JC / Railbird

Updating

Rolling out a new look on Railbird today, just in time to get back to writing about Curlin, opening week at Oak Tree, and the run-up to the Breeders’ Cup. Over the next couple days, I’ll be refining and tweaking different parts of the site. Pages have been tested in Firefox and Safari on the Mac, in IE7 and Firefox on the PC, but if anything seems terribly wrong or broken, please leave a detailed comment. Otherwise, enjoy, and don’t overlook the new footer, which is where all the links etc. are now stashed.
9/27: Thanks for all the feedback on the new site design. A few suggested changes have been made, a few others remain under consideration. Overall I’ve tried to reduce the clutter and simplify the structure, which is why the footer is the new links location. I still like my old site design. It felt distinct even after three years, but it had also begun to feel inflexible and limiting. More changes are on the way, most to do with content and focus. Racing, of course, will remain my obsession, there’ll just be a bit more posted about technology and media issues (especially as those relate to racing), and more graphics and videos. I’ll resume blogging on Monday with some thoughts on the Vegas summit and weekend action …


5 Comments

First!
I mean, nice new look, Jessica! I look forward to reading about the Summit and other keen insights.

Posted by EKXD2 on September 26, 2008 @ 6:56 am

Second! (which is as good as first in a quinella!)
Welcome back! I, too, love the clean lines of the new design, and am anxiously awaiting the Railbird report on the Marketing Summit.

Posted by QQ on September 27, 2008 @ 1:17 am

Jess can we get one picture? I am being serious and sincere.
Besides that its nice to have one of the best horse racing blogs up … Thanks for YOUR WORK.

Posted by pete on September 27, 2008 @ 10:19 pm

I thought I was going to have to enter a methadone clinic if you didn’t come back soon. Now that you are back…I’m not big on change, and I like things in the margins rather than relegated to the bottom (you even felt compelled to remind us to go to the footer), but I will wish you all the best and get into the groove of the new format. Pretty soon, I’ll probably forget there was an old format. The site looks sharp. I don’t, however, like the new look of the DRF. I don’t mind fonts for the blind (me) but it just looks like it got cheaper. I don’t like the headline look. I don’t like the sparse quality of the pages. I’m not feeling it (maybe because I never read SportsEye publications). Wow, I just realized I’m teeing off here. Maybe I’d do better by shutting up and saying, “Go get ’em, Jessica.”

Posted by John S. on September 27, 2008 @ 11:43 pm

Thanks for the comments and the kind words. Now that the design is all sorted out, time for some new content … a report on Vegas is in the works.
I’ll look around for a picture, Pete, but I admit to liking the mystery of not having one up. I’ll see what I can do.
I’m going to have to pick up a print copy of the DRF … when I read your comment, John, I totally freaked out and went to the web site and then realized that the changes were to the paper. There’s a newsstand around the corner that sometimes has the Form in stock (not often, though, and the last time I asked for it, the guy started yelling at me — that’s the real reason I rely on the web so much for racing news).

Posted by Jessica on September 28, 2008 @ 2:38 am