brian

Each week we select a quality Childrens Book and write a informative review… For your reading pleasure:

I Went Walking by Julie Vivas

If you have read this book please be sure to leave your vote or personal review!

~ Meredith

A long awaited design was released this afternoon: Meadows!

If you’re fond of flowers and butterflies, you will enjoy this design!

Brian

(Thank Max for the design!)

Each week we select a quality Childrens Book and write a informative review… For your reading pleasure:

Off We Go by Jane Yolen

If you have read this book please be sure to leave your vote or personal review!

~ Meredith

It’s finally here! One of the more requested features was to be able to send out emails to friends and family in your address book at any time instead of waiting for the automated weekly alerts. To send out an on demand alert using the new feature:

1. Login to your TotSite
2. Navigate to the “Share” tab
3. Click on ”Send On Demand Alerts”
4. Enter a subject, message, and select your recipients!

Here are a couple hints on the new feature:

• - You can only send emails to those individuals who confirmed their email address.
• - You can send emails to the same person at most every 4 hours.
• - Emails send in this manner will *not* contain your site password. If you would like you can include this in your email.
• - Your TotSites URL will automatically be included at the bottom of your email.

We will be making minor changes to the On Demand Alert feature over the next couple weeks. If you find any problems or have a suggestion please do not hesitate to send us an email or comment here in the blog.