Abbotsford Today: Editorial And Website Navigation Improvements

In response to the large amount of traffic on the site and suggestions from many of our users we have made a few changes to the editorial structure of the website. We hope they make it easier to find your way around the site. Take a look and tell us what you think.

We’ve added a couple of new sections over the last month:

About Abbotsford
This section is devoted to introducing our community to people interested in finding out more about us in order to invest, start a business, move to the city or intending to travel here.

As is everything on Abbotsford|Today, the section is a constant work in progress and we hope you will get involved.

Comment, criticize, advise, submit, contribute and join the adventure that is Abbotsford|Today. If you know something we ought to share with the world tell us about it, write about it, send it to us and help us make it happen.

Abbotsford Travel
This new section is devoted to those who want to travel to Abbotsford and to residents of Abbotsford seeking to travel elsewhere in BC, Canada or around the world. Through our Explore Abbotsford section we hope to introduce Abbotsford to the world and to Abbotsford residents at the same time. We think we’ve got some of the basics covered but, with your help, as we discover more about our city we’ll share it with you and the world.

Please take a look through both sections and tell us what you think.

Website Navigation Improvements

All of our regular sections are still here with the main sections available on the toolbar at the top of the page. We moved a few things around, removed some sections no one was using and organized the site in a way we hope will make it easier to navigate and help new users find what they’re looking for and registered members find their way around a bit more easily.

In two months our Events Calendar has grown to be the largest in the City! You can find the free Classified Section up at the top of the home page, and our Business Directory, which now contains more than 600 business listings is accessible either through the Business Section, the right side page links or through the ad at the top right of the home page.

Since launching the Business Directory a month ago we’ve had thousands of visitors and searches and will continue to add more businesses and segments every week. If you don’t see your business listed go into the directory and list yourself. It’s free and it works!

Main Toolbar Sections:

Abbotsford Travel
About Abbotsford
Business
- Business Directory
- Business Features
Columns
Event Calendar
Feature Sections
Top Stories
Vox Populi
– Click
– Letters
– From The Cheap Seats
– What’s Up With That?

The sections are designed to cover the areas you have told us are of most interest to you. Your comments have provided great insight into the way a community website should work and your input has been crucial to our success.

Feature Sections:

We’ve removed very little but we have moved some sections around. Longtime readers will notice the new Vox Populi Section on the toolbar which combines three of our most popular sections and is designed to give you a voice.

Some sections that were on the toolbar have been moved inside the Feature Sections area of the website and others have been moved around to spots where they have come to belong. The ‘What’s Up With That?’ Section, which started under ‘Humour’ has been moved to the new Vox Populi Section which now combines your submitted photos – ‘Click’, your Letters and the ever popular ‘From The Cheap Seats’.

‘What’s Up With That’ has moved because it has taken on a distinctly political tone and exemplifies the kind of grass roots democracy Abbotsford|Today has always stood for.

For ease of navigation, the Feature Sections portion now includes:

Arts & Entertainment
Did You Know
Education
Faith & Spirituality
Food & Wine
Health & Wellness
Humour
-The Dinsdale File
-The Oops File
Issues
Lifestyles & Leisure
- The Guerilla Gardener
Music & Video
- Media
News
Pets & Animals
- Pet of The Week
Politics
- From The Candidates
Sports
– The Art of Cycling

Many who have joined the site in recent weeks and months have not been aware that everything we publish stays on the site and is accessible in two ways:

1) In each section, if you simply scroll to the bottom and click ‘Previous Entries’ you will find everything ever published in that section since we started the website.

2) Abbotsford|Today is also a fully searchable website. If you use the Search Tool up at the top right hand corner of the page and type in the writer, the topic, the section or any of a number of keywords describing the story, the website will provide you with a list of the stories, columns and features it finds.

If you encounter any difficulties using the search function or navigating the site please drop us a line and we’ll be more than happy to help you find what you’re looking for.

Don’t forget; you can share what you see and read on the website with anybody, anywhere in the world as long as they have a computer and access to the Internet. Use our Share/Save function at the bottom of every page, follow us on Twitter or sign up for updates on your cell phone. It’s all there at your fingertips.

We’ve been somewhat taken aback by the response to Abbotsford|Today and we continue to update and improve the site daily for the thousands of users who visit us every month.

Thank you for your patience as we grow and please let us know what you think of the site. If there’s something we ought to be covering let us know. We survive and prosper only with your help and participation.

Mike Archer
Editor
editor@abbotsfordtoday.ca