chp_screencap
A picture of the new site-in-progress. Ooooo... shiny.

Hello, everyone! I’m Tim, web developer for City on a Hill Press. I’m posting today to let everyone know of some exciting changes coming soon to Cityonahillpress.com and SlugLife.org. Our goal is to roll out these changes next week, overnight on April 9. Details on what’s changing after the jump.

So, what’s changing? Quite a bit, actually… here’s a brief list of all the changes we’re making:

  • Both cityonahillpress.com and sluglife.org are getting a whole new look. It’s been a while since the City on a Hill Press site has gotten a new theme, so we wanted to freshen up the site with a new look that reflects how we’ve changed over the past few years. Don’t worry, SlugLife won’t be left out of the redesign… this site too will be getting its own new look.
    I should note that the screencap shown above is a work in progress. We’ll likely be making a few more changes before the site launches next week.
  • Hey, who's Rick Rolling the homepage?
    Hey, who's Rick Rolling the homepage?

    A new layout on the home page. Looking beyond the changes in the theme, we’ve made the homepage a bit easier to navigate, with a selection of featured links at the top. We’ll also be able to pop up a variety of multimedia from those images, too. And on the right you can are a selection of the latest posts on SlugLife, so you can stay up to date on the latest UCSC news.

  • Improved navigation. Each desk now gets its own page with the latest posts, ordered by publish date. Looking for something from long ago? Try our new and improved search engine, or browse the old-fashioned way with the City on a Hill Press Archive.
  • Commenter accounts are the best new feature of the site. (Totally not a biased statement there...)
    Commenter accounts are the best new feature of the site. (Totally not a biased statement there...)

    New community features! Much like SlugLife has right now, starting next week, you’ll be able to sign up for a site account and comment away on the latest news and views. And, even better, your commenter account will work on both City on a Hill Press and SlugLife.
    To be honest, this is the one I’m most excited about. One of the things I’ve always been impressed with around the net is the communities that build around various websites, not just social sites like MySpace or Facebook, but more surprising ones, like the photo sharing site Flickr, or the consumer blog The Consumerist. I’m really excited to hear what everyone in the community has to say, or, even more intriguing, where the community will take the site.

The site’s still a work in progress, so there’s still time to change things around. So, let me know in the comments below what you’d like to see on the new site. Otherwise, I look forward to seeing you back here on April 9!