UsingEnglish.com Site News

Exporting Data from the Advanced Text Analyser

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 14:50:22 +0000

We have today released an upgrade to the advanced text analyser that allows you to export data and results from your text analysis results.

Fundraising for Cancer Research

Mon, 09 Jul 2012 20:25:32 +0000

Now then, I have no idea who might be reading this note but I'm asking you to take a pause and please consider this... I'm donating my birthday to Cancer Research... in other words I'm fundraising to help save lives by discovering new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer.

Privacy Policy Update

Sat, 26 May 2012 23:07:13 +0000

In order to comply with a new European law relating to the use of personal information, we have updated our privacy policy. This now includes a thorough analysis of our use of your personal information and our use of tracking technologies like cookies. Don't Panic! We don't do anything nasty with your information, and this new version of our policy should help you see that nothing bad is happening to your data when you use our site.

You can see the current privacy policy, effective from 26th May 2012, at http://www.usingenglish.com/about/privacy/

Planned downtime

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 09:18:15 +0000

On Friday 1st July 2011 from 19:30 - 23:00 BST we will be performing some system maintenance and as a result we expect that there may be periods during which the site will be unavailable. We hope to have the maintenance completed quickly but if you find that the site is not responding, or is otherwise misbehaving, please try again outside of this time period. We will keep you posted if any of the details change, and you can get up-to-the-minute updates by following us on our Twitter feed here: http://twitter.com/UsingEnglish.

Please accept our apologies in advance for any inconvenience caused.

Thanks,

The UsingEnglish.com Team

PDF Lesson Plan Section Update

Tue, 22 Mar 2011 18:59:47 +0000

A new and expanded PDF Lesson Plans section has recently been launched which brings you an improved user interface and allows easier navigation of our free downloadable PDF lesson plans and handouts.

Update to Idioms Area

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 13:13:52 +0000

We've just launched an upgrade to the idioms section of UsingEnglish.com that makes it much simpler and easier to use.

Speeding the Site Up?

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 19:27:58 +0000

Whilst this blog has remained quite for long periods of time, it doesn't mean that work and new developments on the site have stopped. Far from it. The server and the site are continually monitored, optimised and improved. The main reason for the quietness is that, on the whole there's not a lot to show for this work on the site's interface.

Here's a case in point:

Last night at around 22:30 in the evening I implemented a little trick to help speed up access to the site. I configured the site to utilise caching in a more optimised and efficient way. It seems to have worked, for me at least.

Site Redesign

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 20:08:44 +0000

After months of experimenting with new designs and creating different versions of UsingEnglish.com we've finally settled on a new look for our site and we hope you like it!

New Phrasal Verbs Quizzes: Intransitive, Separable and Inseparable

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 23:55:32 +0000

We've just added the ability for you to quiz yourself on intransitive, separable and inseparable phrasal verbs. This quiz type complements our existing quizzes on phrasal verbs and other grammar topics. We hope you enjoy them. :-)

Rollout Rollup

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 21:26:21 +0000

The Site Diary has been quiet for some time now, but there has been a lot of work going on behind the scenes to improve UsingEnglish.com and to build a base for the future. Here I will attempt to catalogue the key developments that have been made to the site over the last few months, and explain what they may mean for the future.

UsingEnglish.com Adopts reCAPTCHA

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 22:42:08 +0000

UsingEnglish.com helps the fight against spam by using Captchas on many of the forms we have on-site. As of today, we've started used a superb new service that not only fights spam, but helps digitise old books at the same time.

New Idioms Web Feed

Sun, 22 Jul 2007 19:38:02 +0000

Our new Idioms News Feed allows you to keep updated and ensure you are instantly alerted of all the latest idiom definitions added to UsingEnglish.com.

New: Graded Text Analysis

Sat, 30 Jun 2007 15:58:51 +0000

Just a quick note to say that our Advanced Text Analyser now includes a Graded Text analysis section. You can now compare your text to the BNC and GSL word lists and discover more about the reading level of the text. More information about this will follow shortly.

Submit An Idiom

Fri, 04 May 2007 22:23:29 +0000

We have now made it easy for you to new add idioms to our Idioms Dictionary. Use our simple online form to make your suggestions.

Updated: Teacher Handouts

Sun, 29 Apr 2007 14:56:35 +0000

We've made some changes to the Teacher Handouts section which we hope will make it easier to print and use these materials in class.