And, so, today a new era begins for The Moderate Voice.
Our new design better reflects what TMV is today and what we hope it will become in coming years as it continues its rapid growth as a prime moderate/centrist/independent voice on the Internet.
The new design is the brainchild of two innovative and highly-talented website designers. TMV coblogger Justin Delabar did the original design with the capitol building, page tabs etc. and the masthead using colors that were on the original TMV as the site appeared on Powerblogs and shortly after our move here to WordPress (the design we’ve used for the past few months has been a temporary template). He took our old look to the cleaner, crisper look you see today.
Lara Chelak of Blog What Design then took the original design and tinkered with the colors, the photo of the capitol building and some other aspects to build upon it. Justin had sent his original concept to Lara who worked to implement it and expand upon it. (We will STRONGLY recommend their services individually or in collaboration for anyone who is interested in using them).
Some things to look at on the “new” TMV:
- The masthead. It more accurately defines what TMV is today. It is no longer a blog just written by a quirky former full-time journalist who is now in the entertainment industry, but is a group blog. It is NOT just a site that offers pieces on politics but tries to offer the subject diversity of a newspaper or magazine (although we don’t do many sports posts).
- The “look” is more of a news site look, yet since it is a blog the typical blog format has been left intact. That’s because TMV is used by many people as a news source for many stories due to our extensive links from differing news sources and to weblogs of many different opinions.
- Our mission statement, on a separate page (see page tab above). This spells out more clearly what TMV is and is not. It will be periodically revised.
- Our famous categorized blogroll, on a separate page (see page tab above). This should help the site load faster. Also, TMV’s blogroll is a WORKING BLOGROLL and not just for show and this should make it easier for anyone wanting to read the site and also checking out other links. NOTE TO READERS: Let us know if you like it on a separate page.
TMV’s goal is to be a leading centrist/independent/moderate voice on the Internet and grow enough so the center has a weblog/news site equivalent to some of the bigger blogs on the left and right. But, no matter what happens, we’re pleased to offer readers this more “reader friendly” design that better reflects what TMV is and what we are striving to have it become.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.