Passions in Poetry News

Welcome to the 2011 Passions in Poetry web page design!

Yea, okay. It doesn't look all that different, does it? And for now at least, the only place you'll see the new design is here, in our (also new) News section. Still, there are a lot of big changes that aren't necessarily readily apparent and, within a week or two, all of those changes will roll out to the rest of netpoets.com (where they'll also become much more apparent).

Our Poetry News section

Let's talk, first, about this part of the site, the News section.

Back in the day, more than a decade ago, this section was little more than a few static HTML pages that had to be changed and updated any time there was something I wanted to post. It wasn't all that difficult, but neither was it easy. Back in 1998 the word blog hadn't even been invented yet. Fast forward to 2011, and of course everyone has a blog.

And, now, so do I. 🙂

I've moved all of our old News posts into a new blogging platform, going back to that very first post in 1998, when Passions in Poetry was still just a small subdirectory on my personal web site. This post, and all of them going forward, will be entered into a virtual form on the computer screen and, when I hit the Submit button, will be automatically posted to the News section by the blogging software. It's going to make it a lot easier to post a lot more frequently, I think.

Our Passions in Poetry menu

You've probably already noticed there's a few blank spots in our new menu? Those blanks spots will disappear in the next few weeks and months as we add a brand new poetry category and a couple of new sections to the site. Several of our older sections will also be undergoing some substantial changes. One or two others will likely be moved off the menu entirely (one already has).

While the menu (and our spiffy new logo) is currently the most visible change in our new design, it's actually one of the smallest. This is a poetry site so it shouldn't be any great surprise to discover the biggest changes will happen (drum roll, please) on the pages dedicated to individual poems.

Back in 1998, we were the first web site on the Internet that allowed visitors to easily email poems directly to their friends. A few years later, we were the first web site on the Internet that allowed visitors to build their own graphical greeting cards with embedded poetry. We have a long history of being the most interactive poetry site on the Web, and 2011 will see a continuation of that history. I think we've got a few more "firsts" to add to our resume.

Poetry

Yep. I said it. New poetry.

As the new site design rolls out to the rest of netpoets.com, you're going to see a whole lot of new poetry added. It's already been edited, compiled, and is ready to go. Some of it is so good it'll make your teeth hurt.

There will be a few major announcements accompanying the new poetry.

I can't say too much yet, but those announcements will herald a few substantial changes in the way netpoets.com will be run in the future. Our new page design is just the first step in a much longer journey. The new poetry we'll soon be adding is only the beginning of a much bigger process. Just as 1998 was a hallmark in the history of poetry on the Web, I think 2011 will also become a milestone to look back on with fond nostalgia in the years and decades to come.

And it all began with this, the first post in the new Passions in Poetry News section. 🙂