Release Notes - Personal Website

November 12, 2023

Released - 12 November 2023

The release notes for my Personal Website are contained here. They will be updated as the software gets updated, feel free to take a look at what’s changed!

1.8.8 Relese

Changed

• Updated the release notes for Terraform Compute Module.

1.8.7 Release

Changed

• Updated the release notes for Terraform Compute and Networking modules.

1.8.6 Release

Changed

• Updated the release notes for Terraform Networking Module.

1.8.5 Release

Changed

• Removed the old Email Services pricing now that the new pricing is in effect.

1.8.4 Release

Changed

• Updated the release notes for multiple Terraform modules
• Updated the release tracker with the latest releases for multiple Terraform modules
• Updated Email Services product to reflect increased prices
• Updated Products and Pricing to reflect increased prices for Email Services

1.8.3 Release

Added

• Published a new blog post “Test Driven Development with Tailscale”

1.8.2 Release

Changed

• Fixed all internal links to point to new domain name

1.8.1 Release

Changed

• Updated the release notes for Terraform Storage and Identity modules.

1.8.0 Release

Added

• A linter to better identify any spelling mistakes and formatting errors in content on the blog
• A link to Simple Websites in Products and Services, my latest product to have launched
• A placeholder for Payment Services, a new product that is due to launch in 2024
• Implemented DNS redirection of other domain names I own to point to the new domain name I am using

Changed

• The main reason for this minor bump was for the new domain name the website is now available on. evan.day is now the primary DNS address for my personal website
• Updated some of the text in the About Me page

1.7.5 Release

Changed

• Updated the release notes and tracker for terraform compute module

1.7.4 Release

Added

• Added a new blog post - “Lol, nevermind on that”.

Changed

• Updated the release tracker to 21 July 2023
• Updated numerous Terraform module release notes

1.7.3 Release

Changed

• Changed the auto tag and release action to the latest version.

1.7.2 Release - Released on 19 July 2023

Added

• Added the ability to create a tag and release on deploy.

1.7.1 Release - Released on 15 April 2023

Added

• Added a new blog post - “Fans Go Brr”

1.7.0 Release - Released on 15 April 2023

Changed

• Updated the footer to remove the link to GitLab and rephrase the donation call to action.
• Updated the summary text on the home page with the most recent information about me.

1.6.10 Release - Released on 10 April 2023

Added

• Added a new blog post - “Sunday Snafus”

1.6.9 Release - Released on 06 April 2023

Added

• Added a new blog post - “Self Hosting Two Point Oh”.

1.6.8 Release - Released on 06 April 2023

Added

• Added a new blog post - “A new website build”.

1.6.7 Release - Released on 05 April 2023

Added

• Added a new blog post - “Reducing cost”.

1.6.6 Release - Released on 12 March 2023

Added

• Added a new blog post - “Defaulting on my technical debt”.

1.6.5 Release - Released on 08 March 2023

Added

• Added a new blog post - “Product Launch - Simple Websites”.

Changed

• Updated the client agreement to support the release of Simple Websites.

1.6.4 Release - Released on 07 March 2023

Added

• Added a new blog post - “When You Forget About The Blog”.

1.6.3 Release - Released on 24 December 2022

Changed

• Updated the release tracker for the following Terraform modules
  • Certificate
  • Storage
  • Identity
  • Monitoring
• Updated the release notes for the following Terraform modules
  • Certificate
  • Storage
  • Identity
  • Monitoring

1.6.2 Release - Released on 11 December 2022

Changed

• Updated the Release Tracker for the newly renamed, Functions Module.
• Updated the release notes for the newly renamed, Functions Module.

1.6.1 Release - Released on 10 December 2022

Changed

• Updated the Release Tracker for the newly renamed, Functions Module.
• Updated the release notes for the newly renamed, Functions Module.

1.6.0 Release - Released on 04 December 2022

Added

• Added a Stripe Payment Link in place of Buy Me A Coffee.
• Added rates for Infrastructure Development to Developer Time.
• Added the Terraform Monitoring and Security modules to the Projects page.
• Added the Support Plans product page.
• Added the premium support plans to the pricing page.

Removed

• Removed the Buy Me A Coffee widget

Changed

• Updated all website images to use webP as the image type.
• Updated the call to action text at the end of blog posts.
• Updated the footer with links to Stripe Payment Link and the Client Agreement.
• Updated the client agreement for the new premium support plans.
• Updated the description of the Terraform Compute module to reflect its revival.
• Updated the pricing table with the rates for premium support plans.

1.5.6 Release - Released on 06 November 2022

Added

• Added the release notes for the Monitoring Module.

Changed

• Updated the Release Tracker to include the Monitoring Module.

1.5.5 Release - Released on 02 November 2022

Changed

• Updated the release notes for the Compute Module.

1.5.4 Release - Released on 24 October 2022

Changed

• Updated the release notes for the Compute Module.

1.5.3 Release - Released on 23 October 2022

Added

• Created release notes for Spot Price Monitoring.
• Created release notes for Cloud Cost Monitoring.
• Updated the Release Tracker with links to the above release notes.

1.5.2 Release - Released on 15 October 2022

Changed

• Updated the release notes for the Terraform Compute Module 2.0.1 release.
• Remembered to update the release tracker for the aforementioned release.

1.5.1 Release - Released on 15 October 2022

Changed

• Updated the release notes for the Terraform Compute Module 2.0.0 release.

1.5.0 Release - Released on 01 October 2022

Added

• A new page for Products and Services from my side business.
  • This includes pages for Developer Time, Domain Names, Web Hosting, Email Services, Contact Form Services and Analytics Services.
• A new Pricing page to collect all the information from each product into one section.
• Added templates for products to support easy additions in the future.
• Added some additional accessibility features to the website as reported by Lighthouse.
• Added a new landing page for traffic that is redirected from old, Suvoken Cloud domain names.
• Added CHANGELOG to document the changes to the website.
• Added a new page for the Client Agreement, which highlights some basic formalities for the relationship between my clients and I.
• Added new images to support the newly created pages

Changed

• Updated the Contact Me page with a new form.
• Updated the Home Page to reflect the newly added pages from my side business.
• Updated the navigation menu with the newly added pages from my side business.
• Updated the release tracker with the latest versions that were released during this update and additional planned updates.
• Updated the release notes of multiple products.
• Updated the Jenkins config file to exclude the new templates that are added to the website.
• Updated the footer with new links to my Gitlab profile, among other changes.

Security

• Updated JQuery to the latest version from Pixelarity

1.4.9 Release - Released on 11 July 2022

• Publishing “Self Hosting Log - 007 - Monitoring Intro” blog post

1.4.8 Release - Released on 11 July 2022

• Publishing “The Price of Idiocy” blog post

1.4.7 Release - Released on 05 July 2022

• Publishing “A Year with Endeavour” blog post

1.4.6 Release - Released on 02 July 2022

• Updated Release Tracker for Terraform Networking and Storage modules
• Updated release notes for Terraform Networking and Storage modules

1.4.5 Release - Released on 18 June 2022

• Updated Release Tracker for Terraform Networking Module
• Updated Terraform Networking Module release notes

1.4.4 Release - Released on 17 June 2022

• Published “Website Updates Completed!”

1.4.3 Release - Released on 06 June 2022

• Fixed pipeline to use production stages during Release creation

1.4.2 Release - Released on 02 April 2022

• Updated release tracker with new releases
• Added new release notes for multiple items

1.4.1 Release - Relased on 31 March 2022

• Removed AWS Copilot configuration from website

1.4.0 Release - Released on 31 March 2022

• Updated home page:
  • Removed references to Final Year Project. This is now covered in a small bit of detail in a new section of the website.
  • Added sections for Status Page, Release Tracker and Contact Me.
  • Adjusted the Summary text to include more relevant information for 2022.
  • Updated the tagline next to “Evan Day” on the home page, reflected across the entire website.
  • Updated the footer of the page. reflected across the entire website.
  • Added new images for the banner and the new areas that are linked to from the home page.
  • Updated some of the description text on each page link element.
• Updated navigation menu:
  • Adjusted the links to reflect the new pages added and the old pages removed.
  • Standardised the style of all the links.
• Updated about me page:
  • Rewrote almost all the text that is available on the page.
  • Replaced all Undraw illustrations used with stock imagery from Unsplash.
  • Added new section that reflects my current experience with C.H. Robinson.
  • Added new “where to next” section at the end of the page, which encourages continued browsing of the website as versus directly asking for a call to action.
• Updated projects page:
  • Rewrote almost all the text that is available on the page.
  • Added almost all the projects I’ve worked on in recent years to the page.
  • Replaced all Undraw illustrations used with stock imagery from Unsplash (There was too many projects to use loads of different images and lets be real, all stock images of code and laptops basically look the same so I’m just being efficient!).
  • Added new “where to next” section at the end of the page, which encourages continued browsing of the website as versus directly asking for a call to action.
• Updated blog:
  • Fixed the issue where blog post titles on mobile would not go in line with device width. Thank you Dean, you legend you <3.
  • Changed where the blog resides from /blog/index/ to /blog.
  • Changed all post links to reflect new deployment approach. Links previously contained the post category and the date of the post. They now just contain the blog post title. This is a rather breaking change, however I feel like my blog isn’t popular enough to cause much impact hah. This will be discussed in further detail later in the notes when we talk about changes to how the website is deployed.
  • Updated anchor tags in the blog index to not have .html in the link.
  • Updated call to action section of blog posts to not have .html in the link when suggesting content.
• Added status page:
  • Added a link on the home page and navigation menu to my Uptime Kuma instance.
  • My status page as discussed on my blog, is where all my services get monitored from.
  • Find the status page at https://status.evanwebservices.com.
• Added release tracker:
  • Release tracker is an effort to show the overall status of all the software I maintain personally. It will be updated periodically when new projects are started, existing projects are updated and will link to the release notes for those projects.
• Added contact me page:
  • Added a dedicated contact me page to more directly provide the methods to reach out to me.
  • Added some specifics on what I would hope people are reaching out for (e.g, asking about a blog post, or side project, etc).
• Added a favicon, apparently
• “Possibly” added an RSS feed:
  • This was allegedly in place already, but I have my doubts and this could very well be changed to “Definitely” added an RSS feed in a future update :D
• Changed the deployment strategy of the website:
  • Previously the website was built into a Docker container with Nginx URL rewriting, then manually deployed to AWS Fargate via AWS Copilot.
  • Now, the website is deployed to AWS S3 and is backed by AWS CloudFront. Using a CloudFront Function and some changes to the Jekyll configuration, the website is now completely static which is saving me literal hundreds of dollars per year because I was extremely dumb in the past.
  • Expect a blog post on this topic :)
• Added a brand new pipeline to the website inside Gitlab CI
  • Introduced multiple stages to the pipeline to automate as much as possible, all relying on Docker containers.
  • Removed Kaniko build step as we’re no longer building a final Docker image for deployment.
  • Updated Jekyll build stage to now output the built website to Gitlab Artifacts.
  • Added Lighthouse performance testing stage, to measure website metrics against good standards.
  • Added an upload to S3 stage to pass the artifacts we need for a deployment via the cloud-deploy Gitlab Docker image and the AWS CLI.
  • Added a CloudFront invalidation stage so the cache gets purged on new release and the latest website version is fetched from S3.
  • Added a smoke test to ensure the environment is ready and not broken.
  • Added a generate Gitlab release stage to run when a new Git tag is pushed to the website.
• Proxied the Plausible Analytics script via CloudFront.
• Added a release notes template.
• Added DNS redirection from some existing domain names to evanday.com.
• Removed some commented out code from Jekyll components that was making its way into the final website build.
• Renamed my CV.
• Cleaned up some other bits from the website repository, removing old manifests and files that are not quite needed any more with the new website version.
• Updated README.
• Publishing ‘Release Notes - Personal Website’.
• Publishing ‘Release Notes - Lighthouse CI Docker Image’.
• Publishing ‘Release Notes - Pipeline Utilities Docker Image’.