What I really do for a living | Philly

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Saturday, May 10, 2008

What I really do for a living

You might have noticed by now that things look a bit different around here all of a sudden. I've been waiting for quite a while to share this with all of you, and now I can finally do so.

Over the last few months, Philly.com has been working on a massive redesign project, which we've finally unveiled to you today. And despite the various things I've said about why posting on the blog was light during much of March and April, the redesign was the real reason.

I've told this to quite a few people, but in case you didn't know, that's my real job with Philly.com -- along with producing the region's most-read sports website on a daily basis.

Writing this blog comes second, even though it has at times been the only thing that keeps me sane.

So although I don't want to gloat about it too much, I hope you understand the pride I take in the construction work I've been doing.

From the night Villanova lost to Kansas until the morning I arrived at Penn Relays, I was building new pages for the main sports front, each of the four pro teams, the college sports section and the high school sports section.

Once I got back from Franklin Field, I took over construction of new opinion and blogs section fronts. I'll be keeping an eye on those pages from now on as well, in addition to my sports work.

All of this was a tremendous amount of work for myself, the other members of the production team, and a group of web developers and tech folks who came up with things all over this site that I couldn't have possibly dreamed of.

I hope you like the new site, with all of the new tools and toys that come with it. And there's a lot more where they came from, too.

Because really, this thing is for you all -- and I particularly want that to be the case for the sports page.

If there's something you want to see, let me know by posting a comment or sending me an email via the link to the right of here. I can't promise everything, but I do want to hear from you.

Thanks as always, and enjoy our region's new online home.

Posted by Jonathan Tannenwald @ 1:48 AM Permalink | File Under: Riffs | 10 comments

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Comments

Posted by chriszak 02:15 PM, 05/10/2008

nice job jonathan.

Posted by tbird 12:32 PM, 05/11/2008

Sorry, Jonathan, but I don't especially care for the new format. It takes me longer, compared to the previous format, to scan the stories on a particular topic to see if I want to read them.

Posted by tjc4golf 11:12 PM, 05/11/2008

Don't mind the new layout, but the color scheme is ugly. The background is especially bad. Reminds me of a website from the mid 90s.

Posted by PureNHL 11:32 PM, 05/11/2008

Layout looks great - but is there a way to show the writer of a story on the main page like before? There are certain authors I'm sure everyone likes to read and it was very convenient to have their name listed right underneath the article

Posted by Jonathan Tannenwald 08:53 AM, 05/12/2008

I'm not sure we ever did that on the front sports page, though I know we did it on the team pages. We have the columnists box out on the sports front now, and I'll look into adding bylines on the team pages.

Posted by tzm 10:12 AM, 05/12/2008

Though I like your blog, I'm afraid I do not like the new Philly.com design. It doesn't look professional to me. NYT, Wash Post, LA Times all have professional looking newspaper websites.

Posted by Big Game 08:46 AM, 05/13/2008

I agree with tzm.

Posted by rfgetz 08:54 AM, 05/13/2008

The new layout looks horrific. The layout, the color scheme, the graphics, the overall design etc... the page looks more appropriate for the myspace/facebook generation rather then someone looking for real news.

Posted by nickj 03:25 PM, 05/13/2008

the only thing I really miss is the old layout that let you look at all the local theaters and movie times... for whatever reason, the new entertainment section isn't as convenient

Posted by Leron 11:11 AM, 05/16/2008

I like it, especially the brown. People hate change. They'll get used to it in a few days.

10 comments

About Jonathan Tannenwald

I fell in love with the Big 5 at first sight upon moving to Philadelphia in 2002. At various points in my journalistic career, I've covered all six of the region's Division I teams. During that time, I've eaten many soft pretzels from the Palestra's concession stands, which is how this blog got its name.

I also occasionally contribute to the Inquirer's women's basketball weblog, Women's Hoops Guru.

Soft Pretzel is on Facebook. Click here to become a fan, upload your own photos and videos, or post on the discussion boards.

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You can contact my by email by clicking here.