Namaroopa Version 5
Release Notes for Namaroopa Version 5
2024-May-01
Today I am calling the day of releasing of Namaroopa version 5. The last release was of version 4 was in 2018. Today, after 5 years from the previous release, I have few news to share with you. As always, I wish this version of the website will bring Dhamma closer to your fingertips than ever before.
Without further ado, I will list down some of the important changes and improvements.
Homepage
I decided to keep most of the content from the V4 homepage intact and update. I feel like I have stopped after finding dhamma from Waharaka thero. As a tribute, I have kept this webpage updated and directed to Waharaka main web pages.
Alternate Downloads
As with version 4 of the website I have many different download links and options sprinkled through out the website. Due to the volatile nature of internet and cloud hosting providers, content changes and some websites going off line; many links go expired or invalidated over time. Now, I have replinish most of the current and update links into one webpage. Also, I have some historical dhamma talks and videos moved to some cloud storage providers for future reference. With this change, there were number of updates triggered throughout the website. You can reach this newly added webpage :by following URL https://namaroopa.com/dhamma-links/
Currently offline or no-longer maintained sections
I have introduced a new feature added to keep track of Awakening of Buddha-Dhamma in the version 4 of the website. We called it “Timeline”. I have removed the suport fo this web page now. This section is no longer supported.
I have moved “Library” section mostly inside the Dhamma Links pages above.
“Archives” section has mostly merged with the Dhamma Links pages.
I have also removed some sections from the “Dhamma School” pages and the learning management system since now we have more classes and face to face interactions with dhamma learners and students.
I have left some sections from Dhamma-School curriculum and preparation of notes geared for Grade 7 class of Canadian students.
This was one the largest undertakings in the previous release.
YouTube Channel
Namaroopa has undertaken the task of digitizing the most precious Dhamma talks found today. That was five years ago, in 2018, there were not many YouTube channels spreading Dhamma about Waharaka Thero and about the newly revealed dhamma. Compared to that there are many today. Its a pleasant progress. Though I haven’t updated the Channel from what I have during the initial creation, I am maintaing and keeping it up withe the YouTube standards and trying to stay at my best away from being “monetized” – I have no intention of making money out of Namaroopa YouTube Channel.
https://youtube.com/@namaroopa9437?si=ANM7nnyDbZpegepz
Abayarathanalankaraya
The section about “Abayarathanalankaraya”, has become a permant part of this website. I will add more content and optimize these sections when I get more time to work on these. This is part of rolling release of version 5.
Changes for Meditation
As planned Namaroopa V4 had several new pages for meditation. In the release of V5, these sections were all rechecked and new content were added for some pages. There will be more pages and updates coming to Meditation sections in future rolling releases under version 5.
Technical Changes to Namaroopa Version 5
In 2018 I have moved Namaropa from google cloud platform to a private hosting plat form. I have organized as multisite wordpress network. In this release of version 5, I have moved to yet another new private host and changed the multi-site architecture to single site architecture. I have noticed some important technical benifits of doing so, hence the change. However, migrating work from multi site to a single site is quite complicated and had to spend most of the development and admin time of this release. There were 250+ links that went broken during this transition, for example, and had to check one by one and fix. I have taken all this pain with much Shraddha.