Navigating the New EthicsDaily.com: Part One

by | Feb 25, 2009 | Opinion

EthicsDaily.com launched a new version of its Web site Feb. 4. Those of us on staff are enjoying the upgrades, and we hope you are, too.

Refining the site’s design and interface is a process, not a destination, but as you read and play around with the site, consider these pointers and tidbits:

  • The rotating images on the front page can be paused by clicking the numbers in between the arrows, or shifted by clicking one arrow or the other.

     

  • Robert Parham’s latest editorial will always appear in the upper-right corner of the front page. Click the “more” button in that section to see a list of all his editorials.

     

  • The “resource” slot on the left side of the front page features new and different resources each day. Sometimes we feature sermon podcasts, at other times we promote some of our DVDs, etc.

     

  • We feature different videos on our front page as well, in the lower-right corner. These videos might be ones we’ve produced, or they might come from churches and other organizations. We view this as a way to support our formal and informal partners in advancing the common good. Right now on weekends, for example, we’re featuring high-quality sermon broadcasts from the historic First Baptist Church in Augusta, Ga., pastored by Greg DeLoach.

     

  • You can see a list of our bloggers and columnists by clicking on the “About Us” menu button in the top bar. We’re proud of this pack of writers and the moral reflection they provide.

     

  • Each day we provide three news stories from Religion News Service (RNS). Those stories can always be found in the designated RNS box at the bottom of the front page. RNS stories rotate off the site after three months, so visit often to keep up.

     

  • We’re now sending our e-newsletter each weekday.

     

  • We post content throughout the day, so what you’ll see when you visit at 4 p.m. will likely be different from what you saw at 8 a.m. No articles have disappeared, however. They have merely “moved down” in the site and can still be accessed by clicking the “Articles” menu button in the top bar.

     

  • Our e-commerce interface is much better and more integrated with the rest of our site. To buy products, you need to create an account. And now when you buy curriculum, you automatically get an e-mail with a link to download your item(s).

     

  • Right now, people may subscribe to our RSS feeds by section only (e.g. an RSS feed for Movie Reviews, an RSS feed for Editorials). There is currently no single RSS feed that pulls all of our most recent articles. We are working to provide one. Stay tuned. (UPDATE on March 25, 2009: A single RSS feed for latest content is now active at https://gfmarchives.com/feed.php?atom=68.

Part two of this series will focus specifically on finding and sharing articles. In the meantime, please let us know how you think we can improve the site. And thanks, as always, for reading.

Cliff Vaughn is managing editor for EthicsDaily.com.