Design and Search

• Conducted a complete user interface overhaul. Everything is different: SASS-based layout, a responsive design, a pluggable template system, and a great deal more.
• Conducted a complete overhaul of the code structure, adding a routing system and a permalinks table.
• Baked in support for Apache Solr, the best text indexing software available, to ingest and analyze all laws, and create a comprehensive search system.
• Added an API method for search.
• Created a heavily automated setup process, making it easy to install.
• Added a rigorous set of environmental tests to make sure that the server has all necessary software.
• Created support for non-unique section identifiers (e.g., when a § 100 exists in 10 different Titles within a single code), a major overhaul.
• Packaged a default home page, that looks good for any site right out of the box.
• Included a sample XSLT, to serve as a starting point for those who have XML that they need to get into The State Decoded's XML format.
• Tested The State Decoded in a wide variety of server configurations and made many modifications to ensure that it runs well under nearly all common environments.
• Added an entire workflow to handle new editions of legal codes, important for those codes that are updated frequently.
• Bulk downloads are automatically created, as plain text, JSON, and XML, along with a page for visitors to download them.
• Overhauled the administrative interface, adding a great deal of functionality.
• Builds a sitemap.xml automatically.
• Included Dublin Core tags in the HTML for each law, to support Zotero and similar software.