October 2, 2006

Just Can’t Get Enough

Change is good. Change is terrifying. Change achieved by means other than permanent body alteration: priceless.

We never plan our redesigns. One day, we’re perfectly content with how the site looks and operates, and the next morning we’re ready to throw it out the window. That moment happened this past summer. It was a morning, somewhere in Brooklyn. The air smelled different and the sky was changing colors. Potted flowers began talking to us in Swahili, and they said: The time has come.

Welcome to the new TMN, owed in great part to the strenuous work of our Technical Lead, Llew Hinkes, who seems to be able to eloquently code any design we dream up. Here’s a brief guide on some of the bigger changes, features, and entertainments.

Headlines: Day In, Day Out

The headlines will continue being published by 9 a.m. weekdays, but from now on they’ll also be updated throughout the workday, in several small batches between lunch and 6 p.m. That means more news stories of billionaires marrying their daughters, more links to New York restaurant gossip, more pithy weird science articles or links to Ricky Gervais videos—or whatever it is you like in the headlines, simply lots more of it, lots more often.

(But since the batch will be so big, you’ll need to click off the home page to each day’s headlines page; look for the “Continue Reading” link at the bottom of the headlines column on the home page.)

Galleries, Front and Center

We love publishing galleries by interesting photographers and other artist types, and it’s always frustrated us to see them slip away quickly. From now on you’ll be able to access the most recent gallery from the home page, and the navigation and presentation are much improved, with Nicole Pasulka’s interviews on each page.

Site-wide “What’s New on TMN”

No matter where you are on the site, look in the top-right corner for what’s been most recently published.

Email Newsletter

Because you are addicted to email, now you can sign up for our newsletter and receive a message every day between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. that lets you know what’s been published that day on TMN.

(Fear not: Your email address will never be shared, sold, handed away, used for evil purposes, or married to its billionaire father.)


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Otherwise, no doubt there are bugs and goofs around the site, so please let us know if you spot one (email talk at themorningnews.org). Thanks! And finally, while we still have your attention, we are very excited and proud to announce that Witold Riedel has accepted our invitation to become a Contributing Artist. His work has long been an inspiration.

Yours,
Rosecrans & Andrew