After several months 2theadvocate.com has decided to revert the style of our News Section hub page to its previous form.

We have done this for several reasons with the primary ones being that we want to keep the site easy to use and navigate for our users.

All Advocate and WBRZ news content as well as any updates will appear both on the homepage throughout the day and on the news section hub page all day.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact me directly or respond below.

We've made some interesting, important, and hopefully helpful changes to the website recently. In addition to releasing a new version of the site footer, we've also created a new way for stories to be read and interacted with. I've created a couple of instructional videos that should help familiarize you with these new features. These types of videos will likely become coincidental with new site feature launches, so let us know what you think in the comments!

Cheers,
Nick Scheurich
Web Developer
2theadvocate.com
nscheurich@theadvocate.com

New Site Footer:

New Story Pages & Tools:

Thanks to all of the loyal reader and chefs who pointed out the problems with the "Print This" function in the Recipes section in Food. (http://www.2theadvocate.com/features/food/recipes)

Individulal recipes in the section were printing out with about 20 lines of extra code beneath each item.

We were alerted to the problem last week and with the development staff here at 2theadvocate.com zeroed in on and fixed the problem this morning.

Again, thanks to all of our loyal Advocate, 2theadvocate.com and WBRZ readers and viewers, and as always if you find a problem don;t hesitate to let us know.

Everyone has an opinion, and 2theadvocate.com wants to hear yours. That’s why we’ve added a new feature to our entertainment stories -- a link for our readers to include their comments on movies, music, books, art and travel articles.

Our writers and reviewers are great at expressing their thoughts on these matters, but you may not agree with those opinions. If you don’t agree and would like to provide an opposing viewpoint or you do agree and would like to tell everyone why, simply click on the link provided at the end of the article to include your own take on the book or movie or band.

Our new comments feature will help us provide a full spectrum of opinions on entertainment issues to our readers.

So, come on -- let us know what you think about it.

 

Nov. 5, 2006 8:45 p.m.

Posted by Freda Yarbrough, New Media Director

2theadvocate.com is getting a new look on Monday, Nov. 6 — a larger size, a new color palette and larger photographs in stories are some of the changes users will notice, plus the ability to increase the type size of stories for easier reading.

If you have bookmarked pages, don't worry, those links should stay the same.  Plus, 2theadvocate.com automatically refreshes every five minutes, which should clear any problems you have in seeing the new version of the site.

This redesign is the culmination of months of study and development of the interests, needs and desires of WBRZ Channel 2 viewers, Advocate readers and those who rely on 2theadvocate.com as their information source.

The Look

One of the first changes viewers will notice is the size of the Web site pages themselves. They will be wider — 960 pixels as opposed to the current 744 pixels (that’s about an increase of 3 inches from 10 to 13 inches wide).

This new wider format will allow 2theadvocate.com to increase its homepage content, allowing more stories and headlines to be displayed and more news sections than currently appear on the homepage.

The Web site will feature an orderly design created not only to facilitate navigation of the site, but to also be easier to read and to put less strain on the eyes. Plus, the new site is easier to open on mobile devices such as PDAs, BlackBerrys and some cell phones.

This is accomplished through the use of a white background and softer colors, a text format ideal for easy readability and larger photographs. Readers will also have the option of adjusting the text size to their preference.

The Content
Longer stories and better photographs are but two of the many benefits 2theadvocate.com will provide to its readers.

Information on stocks and money markets will be expanded and updated throughout the day by the Associated Press in a new online section called Money and Markets at Money and Markets

Breaking news stories, emergency information, weather alerts and sports updates will be featured more prominently than with the present layout, occupying a highly visible spot on the homepage.

Perhaps one of the most notable technological upgrades is the addition of RSS feeds for all sections on the site. RSS (for Rich Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary) feeds will allow users with RSS readers to receive notification when new content is posted to the site. Some users refer to this as Really Simple Syndication because it allows the user to set up feeds of favorite sections and writers.  

To find out more about RSS, go to  http://www.2theadvocate.com/help/3412486.html

In the world of the Internet, change is the only constant, so continue to watch for new features in 2007.

For comments or questions, email comments@theadvocate.com

Do you sudoku? 

Now you can play it daily in the newspaper online on www.2theadvocate.com! 

This logic-based number placement puzzle has three different skill levels to challenge beginners to experts. 

Not sure what sudoku is?

Sudoku | a number puzzle in which the numbers 1 through 9 must be placed into a grid of cells so that each row or column contains only one of each number.

Click here to play sudoku now!

The server problem that cause videos to be unavailable on the site for several hours today was fixed at approximately 5 p.m. CDT.

We would like to thanks all of the viewers, readers and viewers who brought the problem to our attention.

We would encourage everyone who visits the site to report any problems that they might see to us as soon as humanly possible.

We here at the 2theadvocate.com strive to make this website a stable easy place find Baton Rouge and Louisiana news of the day.

Anything we can do to make the experience of our users better is something we want to hear!

Again thank you for you patience.

Due to a server problem beyond our control our video hosting service will be down for a few hours.

We have our engineers working to resolve the problem, and will notify site users when the video problem has been repaired and tested.

All video pages on the site have been disabled and will display the following message until the videos are restored:

"We are sorry, videos are temporarily unavailable on 2theadvocate.com.  Please check back again soon.

Once again we apologize for the interruption of video hosting service, and would like to thank you for using our site.

To better serve our users and meet the needs of our community, 2theadvocate.com introduces our blog -- a -place for you to find online-exclusive content, as well as the latest news and notes about changes to 2theadvocate.com. This blog is a place for our readers and viewers to offer us feedback on any and all aspects of our Web site. This blog was created with you, the end user, in mind. We hope that over the next days, weeks and months it will afford us the opportunity to work with you to make 2theadvocate.com a better site.


A few quick notes about commenting on this blog

The 2theadvocate.com staff will read and respond to all legitimate blog comments. We also reserve the right to edit or not post blog comments. We ask that all blog responses be constructive comments and/or inquisitive in nature. Please abstain from any and all personal attacks and profane language. This blog is intended for commenting on and discussion of the site, its content and its presentation. If you have a question for a particular Web, print or on-air staff member, please email that person directly at the following locations:

2theadvocate.com Staff
WBRZ News Team
The Advocate Editors
The Advocate Staff


If you do not know to whom to address your questions or comments, but feel it is inappropriate to the purpose of this blog, please send your comments via the 2theadvocate.com Comments Form, and we will do our best to route your message to the appropriate staff, department or individual. Also, if all else fails, feel free to contact me directly. My information is posted below.

Again thank you for helping us make 2theadvocate.com the best site it can be.