Sound RIDER! 2018 Tech Update

Long time readers of Sound RIDER! know from time to time we provide a tech update. Running an online magazine and store lends itself to all kinds of technical aspects our readers deserve to know. In this day and age, there are plenty of unscrupulous happenings online which we’re not in favor of and don’t utilize, regardless of pressure from some sponsors to do so.

We’re clean and easy on the eyes

In 2016 we rebuilt the site using Responsive Web Design. That way it looks as good on your smart phone as it does on your laptop, desktop or tablet. It comes out a little different looking as opposed to most sophisticated daily newspapers that clutter your reading area with countless ads. We don’t do that but be sure to view our advertisers who appear at the side or end of each page, depending on what device you’re using. Without them, we could not produce this magazine. We’ve spent the last two years fine-tuning and tweaking the look and feel to get it where it is now.

If you use an ad blocker, please white list soundrider.com. You won’t find our ads annoying, you may even find them informative since they are all local businesses. You won’t see most of our ads anywhere else. We sell and control all our own ad content, rather than spoon-feed crazy stuff to your screen via Ad Choices or GoogleAds. Our ads don’t move around, no videos will play while you’re in the middle of reading an article. You hate that nonsense, and we do too. We’re easy on the eyes.

No WordPress Here

While both our magazine and store sites use Responsive Web Design technique, they are not built on WordPress platforms. And thank goodness for that. The company who claims to run 30% of the worlds websites requires web admins to manually install updates on their site spaces whenever updates are available. But if we were on a nice motorcycle ride and an update occurred, we may not get to it for a few days. That’s one reason why we don’t use the platform. Instead we make it a safer experience for you to visit each time by using service providers who automatically install updates as soon as they are available. We also use safer platforms like ASP.NET and Microsoft SQL Servers to feed our data driven pages like the calendar, dealer and service directories and communities pages.

No cookies here

Last fall I sat through a meeting with one sponsor who was bewildered we didn’t send a cookie to every user when they visited the site. “That’s how everyone does it now,” she insisted. You like that? We don’t either. Our ad model is built on multiple impressions, not following you around after you leave the site, or allowing our sponsors to track you all day and night. So yeah – we’re clean in that department as well.

Updated directories and calendar

In December and January we spent quit a bit of time updating our dealer and services directories. We also built what is now, without a doubt, the most comprehensive calendar of motorcycle events available for the Pacific Northwest. Did we miss something? Check them out and feel free to send us any updates.

Newsbytes feed

Our Newsbytes API is a Twitter feed. Utilizing Twitter for what it was originally designed for, we simply draw from their API and replicate the feed on the Newsbytes page. And that API also picks up anything we post on Facebook or Instagram. That makes it easy for us to report at one site and have it travel across all four places. You can get your Newsbytes in any flavor you want.

It’s all about you – the reader

At the end of the day, it’s all about giving you the best experience as a reader. That’s another reason we don’t use WordPress. The format is boring and restrictive. We’d have to spend a lot of time tweaking their ‘templates’ to make one unique to us. Just ask the Seattle Times about their seven-figure investment in the redesign of their site to WordPress in 2015. Ouch. Instead, we have a lot more freedom to morph as needed when we want, provide you a safe reading experience, and hopefully enrich your next ride experience.

Tom Mehren/March 2018