View single post by Stuart W
 Posted: 09-27-2011 11:42 pm
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Stuart W



Joined: 02-19-2004
Location: Virginia USA
Posts: 3463
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All,

The IP Model Info link on the IP Home Port Main Menu now takes you to an entirely new resource - a series of pages, 26 in all, containing just about everything you ever wanted to know about each Island Packet model (but were afraid to ask, of course).

When you click the IP Model Info link a photo menu of all Island Packet sailboat models will be displayed.  Each of these photos is linked to the new model-specific page containing a wide variety of information for that model.  The information provided is broken into logical sections as follows :
General Information : This section contains a photo of the selected model along with a brief excerpt from the original sales brochure.  Consider this to be the appetizer for the rest of the page!

Documentation : This section contains links to the brochure and specification / price list documents for the selected model in PDF format as well as a clickable/expandable image of the boat's interior.  There is also a link to the Designer's Comments sheet in PDF format for those few models that have this resource available.  All of the PDF documents mentioned here are still available as before (i.e. sorted by type instead of model) via the File Downloads page here on IP Home Port.  Note that the specification / price list documents for current production models are only available from the factory or your local IP dealer at the factory's request, so those icons are linked to the appropriate sales information request form on the ipy.com website.

Specifications : This section contains all of those weights and measures for the selected IP Model that we sailors just love to obsess about.  No doubt at least one bar fight has erupted over the relative merits of different Sail Area / Displacement ratios, so with that in mind, these specifications are also available in table format on the IP Comparisons page for easy comparison with other IP models. ;)

Rigging : This section contains all of the mainsail, staysail, and other rigging information for the selected IP Model. This rigging information is also available in table format on the IP Comparisons page for easy comparison with other IP models.

Gallery : This section is an array of clickable thumbnails for all photos that have been uploaded to the new IP Home Port Gallery and tagged for the selected IP model.  I challenge everyone to make sure that their favorite IP is adequately represented here by uploading all of those digital photos that you have stashed in your 'boat' archive!

Registry : This section shows a list of everyone in the IP Home Port Owner's Registry for the selected model.  Note that being in the Registry requires more than just a user account for the discussion forum - if you're an owner and not already in the Registry then please use the link provided on the Registry's main page.

Classifieds : This section displays the classified ads for the selected model currently posted in the Boat Ads section of the forum here on IP Home Port.  This listing is fully clickable just as if you were reading the ads via the forum itself - this means that you can easily post/reply if desired.  Note that some of the older ads without any recent activity (and thus for boats that are potentially sold or pulled from the market) are filtered out to help keep the display concise.
This new IP Model Info tool required changes to the site's database structure as well as an extensive amount of custom coding (mostly SQL, PHP, and HTML).  It's yet another fully-integrated feature enabled by the UltraBB forum software that was installed back in the June time frame.  There are still more custom information delivery tools under development for IP Home Port, so stay tuned for the next announcement!

Note that the various IP comparison tables that used to be accessed via the IP Model Info link on the main menu are now available, oddly enough, via the new link labelled IP Comparisons.  This change was necessary so that the text of the menu items more accurately reflects the resources displayed when selecting those menu items.

As always, please report any issues, comments, or suggestions regarding the Gallery or any other aspect of this site by sending a PM to Stuart W.

Fair Winds ...



____________________
Stuart Williams
Webmaster, IP Home Port
The Original Website For Island Packet Yacht Owners Since 1998


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