Here’s a brief introduction to what’s new around here (a few things), what’s different (a few more things), and what’s totally the same (joie de vivre, hemlines, etc.).
We’re pleased to introduce a new column that we call Of Recent Note. Those of you who’ve loved the past features of the very same name, where everyone on staff recommends a load of stuff that you can barely sit through in one reading, will now be treated to a little bit of that every day on the home page. Those of you who didn’t love it so much will now be subjected to it every day. For both camps: Consider Of Recent Note our new way of performing the duties of the now-sadly-defunct Album of the Week and People We Like columns, except with more types of stuff, updated every single day, and well, just more, really.
In addition, you may notice that our archives work a whole lot better now. The search page is burlier, and the master archives page (as well as the navigation at the bottom of all pages) now outlines our sections and how stories are sorted for easier browsing.
In all cases, if you load a page and something just doesn’t look quite right, we want to know! Please email us—and include a link to the page, as well as noting which operating system, browser, and browser version you’re using—. If our web site blows up your hard drive, please contact Michael Dell in Bangalore.
While we were trapped in our coding caves, we also sent out two smoke-signal invitations to two new writers, and we’re very pleased to announce that both Anthony Doerr and David Leite have joined the TMN Contributing Writers Staff.
Anthony has been writing the Letters from Rome column since February. A remarkable fiction writer—his novel About Grace is hotter than Jack Straw in London right now, and even Laura Bush thought his story collection The Shell Collector was essential bedtime reading—he’s also a swell guy, and he’s been reading TMN for a long time. We’re extremely pleased to have him along, as we are for David, food writer extraordinaire. His Leite’s Culinaria has long been one of our favorite food sites, and perhaps we did invite him to join TMN so we can score a dinner at his place, but so what?! David has written a number of hilarious screeds for TMN, including a rant against Fairway that invoked response from the store’s highest-ups. Hopefully we can convince him to start covering the White House…
As much as we like to pretend we know what “CSS” stands for (“Crumpet Something Something?”), this redesign would not have happened at all had it not been for the absurd dedication and skewed working hours of TMN Tech Lead Llewelyn Hinkes-Jones, who coded the site while soothing our shrieks of pain, and TMN Art Director Frederic Bonn, who designed everything you see here and put up with almost constant torture from yours truly—the worst clients he’s ever had. Thanks also to Danny Gregory and Anna Featherly, who have contributed many new beautiful pieces of artwork that you will find all over the new site. Special thanks also go to Brad Choate for his awesome plugins, Anil Dash and everyone at Movable Type, and George, James, and Chris at Tilted Planet, which is still the greatest hosting company that has ever lived on this or any other planet, whatever its alignment.
The lion’s share of our thank-yous, however, go to you, our readers. We hope you enjoy this new TMN, now and the next day. So thank you, and thank you for visiting.
Live long, prosper, cake for all,
Rosecrans and Andrew