Technical Difficulties developing a new feature

Computer crash and other issues have prevented posting. We were developing a new feature that will allow card readings in blog posts - on any blog! But as always there are some issues, and the crash and resulting losses have been a big problem.

Hopefully we'll receive the parts we need to get up and running again, but it's not clear when that will happen.

Background Colors

No, it's not your imagination. Starting today the background color really is different each time you visit The Card Reading website.

Each time you visit the site, a background color for your visit will be selected at random from one of the eight available background styles. This allows you to experience all of the available background styles.

If you are a registered member, don't worry, just sign in and the background style will be set to your preference when you sign in. If you haven't set a background preference, you can do this on the Settings page after you sign in.

Asking the right question

To understand what the cards are trying to say, you need to ask the right kind of question. It's very tempting to ask yes/no questions - will I get the job, does he or she love me, will we get back together, and so on. This is the kind of question that's usually most on your mind when you want to consult the cards.

Unfortunately yes/no questions are generally inappropriate for the cards. While it is possible that you may receive an unambiguous answer, only one oracle - the Modern Oracle - even has actual cards for Yes and No. And you're unlikely to receive that unambiguous answer, because even if you ask a yes/no question, there may be many factors involved that make a definite yes or definite no impossible for the oracle. So it can be very difficult to interpret the meaning of the cards for this type of question. The fact that you're looking for a yes or no may make it more difficult for you to understand what the oracle is telling you. Since the oracles communicate in symbolic and metaphorical terms, it's better to ask for a description, illustration, or explanation.

Instead of asking 'Will I get the job', ask 'What can I do to get the job', or 'What is the employer looking for'. It's also important to choose a good spread for questions like this, but that is a subject for a future post.

Instead of asking 'Does he love me', or 'Will we get back together', ask for a description of the relation ship. Again it's important to also pick an appropriate card spread, and again, that's a subject for a future post, but the 7-card, 9-card, and 10-card Relationship spreads and the Relationship Cross spread are excellent choices for these questions.

Since the oracle will be giving a symbolic and metaphorical answer, asking a question that will best be answered that way will give you the best results. Think about what you really want to know, and try to formulate your questions appropriately.

Popularity - take it with a grain of salt

At The Card Reading website, when you mouse over a 'view' link for a card oracle or card spread, a pop-up window displays popularity and member rating information.

Popularity is measured by how many times website users have viewed or used the oracle or card spread. This automatically makes any new card spread or oracle seem less popular.

That does not mean it is no good, just that it is new. It may not have had enough time to become popular. So don't be afraid of trying out a card spread or card oracle just because it doesn't seem popular.

A new look and exciting new features for The Card Reading

It took us a while, but we're finally past beta and have updated the website! We received lots of helpful suggestions during the beta phase, some of which have been incorporated into the website. Others will be addressed in future posts here.

On your next visit to The Card Reading, you'll see many changes in appearance, as well as many new features. You can now rate and write reviews for your favorite card spreads and oracles. You'll be able to see which oracles and spreads are the most popular. A new messaging feature allows you to send private messages to other members. You'll be able to create your own custom card spreads and card oracles, and add them to the website! And the Card Reading Blog provides another forum for changes to the website, and for discussion of card spreads, cartomancy, divination, and card readings. Posting on the blog has been intermittent, and will probably be for a while, but we'll try to set a regular posting schedule as soon as we can.

A new navigation menu gives you easy access to new features and functionality. The home page provides an introduction to Cartomancy, Divination, The Card Reading, and website features. There's a list of links to additional card reading, cartomancy, and divination resources on the web. There's also a link where you can suggest additional websites to add to this list.

When you navigate away from the home page to get a card reading, you'll see card oracles and spreads are now displayed in a scrolling list, with the name, author, description, and a view link in the list. Click the author link to send a message about the card spread or oracle to the author. Mouse-over the view link and you'll see popularity and rating information. And for card spreads, a more detailed description of the spread. Click the view link to view the oracle or card spread in detail. When viewing a card oracle, it's now possible to display a printable page of card meanings. And when you view a card oracle or spread, you can also rate it, write a review, and view the reviews other members have written.

When you get a card reading, you'll see several changes. The first thing you'll notice is that the card size in readings has been reduced. So readings take up less screen space - it's easier to see the whole card spread. We did this to be more small-screen friendly, for less scrolling on notebook computers. You can change the card size setting on the 'settings' page.

The next thing you'll notice will be in the pop-up window that displays card information. The card house and meaning information are displayed as before, but you can add comments or notes from the reading page. And you can display alternate oracle interpretations for the card, and add comments for that oracle as well. Two buttons in the card information pop-up allow you to select an alternate oracle. The 'Next Oracle' button just steps through the different oracles, one by one. The 'Choose Oracle' button pops up a list of oracles, so you can select a specific oracle. To continue with your reading and move on to the next card, click the 'Close Window' button to return to the reading.

The new message system allows you to send private messages to other card reading members, and receive messages from them. New messages are displayed in a pop-up window when you sign in. You can send and manage you messages on the member services page - click the 'services' link on the navigation menu at the top of each page. Note that when you send someone a message, they will not receive it until they sign in - it's not an instant message service, it's a private message service for members of The Card Reading.

Perhaps the most exciting new features are custom card oracles and card spreads. You can now create your own card oracles and card spreads, and publish them on the site. You can keep them private, for your use only, or make them public, for all users. You can claim author credit, or publish them anonymously. So no if you've always wanted to 'fix' something about a card spread or oracle, or create something new - you can! Just click the 'Custom Card Spreads' or 'Custom Card Oracles' links on the navigation menu to go to the pages where you can create, edit, and manage your custom creations!

Nonmembers have not been forgotten in this update, either. For nonmembers, the 'View Saved Readings' feature has been simplified. Nonmembers can now enter their information into a pop-up menu, and a page showing all saved readings will be displayed - just as it is for members. Since they previously had to search their email for the right link to a saved reading, this is a considerable improvement.

We hope you enjoy these new features. If you have any comments or suggestions, don't hesitate to let us know! Just click the 'contact' link on the bottom of the page (at the card reading website, not the blog).

Criminy, has it really been this long?

We've been really busy developing an update for The Card reading, which is about to enter beta testing, and if all goes well the website will be updated soon. It's been pretty intensive, and we really haven't had time for anything else. Not even blog posts. Hopefully that will change after we complete the beta testing and update the website with the new version.

With this update, the home page provides an introduction to divination and cartomancy for first-time visitors and new users. We hope this they will find this useful and informative. Viewing saved readings has been simplified for non-members. And for all users, the pop-up windows for card spread and oracle descriptions will also show popularity and rating info.

Significant enhancements have been added for registered users. If you're a registered member, you'll be able to to create your own card oracles and card spreads and add them to the website. You'll be able to rate and review card spreads and card oracles. And you'll be able to leave messages for the creators of different card spreads and oracles, and for other registered members of the website.

All this and more will be coming to The Card Reading soon!

Registration and Contact Bugs Fixed

A bug in the email system was preventing users with hotmail.com, live.com, and some other email addresses (possibly aol.com and msn.com) from receiving emails from The Card Reading. This prevented users with these email hosts from registering, since registration must be confirmed by clicking a link in an email sent by The Card Reading. Users with these email hosts were not receiving these emails. It looks like only 17 users were affected by this registration problem. I'll be contacting them by separate email to confirm their registrations and activate their accounts.

This bug has been fixed.

This problem also affected shared readings, since a link to the shared reading is emailed to the recipient, and if the recipient had one of the affected email hosts, that email was never received. So if you shared a reading with someone who says they never received the email, try sharing the reading again. They should receive it now.

Unfortunately, at the same time a typo in the feedback/tech support contact pages prevented nonmembers from sending tech support requests and feedback/suggestions. So anyone who tried to register and also tried to submit a support request was unable to. The number of people affected by this problem is not known, but the problem may have existed since late March, so it could be a lot of people. This problem has also been fixed, and I apologize for the inconvenience and frustration this may have caused.