"True Blue" Update
Another week...another update.
Last week I told you about the upcoming launch of "True Blue" - Pacific Northwest Portal Version 3.0. I'm pleased to announce that we are on track to debut the new version of the site next Monday, July 11th, 2005.
As long as we remain on track, the new version will launch on that date. If not, we'll inform you of the delay (no pun intended), but we don't expect any delay to be very long.
You should be enjoying the new version before the end of the week after this one.
As promised, "True Blue" will be the biggest update to the website in its history. We've been asked if that means lots of new pages.
It does not.
Simply introducing more and more pages does not make the site better. If anything, lots of new pages only makes the site more difficult to navigate.
We've also been asked by worried readers if the Portal is undergoing a dramatic redesign and a huge facelift, much like the redesign at Daily Kos.
The answer again, is no.
The "classic" look (well, since it's only been around for six months, it isn't really classic) has been left intact (i.e. colors, for instance).
What we can promise you, though, is a sleeker, edgier design that preserves the core elements but is way cooler and easier to use.
One of the neatest things is that the new version incorporates a lot of reader feedback. Some people visit the site and then come back with a laundry list of complaints and annoyances. Others praise the site's usefulness but also suggest possible improvements.
And, ironically (or maybe not ironically), these people are the readers we appreciate the most. If no one critiqued Pacific NW Portal, we wouldn't have many ideas about how to make it better.
Thanks to them, we do. And when we overview the new version, we'll detail how we've used reader feedback, often citing specific comments.
Questions about the new version? Feel free to post in the comment thread below.
Last week I told you about the upcoming launch of "True Blue" - Pacific Northwest Portal Version 3.0. I'm pleased to announce that we are on track to debut the new version of the site next Monday, July 11th, 2005.
As long as we remain on track, the new version will launch on that date. If not, we'll inform you of the delay (no pun intended), but we don't expect any delay to be very long.
You should be enjoying the new version before the end of the week after this one.
As promised, "True Blue" will be the biggest update to the website in its history. We've been asked if that means lots of new pages.
It does not.
Simply introducing more and more pages does not make the site better. If anything, lots of new pages only makes the site more difficult to navigate.
We've also been asked by worried readers if the Portal is undergoing a dramatic redesign and a huge facelift, much like the redesign at Daily Kos.
The answer again, is no.
The "classic" look (well, since it's only been around for six months, it isn't really classic) has been left intact (i.e. colors, for instance).
What we can promise you, though, is a sleeker, edgier design that preserves the core elements but is way cooler and easier to use.
One of the neatest things is that the new version incorporates a lot of reader feedback. Some people visit the site and then come back with a laundry list of complaints and annoyances. Others praise the site's usefulness but also suggest possible improvements.
And, ironically (or maybe not ironically), these people are the readers we appreciate the most. If no one critiqued Pacific NW Portal, we wouldn't have many ideas about how to make it better.
Thanks to them, we do. And when we overview the new version, we'll detail how we've used reader feedback, often citing specific comments.
Questions about the new version? Feel free to post in the comment thread below.
