Indybay Introduces New Regional Coverage, Redesign, and More

The Indybay web collective announces the addition of new Regional pages.

You might have previously noticed the Central Valley region page, which covers news all the way from Sacramento to Bakersfield, and then some. We also have had a number of International pages. Now, we have added a number of local regional categories that the site covers news for and/or have volunteers interested in contributing from their area. We will also be making various other improvements to the site over the next two months.

These pages should make it easier for readers to find news that is local to the area where they live. We will still have and update our Topic pages (Anti-War, Labor, Womyn, etc.) but now the Regional pages will allow you to organize the stories on Indybay in a new way, and to check specifically for news and events on a variety of topics in your particular area.

Our regional pages now include: North Coast, Central Valley, North Bay, East Bay, South Bay, San Francisco (SF), Peninsula, Santa Cruz (website of the Santa Cruz IMC), California (a catch-all for statewide issues and CA regions not specified), U.S., and International (which includes Americas, Haiti, Iraq, Palestine, and Afghanistan).

List of Regional Pages and Their Locations:
http://www.indybay.org/northcoast/
http://www.indybay.org/centralvalley/
http://www.indybay.org/northbay/
http://www.indybay.org/eastbay/
http://www.indybay.org/southbay/
http://www.indybay.org/sf/
http://www.indybay.org/peninsula/
http://www.indybay.org/santacruz/
http://www.indybay.org/california/
http://www.indybay.org/us/
http://www.indybay.org/international/
http://www.indybay.org/americas/
http://www.indybay.org/haiti/
http://www.indybay.org/iraq/
http://www.indybay.org/palestine/
http://www.indybay.org/afghanistan/

We're going to need folks like you from all over Northern California to post news for, edit, and publicize the regional pages. We will be offering promotional materials for volunteers to use in the near future.

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Get Involved.

If you are interested in getting involved in one or more of these new Regional pages, or an existing Topic page, you are welcome to come to our next general meeting.

Check here for the latest details on meeting times and locations.

Before you come to a meeting, please familiarize yourself with Indybay's Principles of Unity, Mission Statement, and history at http://www.indybay.org/news/2003/12/1664397.php (or by clicking on "About" from the top of any page on the site).

Drop us an email if you would like to attend a meeting: sfbay-web "at" lists.indymedia.org.

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Indybay's redesign, or "refresh" of previous web design.

We have modified things like the site's color-scheme, page headers, and the style of type used throughout. We plan to continue to tweak these until our new design is fully implemented and we have reached what we believe is the optimal design for both usability/readability and visual appearance of the site.

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Look for new functionality at Indybay in the near future.

Initially, one of the largest and most visible changes is that Indybay's editors have taken down the "Latest Comments" page. We have felt that some readers have been abusing it. We are a news website, and we feel that the comments that people add to articles should be related to the content of the articles, and not personal attacks against one another. As editors we would prefer to spend our time making news, not moderating flame wars. There are plenty of other websites on which arguments about politics can take place — from craigslist to blogs, to corporate newspapers' websites.

There are multiple other changes in the works regarding how the site works that we think that overall they will make for a better user (and administrator) experience. As we roll these out, they will be discussed here.

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We Want to Hear Your Thoughts and Constructive Suggestions

The Indybay web collective is interested in your feedback regarding the site's currently evolving design and functionality. (This is not the place to discuss editorial policies.) While we cannot guarantee anything, we will at least consider every serious point of feedback made in the comments below.

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Check Back Here Over the Next Few Weeks and Months for Updates on Our Progess

Indybay volunteers are working hard on a number of changes to the site. Included in these changes will be refining the redesign of the look and feel of the site as well as significant changes under the hood that we think will make for an improved user experience at Indybay.

Enjoy!

Indybay's web collective
indybay "at" lists.riseup.net
sfbay-web "at" lists.indymedia.org

http://www.indybay.org