And the winner is?

I recently announced that I will be redesigning this blog, and I held a contest to see what kinds of changes you all would like to see on the new site. While I have my own vision of the layout and its various features, I want to hear as many opinions as possible. A big thank you to everyone (all 3 of you!) who entered the contest - your comments are greatly appreciated! Here's what you had to say, with my respective responses:

Christina -
Since you travel quite frequently for your job and a lot of your entries are about or influenced by the places you visit, I'd like to see a feature that enables a reader to organize or view your entries by your destinations. I think your blog attracts people who are interested in traveling and your perspective on the places you go to (I am at least) and it would be cool to see all the places you've gone to and the entries that have developed from them. For those entries that are not travel-related, maybe you can organize those into a separate category. Just a thought. This is additional but even a fun visual map that links to your entries might be kind of cool that includes travel tips, fun facts about the place, etc.

This idea is very interesting, and one that could certainly enhance the reader's experience on the site. Not only could I sort my posts by geography, but I could create country/city profiles of all the places that I travel to. Great suggestion!

Mark -
I'm a big sucker for readability and formatting. The site as it is now is pretty nice - easy to read and clear - but that doesn't mean it can't be better. The biggest websites are always redesigning their pages based on usability and presentation (like where the reader's eye is attracted to), it often is a headache for readers but in the end makes the site better. ESPN, Facebook, and Deadspin (and all Gawker blogs I assume) are some of the ones who tend to change the most frequently. So I guess I'm looking for a new design that can change in the future based on feedback? Haha, this may be a lot to ask for.

Also make it so to post a comment you don't have to fill out that annoying letter/number match thing.

Mark, I'll see what I can do about filling out the letter/number combination for all comments. It's annoying but prevents spam comments from getting through. I think there is a widget that can be integrated into Wordpress (Akismet?) to help with spam, though. Regarding a layout that is adaptable to future feedback - good call. This suggestion actually helped me realize that I need a premium, customizable theme with room for expansion. Some of them are pretty expensive though...

Dan P. -
Are International posters eligible for the contest?

I would like to see you add some kind of plug-in that facilitates looking at your pictures... like a slideshow within a post. I don't know if I've seen that yet, but if you can find I think it would be really cool. [update: www.slide.com]

Buenos Dias Dan P. - yes international posters are certainly eligible! If you haven't noticed by now, I am a huge fan of photography, and if there's anything I will focus on with the new site design, it's a more captive and fluid integration of images. I will definitely check out slide.com. Also, I have come across many Flickr-based photo widgets, so I have many options to explore.

Drum roll please...and the winner is...

Christina! Your comment really interests me - on one hand, it fits the current "mold" of the site, and on the other, it adds a new element of content, information that (as I said before) could certainly enhance the reader's experience. I will email you on Friday for post-contest details.

Again, thank you for your comments. I am excited about the new site design! Hoping to have it up by the new year...

Comments

[Hantlah's Antlahs!]

I demand a recount!