A little news: On Monday, we will unveil a new and much-improved website that we feel strongly will improve your experience as readers and viewers and admirers and begrudging admirers and straight-up haters.
The best way to preview it is to take a spin around the site for our awesome sister publication, L.A. Weekly. I'll also tell you about it shortly. First, though, a little somber side note: The new site, wisely I think, fully demolishes the wall between our print-first content and our online-driven stories, which means the end of the individually branded, reverse-chronological blogs. This is hardly groundbreaking, but it is a little heartbreaking, because it means the end of some clever-ass blog names: Unfair Park, DC-9, Mixmaster and, my favorite, City of Ate. We'll obviously still publish stories on those topics several times a day -- we are much more daily than weekly nowadays -- but they will be contained within topical "verticals" labeled more simply: "news," "music," etc. My hope, and suspicion, is that this will help our main brand, the Dallas Observer, distinguish itself in a crowded, cluttered marketplace. My fear is that you will be mad at us. Maybe both can be true?
Now, about that new web site:
Among the features:
Responsive design The new site is optimized for whatever device you're using to read it, whether your desktop, tablet, phone, phone case, cuff link, or Ritz Cracker (Beta).
Death to Pagination Never again will you have to click to a second or third or ninth page to continue hate-reading Schutze. You're welcome.
More Access to More Stuff, Including Video Did you know we do video now? Probably not, because it practically takes a Romancing the Stone-style map and an assist from shirtless Michael Douglas to find it. The new site will feature those, and other content, more prominently, so you kill even more of your time with us. That's how we like it.
Better Recommendations We're always trying to offer you more good stuff to read, and trying to find stuff in your wheelhouse. The new site uses algorithmic wizardry to offer more apt recommendations at every turn. YOU WILL NEVER LEAVE.
The site will debut Monday. We will post, prominently, a story that morning asking for your feedback, but you're welcome to start bitching ahead of time below.
Happy clicking --
The Editors