Improvements to the Ecologist website

|
We've listened to your feedback and made a range of improvements to the site...
 

Thanks for all your feedback, emails and support during the last few months. The new site has been a great success with reader numbers growing every month since launch, a thriving network of followers on Twitter and Facebook, and the pick-up of a number of our stories in the national press.

We have also continued to expand our online archive - there are now 61 issues in the freely-accessible 1970-2000 archive, and 86 in the subscriber-only post 2000 version.

The 2000-2009 section of the archive wil be complete be October 31st, providing an unparalleled research resource and browsing area for those who work, or have an interest, in environmental issues.

As with any new website, we are aware there have been a few problems, and we have taken onboard your comments to introduce a series of new features and functions, details of which you can find below.

Above all, we'd like to say thanks for supporting the Ecologist in its new online form.

 

 

 

 

New feature Why have you added this? Where do I find it?
New 'print this' functionality Readers told us that they would like to be able to print out longer articles to read offline, but without adverts and other site furniture
New-style homepage with simpler design Some readers mentioned that our homepage was a little slow in loading up. To help solve the problem, and to make the homepage easier to scan, we have removed some pictures from the articles and some adverts from the page
New, widescreen video player Our partnerships with Eco-Storm (the Ecologist Film Unit) and Positive TV have continued to produce some fantastic videos, which we thought deserved to be seen at a decent size. So from now on, our videos will be playing across the width of an article column
Introduction of a 'letters' page We realised that in the move from print to online we had lost our letters page, which has always been a lively forum in which readers could share their views. We have now created a digital alternative, where you can email us and we will post the best letters online. The address is letters@theecologist.org
RSS feeds for individual sections RSS feeds are a great way to keep track of new articles posted on the site. Signing up to the RSS feed on our homepage will notify you of every new article on the site, but we have now added section-specific feeds. So if you're only interested in news, or green living, then you can choose just to receive those articles. More details here
Subscriber's area menu bar button Previously, the 'Subscribers' Area' section of the site was available at the bottom of the home page. We have now given it pride of place on the menu bar at the top of the site, making it easier for you to find your way to subscriber-only features, such as the printable newsletter and the 2000-2009 archive

We are always looking trying to improve the site, and will be introducing new sections over the coming months so please email us with any other ideas.

More from this author