Dear Reader,

As you may have noticed Politicsweb has undergone a significant redesign – the first since the site was launched back in 2007.

This is just a brief note to explain the changes. Before I do that, however, I would like to thank the Friedrich Naumann Foundation whose generous grant made this upgrade possible. As well as Derek and the team at Native for all the work they have put into this project, and particularly for their heroic efforts over the past few days.

The basic goal of the project was to upgrade the look, feel and functionality of the new site, while maintaining the good qualities of the old version. Some new features are:

The site should now be considerably more user friendly on mobile devices.

The Most Popular / Editor’s Choice panel appears on all pages.

A keyword strip (on non-mobile devices) provides an alternative route into the content.

The new search function does the same (especially on mobile)

The newsletter has been upgraded, with articles now placed in relevant sections.

Key news from Alec Hogg’s BizNews is now accessible through a panel on the right.

We will publish significant historical documents in the new archive section. 

We have also introduced a new comment system, using Disqus. Unfortunately, it was not possible to pull the old comments across for technical reasons.

The new comments system will allow us to manage comments better, and curtail abuses, if need be. However, I would like to maintain the existing ethos of free and anonymous commentary. It is still possible to comment, without signing up to Disqus, through the guest comment functionality.

Another unavoidable problem is that the links from the past two newsletters will no longer function. Since the URLs for all pages have changed as a result of the upgrade there may well be issues with other older links as well (some of which will be resolvable.)

The new site is still in beta mode, and a number of further glitches and issues are likely to crop up. I would be grateful for a.) Your patience through this transition, and b.) If you could report any problems either by emailing [email protected] or leaving a comment below.

It would be helpful, in this regard, if you could include information about the device (smartphone, tablet, laptop etc.) and the browser you are using (Safari, Chrome, Explorer etc.)

With best regards,

James Myburgh

Editor, Politicsweb