MineArchiveIntroducing site news
10 October 2026
MineArchive changes constantly, and most of the change is not news: new mines, new disasters, refreshed records and corrections arrive every day and are logged where they belong, on the records themselves. Every so often, though, the site itself changes in a way worth explaining: a new feature, a design decision, something we tried that did not work. Those changes now get a page of their own. This section is for the reader with a real interest in how MineArchive works, and each article sets out what changed, why, how to use it, and a little of what went on under the bonnet, including the problems we ran into. Every article ends with an invitation to tell us what you think, because the changes are made for readers and readers are the only test of whether they work.
What changed
A Site news section, reachable from About in the menu and from the footer. The front page lists every article with its date and a long summary; each article has sections for what changed, why, how to use it, and the technical detail, followed by a note on how to send feedback.
Why
The archive's own change log records everything that happens to the site, down to a single corrected field, and is far too dense to read. A few of those entries are things a reader would actually want to know about: that the region maps now filter by year, that there is a Favourites list, that the accessibility options exist. Those deserved a readable, public place, written for the reader rather than for the people maintaining the site.
How to use it
Open About in the menu and choose News, or follow the News link in the footer. Articles are listed newest first. The summary on the front page is deliberately long enough to stand on its own; the full article is for the detail.
Under the bonnet
Articles live in the same database as the archive and are built into static pages by the same build as every other page, so a news article is published the way a mine is. The day-to-day growth of the archive is never an article; a change to the site becomes one only when it is worth a reader's time. The section is deliberately plain: a list, a date, a long summary, and articles with the same four headings every time, so that a regular reader knows where to look.
Tell us what you think
If there is something about the site you would like explained here, ask.
Every change here is made for readers, and the best way to find out whether it works is to hear from them. If this one helps, gets in the way, or gave you an idea for something better, write to . Short notes are as welcome as long ones.