Tattva-viveka
New site launched!
Shyam Gopal Das - June 20, 2007 5:23 pm
The day has finally arrived, please check out http://www.swami.org for the new website and webstore!!
Please leave any comments and remarks in this topic.
If you see any mistakes, please post them here as well so we can correct them. (I'm working on GM's weblog)
Vivek - June 20, 2007 6:06 pm
Can you put GM's more recent pictures also. IS there a picture of him with Sridhar Maharaja also.
Great work shyam gopala, you have done a wonderful service.
Babhru Das - June 20, 2007 7:07 pm
Wonderful. Great work--thanks and congratulations to all those involved in designing and putting the site together.
Grant Upson - June 20, 2007 7:15 pm
What a beautiful site. The aesthetic continuity throughout (including the store) is really superb.
For the moment the search mechanism seems to do a regular google search, as opposed to a search of www.swami.org. (Presumably this is easily resolved.)
Babhru Das - June 20, 2007 7:28 pm
One problem I noticed is that the blog link didn't work.
Babhru Das - June 20, 2007 8:58 pm
Sorry--I had forgotten that Syamagopal mentioned that he was working on the blog now.
Shyam Gopal Das - June 20, 2007 9:30 pm
Credit where credit is due, Vrindaranya did all of the webdesign under Guru Maharaj's direction.
I just worked on fitting in the store with the design and making the store functional.
Babhru, on which page is the link to blog that doesn't work? All links should work if they don't please let me know.
Babhru Das - June 20, 2007 9:47 pm
Yes, I remember Swami and Vrindaranya telling me about how hard she was working on designing the site when I visited in December.
Syama Gopal, here's what happens: On the blog page, when I click on the title of today's blog ("Sri Gaura Sri Ksetra), I get a Not Found page.
Shyam Gopal Das - June 20, 2007 10:26 pm
Babhru, I fixed it. It was smth I hadn't thought about when moving the site to the new server. Thanks!
Nanda-tanuja Dasa - June 21, 2007 5:07 am
I'm attaching broken link report, take a look (45 URLs or 3.02% are not found). Thanks!
Syamasundara - June 21, 2007 5:42 am
Wow, beautiful. The choice and the rendering of the pictures is superlative, and you know I don't splurge on compliments.
I also think a pic of GM with Srila Sridhara Maharaja would be a key one.
Philip Breakenridge - June 21, 2007 7:24 pm
The website is absolutely beautiful.
Will you be posting a photo of Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai on the "Deities" page?
Also, when I was looking at the art prints on the store page, I was unable to see larger versions of them.
Shyam Gopal Das - June 21, 2007 9:16 pm
Thanks for the comments and suggestions everyone, please keep them coming!
Tharshan - June 22, 2007 12:57 am
Hari Bol,
The website looks and feels very simple and serene. It is easy to navigate and the mp3 previews are so simple. Is there a "donate" link so people can donate like in the last site?
Babhru Das - June 22, 2007 9:10 pm
I just posted condensed versions of reviews I had previously written for a couple of the book (Siksatakam and Sri Guru-parampara). I had short paragraphs separated by extra white space (paragraph breaks), but they both came out as one long paragraph on the site. Is there some way I can fix that? Is it possible for me to re-edit them, or am I best served by condensing them further to one-graph reviews?
Shyam Gopal Das - June 24, 2007 10:51 pm
Babhru, I'm working on a solution for that, but haven't made much progress yet. I'll keep you updated.
Babhru Das - June 25, 2007 1:32 am
Well, don't hurt yourself over this. I can condense those reviews further if there's a way to resubmit.
The new site is more than wonderful.
Nanda-tanuja Dasa - June 25, 2007 5:03 am
My biggest issue is the search functionality in Sanga section -- search results are pointing to old site structure, so it is just a bunch of dead links. To reproduce the problem go to Sanga section and search for something, then click on any resulted link. Is there any way to do force indexing or maybe implement some other search engine?
Bhrigu - June 25, 2007 1:02 pm
A beautiful site! I'd like to point out one small typo, though: in the lineage section, Madhvacarya is mistakenly spelled Madhavacarya.
Also, I can't seem to find any lecture descriptions. Aren't you going to put them online?
Shyam Gopal Das - June 25, 2007 7:34 pm
I'm aware of the search issue. We can't force Google to index the new site, but I'm doing all I can. We would have the same issue with another search engine as far as I know.
There are some lecture descriptions online, but they have to go through final editing and this takes time. Also, half of the samples are not on yet, we have to wait for more descriptions and time for that.
ps the somewhat frustrating issue is that Google indexed and cached the site on the 20th of June and just missed our update.
Nanda-tanuja Dasa - June 25, 2007 9:51 pm
We would have the same issue with another search engine as far as I know.
I was thinking of open source search/indexing application which can be a part of our web site, so we can control it.
Bhrigu - June 26, 2007 11:43 am
Another thing: since you don't use diacritics on the site, why the spelling "Krsna"? It makes no sense without the diacritic marks. Better to go with "Krishna" then, in my opinion.
Brahma Dasa - June 28, 2007 1:45 am
multiple Swami DVD pages.
I love the new website.
The only thing that I don't like is the multiple Swami DVD pages.
http://www.swami.org/store/dvds.html
I think that one big Swami DVD with multiple titles listed underneath is a better idea than 3 multiple Swami DVD pages in a row.
What do others think?
Brahma
Brahma Dasa - June 28, 2007 1:51 am
Shyam Gopal Das - June 28, 2007 4:06 am
ask the question has been fixed!
Madhavendra Puri Dasa - July 2, 2007 8:47 am
No donate link button, and no paypal option in the shop. 
Vrindaranya Dasi - July 2, 2007 2:23 pm
Does anyone have a jpeg of that picture of Guru Maharaja, Narasingha Maharaja, and Visnu Maharaja sitting at Srila Sridhara Maharaja's feet?
Babhru Das - July 2, 2007 2:49 pm
I only have one I copied from Narasimha Maharaja's site, and I think it's pretty small and low-res. Can you do anything with it?
Shyam Gopal Das - July 2, 2007 4:37 pm
If I remember correctly, I have a bigger picture on my comp in Holland and since I'm flying there today. I can have a look.
Nanda-tanuja Dasa - July 2, 2007 8:10 pm
Have a safe trip!
Shyam Gopal Das - July 4, 2007 4:50 am
Thanks! I got stuck in Heathrow for almost 24 hours... will fly out in a few hours... Great terrorist alarm, they evacuated the whole terminal! Everyone was outside in the rain and cold. I'll do an update on the austerities of flying on my blog soon. Reporting live from Heathrow, Syama Gopala das.
Prema-bhakti - July 4, 2007 2:13 pm
Thanks! I got stuck in Heathrow for almost 24 hours... will fly out in a few hours... Great terrorist alarm, they evacuated the whole terminal! Everyone was outside in the rain and cold. I'll do an update on the austerities of flying on my blog soon. Reporting live from Heathrow, Syama Gopala das.
Oh my! 108 is currently traveling in Europe and I told them to get ready for the strip search when they travel in and out of London. 
Citta Hari Dasa - July 4, 2007 4:11 pm
Oy vay! What a total drag!
Vivek - July 11, 2007 6:40 pm
After searching for any key word the links which I get don't work unless I go to cached.
Syama Gopala Dasa - July 12, 2007 9:39 am
Yes I'm aware of the search problems...
I'm thinking about a solution.
Premarnava suggested at the Finnish retreat to build a search engine for the Sangas. It would give Q&A based on search terms. But this could be a long future project.
Syamasundara - July 24, 2007 6:42 am
I'm slowly exploring the new swami.org
Have I already said I love the pictures? My favorite one is the one that says Subscribe to Audaya Audio and you can only see Krsna's ear and flute. How ingenious, I wish I had that ability to see things in things.
Syamasundara - July 25, 2007 3:06 pm
Where is the donation button in the new version? Shouldn't there be a discrete one in every page, just in case someone feels inspired by something or other they read?
Madhavendra Puri Dasa - July 25, 2007 7:18 pm
Where is the donation button in the new version? Shouldn't there be a discrete one in every page, just in case someone feels inspired by something or other they read?
Yes I was looking for that as well. And I would be gratefull for PayPal option in the shop, because now you can pay only by credit card (or at least it was like that some time ago)
Syama Gopala Dasa - July 26, 2007 5:26 pm
We switched over to credit cards, because of the high costs involved with paypal.
I'm not sure what to do with devotees who don't have a credit or debit card with visa/mastercard etc.
It seems many big online stores like amazon accept only credit cards as well. I wonder how they get by.
Syamasundara - July 26, 2007 6:02 pm
Yes, but where is the donation page or button??
Madhavendra Puri Dasa - July 26, 2007 6:37 pm
We switched over to credit cards, because of the high costs involved with paypal.
I'm not sure what to do with devotees who don't have a credit or debit card with visa/mastercard etc.
It seems many big online stores like amazon accept only credit cards as well. I wonder how they get by.
Well, they dont. Maybe for paypal option you could rise the price of the item little bit, so the buyer would cover the cost of using paypal? I wouldnt have anything against paying the difference.
Bhrigu - July 27, 2007 9:03 am
What about the question of Krsna/ Krishna? Vrindaranya? I still think that especially for a general audience -- as this site seems to be adressed to -- the second alternative is far better.
Syamasundara - August 3, 2007 8:51 am
Uhm... I would really like to make a donation, but I still can't find the donation button on the page.
Nanda-tanuja Dasa - August 6, 2007 2:33 pm
Just go to https://www.paypal.com and make a payment to audarya@swami.org
You don't need any buttons.
Babhru Das - August 6, 2007 3:55 pm
Buttons?!?!? We don't need no stinkin' buttons!
Syama Gopala Dasa - August 6, 2007 7:15 pm
Audarya prefers direct credit card payments. but there is no page set up for it yet. this is cheapest way for all parties to donate.
people could call me and I can process it. but not sure how that will work.