PennHillsLife.com

1.) What is PennHillsLife.com?

Written by PHL Admin
Tuesday, 23 October 2007

The goal of this website is to bring the Penn Hills and surrounding areas together in one common online community.  We have attempted to offer our users a friendly, informative, family-oriented atmosphere where they can access local area news stories, participate in discussions with others in the community, read up-to-the-minute U.S. and world news headlines, chat instantly with other users, and browse free classified listings all from the comfort of their own home.

By developing this site for the community, we are attempting to promote positive growth to the area in a way where anyone and everyone can participate.  We offer a free membership account to anyone willing to spend some time browsing through the site, posting messages, listing items for sale, and commenting on the stories that we display throughout the site.  We also offer area business owners the ability to list their organization for free, enabling smaller local business to make their presense known to the community.

By incoporating an events calendar into our site, we are providing the community with a centralized place to keep informed on area events and happenings.  Organizations can list their events for eveyone to see, and even accept online registration directly through the site without the hassle of maintaining registration on their own.

It is our sincere hope that you utilize this site to its maximum potential, and keep it growing by adding your own unique content.  Ultimately, the success of this site is based on the participation of the community, and the time and effort of everyone in the community.

Thank you all for visiting YOUR site, and we look forward to hearing from you for many years to come.

Last Updated Tuesday, 30 October 2007

2.) What technology does the site use?

Written by PHL Admin
Tuesday, 23 October 2007

This site is based on CMS (Content Management System) technologies freely available to the public under the GPL license.  Due to the harsh demands of creating an easily-managable, continuously updated website, we decided that this was the best approach in terms of community and user-based content. 

Each section of this site is comprised of many hours of programming and design by both our in-house developers, as well as outside companies and individuals all working towards a common goal.  That goal is to provide the community with an appealing, easy-to-navigate community-based website that everyone can enjoy.

In terms of security, we have chosen to host this site on Linux-based web servers, and have extensively tested each section to ensure maximum protection for our users.  We have spent hours researching the latest in security technology, and have implemented countless measures for the highest possible protection for the overall integrity of the site.  We are not perfect, but we feel confident that we have taken the neccessary precautions to ensure a safe environment for our users.

We have incorporateed RSS feeds into the majority of our pages and listings so that our users can easily keep informed about new content and features available for their use without having to visit a multitude of websites.  PennHillsLife.com and it's associates claim no ownership rights to any information that is obtained through these RSS feeds, and accepts no liability for false, misleading, or otherwise damaging information.  By clicking on any headline in an RSS feed, you will be taken to the original site in which that article was posted.  The information obtained from RSS feeds is solely used for informational purposes for our visitors.

We always encourage suggestions from the public, and will take any and all feedback under consideration.  Please feel free to email our team with your comments and suggestions using the "Contact Us" link at the top of every page.

Last Updated Tuesday, 30 October 2007

3.) When was this site created?

Written by PHL Admin
Wednesday, 24 October 2007

PennHillsLife.com was first conceived in the spring of 2007.  Development first began on July 20, 2007 after deciding on the technologies to be used, and putting together the plans for a successful site.  For weeks our team of developers researched the web for the most stable and secure versions of CMS packages and components.  The following months involved installing the packages, components, and modules, as well as gathering the data to be included on the site, and testing the overall functionality on multiple computers and operating systems.

The creation and devlopment of this site has proven to be a very challenging task.  However we are extremely pleased with the outcome, and look forward to providing the services of this site to the Penn Hills community.  In the future, we will be adding even more features to enhance the overall experience, and look forward to the coming years.

Last Updated Tuesday, 30 October 2007

4.) Where does the site get its content?

Written by C. Glavan
Wednesday, 24 October 2007

The site content that you see comes from a variety of different sources.  But first, the overall goal of this site is to get you the user to add content yourself.  This is done through the message board, free classifieds, events calendar, and the business directory.  Live content can also be submitted by using the live chat module located on the side of each page.

We designed this site to be as dynamic as possible, with new information and data being displayed with each click of the mouse.  This is why each page has the scrolling news headlines, the live chat, and the events calendar plainly visible no matter where you are throughout the entire site.

The news headlines that you see are obtained through publicly available RSS feeds posted on the newspaper, local television and radio stations, general and technology websites, and any other source that we (or you) saw fit to include.  These feeds are updated on a regular basis throughout the day to bring you as close to "up-to-the-minute" as possible.  We obtain these RSS feeds directly from the site in which the article was originally posted.  PennHillsLife.com and it's associates claim no ownership rights to any information that is obtained through these RSS feeds, and accepts no liability for false, misleading, or otherwise damaging information.  By clicking on any headline in an RSS feed, you will be taken to the original site in which that article was posted.  The information obtained is solely used for informational purposes for our visitors.

But what it all boils down to is the content that you provide to the site by participating in the online community.  Without you, this site is nothing more than a bunch of scrolling words and flashing advertisements.  So take part in this growing community by offering your opinions, comments, suggestions, and any other (legal) content and information that you wish to include.  Afterall, you have the power to make this site the best community-based site on the internet.

Last Updated Tuesday, 30 October 2007

5.) Who owns this site?

Written by PHL Admin
Wednesday, 24 October 2007

Ultimately, the community owns this site.  However, in order to bring this site to the community, someone had to register the domain, pay the monthly hosting fees, and develop, publish, and maintain the site.

That someone is the talented team of individuals at CG Design, led by owner Chris Glavan of Verona, PA.  As a small home-based IT Consulting business, Chris has managed to put together a wealth of information, and present it to the community in a useable form.  We applaud Chris and his team for their efforts, and look forward to helping them bring exciting new ideas to the site and the community.

Last Updated Tuesday, 30 October 2007