BlogHer's new site: You're invited to blog here!
by Lisa Stone

Welcome back to an all-new BlogHer.org, everyone! You made it happen: Our beta site is now live with a number of the features requested by this community.
We couldn’t make every improvement, so we tried to stay true to our mission – to create opportunities for women who blog to gain more exposure and community for our blogs. BlogHer.org has been redesigned to help people find all 13,000+ of you members and the 10,000+ blogs you’ve listed on this site.

We’ve also tried to make it easier for you to use BlogHer’s services to get discovered. And I should note, right off the bat, that we have a lot of work to do to make this site accessible to everyone, especially the hearing and sight impaired communities. We will tackle that important project next.
Here’s a short list of some of the new superpowers members have. (Not a member? Register here) For the full list, you’ll find much more in our new section,Using this site, authored by the amazing Denise.

There’s more – but again, you’ll have to read Denise’s post, Using this site for the best information.
Not that we’re done. Far from it. Which is why, if you peek at the BlogHer logo, you'll see that we've tucked the word "BETA" next to our name. For those of you who don't work in the software field, a beta version of any product is the first version released for real-world testing.
Who knows – we may stay in permanent beta. That’ll give us the flexibility to continue to innovate. In the coming months, we’ll continue to do so with your help and support. Thank you, all of you who have offered advice, suggestions and aspirin during this process. Most special thank yous to Denise, who worked excruciating hours on this project.
And, above, all, our gratitude and congratulations to RD2, Inc., the firm responsible for our site design, development and launch. And to Haystack, developer of a great Drupal module for profiles.
Your shrines are under construction.

Submitted by Lisa Stone (view blog) on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 02:59

Comments

 

Shrines

I rather like that idea and I look forward to paying homage at each and every shrine created.

Wander around, have some fun with the blogs and the tags and the fabulous profiles. Once you've gotten the feel of how things work, or if you need help figuring out how things work, head over to the Using the Site forum and let's talk about it.

Thanks RD2 and Lisa - it was a pleasure spending the evening with all of you.

~Denise
Fast Times @ Homeschool High & Flamingo House Happenings

Submitted by Denise on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 01:51
 

It's here!

Woohoo! How exciting!

Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.

Submitted by sassymonkey on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 03:23
 

Very exciting

Do you think the fake cat will like the salmon color?

~Denise
Fast Times @ Homeschool High & Flamingo House Happenings

Submitted by Denise on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 05:45
 

She likes it fine so far

But if she had her way it would be cheese coloured. ;)

Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.

Submitted by sassymonkey on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 06:26
 

Yes, THIS is what has been keeping me from
HP/Deathly Hallows...

So thanks for your nonspoiler posts...

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder
Surfette

Submitted by Lisa Stone on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 08:23
 

Wow! I LOVE it!

It's looking great! I can't wait to test 'er out!

Thanks for all your incredible and hard work.

Birdie
Birdie's BlogHer Blog
La Pajaro

Submitted by Birdie Jaworski on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 03:36
 

I can't wait either

Get testing!

~Denise
Fast Times @ Homeschool High & Flamingo House Happenings

Submitted by Denise on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 05:45
 

Absolutely Birdie

One more blank canvas for you ;)

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder
Surfette

Submitted by Lisa Stone on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 08:24
 

Beautiful!

Great job!!!! The site looks BEAUTIFUL!!!!!

www.beenthere.typepad.com
www.themotherhood.com

Submitted by cooper and emily on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 03:54
 

Thanks Cooper & Emily

So glad you like it.

~Denise
Fast Times @ Homeschool High & Flamingo House Happenings

Submitted by Denise on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 05:44
 

Thanks Cooper and Emily

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder
Surfette

Submitted by Lisa Stone on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 08:24
 

I just adore this site

harmonious, appealing, intuitive!

Lisa, Denise, bravo!!!

Submitted by Morra Aarons Mele on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 04:58
 

I'm glad Morra

Are you on the way home? How was the hotel?

~Denise
Fast Times @ Homeschool High & Flamingo House Happenings

Submitted by Denise on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 05:44
 

Okay, THESE are magic words to our ears!

harmonious, appealing, intuitive!

Thank you so much.

Gotta brag on the team. Denise has been tireless and fearless.

As have our developers -- any one who needs a network, let me know and I'll introduce you. In a month. We're going to keep 'em busy until then, selfishly..

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder
Surfette

Submitted by Lisa Stone on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 08:27
 

Excellent!

When I got to the new site I was worried that the entries would all show up in a narrow text field. I'm glad that the single post template has a wider text area.

I know, that is sort of utilitarian and lame, but it makes my Information Architect heart happy.

-Abi Jones

Editor, HeatEatReview.com
Consumer Advocate, StupidWeddingCrap.com

Submitted by Jonesabi on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 05:13
 

Not lame at all.

I completely agree with your architect needs.

~Denise
Fast Times @ Homeschool High & Flamingo House Happenings

Submitted by Denise on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 05:43
 

Abi, IA is definitely the holy grail around
here

I should emphasize that we are very much still a work in progress, so please do continue to be as utilitarian and lame as possible and make us mucho smarter? We'd love it!

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder
Surfette

Submitted by Lisa Stone on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 08:29
 

Re: BlogHer's new site: You're invited to
blog here!

Hi Lisa,

Wow! That's some impressive CSS going on here, beautiful is right! The layout looks very well thought out and my initial reactions (beyond jaw dropping shock! :-) in comparison to the old site are that it's a big improvement - not cramped, or hard to navigate. Congratulations to all who made this happen, and thank you!

As for the new BlogHer tag line, yes it's true - I don't like it. I prefer the old version because it's uh... better. I also recognize that coming up with a "killer" slogan is not an easy thing to do, because trying to sum up a company in a few words is not easy an easy thing to do (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising_slogan). For whatever the reasons, I've liked the original BlogHer slogan ("Where the women bloggers are") just fine and so an alternative to is easily compared - it's either going to be better or worse. In this case, I'd keep looking. Kalyn's idea of a contest sounds great.

anyhow...

Congrats once again on the new site - it really is beautiful.

-Bob
bobafifi.com
usedviolins.com
fluteplayer.net

Submitted by bobafifi on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 05:21
 

Bob!

Be extra patient with us regarding those RSS feeds, ok? We don't quite have all of the various areas set up the way we want but I think ultimately it's going to make it easier for you to use PIPES the way you want to for BlogHer feeds.

And please, if you see problems or have suggestions, drop them into the Using this site forum.

~Denise
Fast Times @ Homeschool High & Flamingo House Happenings

Submitted by Denise on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 05:40
 

I know you all are still

I know you all are still working, but I didn't see anything posted in the using this site forum. I can't seem to figure out how to get my RSS feed back. I liked having a feed of all the posts. I'm confused as to how I'd get that back.

Healthy Manifest

Submitted by Lyssann on Wed, 07/25/2007 - 05:31
 

RSS....

Some of the feeds are not working properly - but they are improving (I know this because I woke up to 500 BlogHer feeds in my reader this morning!)

Here are the feeds that are working for me:

Comment feed: http://www.blogher.com/crss
Forum feed: http://www.blogher.com/forum/blogher-news-forums-0/feed
All topic area feeds are working as well.

Homepage feed is not currently working without problems. I got some early morning feeds but nothing since then. I hope that's resolved soon... I need my feeds! It sounds like you need yours too, eh?

Thanks for your patience with us.

~Denise
Fast Times @ Homeschool High & Flamingo House Happenings

Submitted by Denise on Wed, 07/25/2007 - 05:46
 

need for feeds

Yes, I need my feeds, Google Reader has changed my life. Now I can't live without them. I really do like the new site and will try to hold of my withdrawal while you guys work on the site.

Healthy Manifest

Submitted by Lyssann on Wed, 07/25/2007 - 08:38
 

"It really is beautiful"

"..in comparison to the old site are that it's a big improvement - not cramped, or hard to navigate. Congratulations to all who made this happen, and thank you!

No, thank YOU Bob! You've been a terrific instigator for site change here and very patient with the questions of this student. We'll keep at it, to Denise's point, on better feeds and many other features. But I'm so happy that you see it as a step forward. (What's your fave color, btw?)

And would love to continue the tagline discussion -- I'd like to hear from as many people as possible. These things are organic and require deep thought. And, this morning, more coffee... :)

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder
Surfette

Submitted by Lisa Stone on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 08:22
 

Re: (What's your fave color, btw?)

Hi Lisa,

> (What's your fave color, btw?)

The blue. The other colors are too fluorescent for my eyes - especially the 'salmon' - that sends me running for the back button!
For what it's worth, I'd like to see even more choices someday, ( a Mac OS blue theme might work) and higher contrast colors. Also, you can tell the designer I like those BlogHer logo watermarks at the top of the page - nice touch! :-)

-Bob
bobafifi.com
usedviolins.com
fluteplayer.net

Submitted by bobafifi on Thu, 07/26/2007 - 08:12
 

Good gravy!

I wondered where the heck I was this morning!

It looks amazing! I can't wait to poke around and try the new features. Excellent work, team. And I love the greeeeeen. :)

ThreeSeven... attention deficits at work.

Submitted by zchamu on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 05:28
 

You weren't lost

I know exactly how you feel, all last week with testing I felt like I was in the wrong place - then finally it felt like I was in the wrong place on the old site. I was so ready to launch this baby last night. :-)

I like the green too, but I often switch to the darker blue all the way on the end for a little change.

~Denise
Fast Times @ Homeschool High & Flamingo House Happenings

Submitted by Denise on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 05:43
 

Hi zchamu

Thank you! Keep hearing votes for green like yours...I find I change the color constantly. And rapidly, depending upon the caffeine intake -zzt--zzt...

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder
Surfette

Submitted by Lisa Stone on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 08:31
 

the greeeen...

Is lovely. And so is the orange. And so is the blue. And so is the green. And so is the orange...

I am NEVER going to get any work done today.
__

Flooded Lizard Kingdom
All Access Blogging
Heroine Content

Submitted by Skye on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 05:31
 

ha

Try clicking that "salmon" color at 4am - that thing will wake you up better than day old 3xs nuked coffee, I guarantee it.

Have fun surfing!

~Denise
Fast Times @ Homeschool High & Flamingo House Happenings

Submitted by Denise on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 05:41
 

new toys

Congratulations ladies! I've so been looking forward to the new Blogher.

Can I bring up a few things? I miss having the forum link in the nav. bar. And I updated my profile, but it looks the same to me.

That being said, I think I'm going to spend a good part of my morning playing with all the new toys. It's like Christmas.

Edit: after refreshing I did see the changes made to my profile.

  • Five Dollar Camera
  • Hypnotizing Chickens

    • Submitted by kperfetto on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 08:27
     

    Hi Kperfetto

    Oh good! I'm so glad you saw the changes in your profile after you refreshed.

    I'm curious, because I see your answer to "Celebrity who looks like me" got cut off after Joey Ramone. What was the rest? I love the Ramones.

    Thanks for the feedback on Forums -- bottom line, we have too many links and not enough space. I'm hoping that folks will find them via the community link....we also could introduce some discussion threads from the community too under a forum section... I'll put it on our list.

    Lisa Stone
    BlogHer Co-founder
    Surfette

    Submitted by Lisa Stone on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 08:36
     

    Sela Ward. I know: Sela

    Sela Ward. I know: Sela Ward, Joey Ramone -- they're practically twins! ;)

  • Five Dollar Camera
  • Hypnotizing Chickens

    • Submitted by kperfetto on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 09:23
     

    Howling...

    I've always *wished* I looked like both of them, I can confirm that much!

    Lisa Stone
    BlogHer Co-founder
    Surfette

    Submitted by Lisa Stone on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 15:40
     

    Ads

    I love the new look, but to be honest, the ads in the middle of each blog and page are driving me crazy. It's not so distracting when they're on the edge of the page, but I hate having to click the "read more" button to get to the full blog entry, and then again to skip past the ad. So yay for all the changes, except that one!

    Submitted by fringethemagazine on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 08:53
     

    Thanks for the frank feedback fringe

    We do need to accept these large ads because they pay so well to keep the lights on (and for more new code). We'll work continually to integrate them into the system in a way that helps the site financially and editorially. If there's a site you'd recommend we look at by way of example, I'd love your thoughts. Thanks.

    Lisa Stone
    BlogHer Co-founder
    Surfette

    Submitted by Lisa Stone on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 09:09
     

    I wouldn't be averse to

    I wouldn't be averse to paying a small monthly or yearly fee for an ad-free version of Blogher, like I do with Flickr and Last FM.

  • Five Dollar Camera
  • Hypnotizing Chickens

    • Submitted by kperfetto on Thu, 07/26/2007 - 08:20
     

    Re: I wouldn't be averse to

    Hi kperfetto,

    I've been thinking the same thing! :-)
    DailyKos does that, though I'm not sure I like how they sell it -
    Hate ads? Subscribe.
    http://www.dailykos.com/

    If I were an advertiser, I don't think I'd be too thrilled to see that message. On the other hand, DailyKos' traffic is through the roof so maybe they don't care what people like me think! :-)

    -Bob
    bobafifi.com
    usedviolins.com
    fluteplayer.net

    Submitted by bobafifi on Thu, 07/26/2007 - 08:39
     

    The New Look

    Fantastic! At first, it was a jolt when my mouse fingers automatically went north and where I wanted to be was south (or vice versa). But it only took about a minute to acclimate. Last night I feared you'd "ruin" the look of MY BlogHer, but you've just made it better! And better! I love that I can change the color--that truly is a Her thing, isn't it.

    My 2 cents on the tagline: the first line isn't zippy, true; but the second part is. And 'where the women bloggers are' sounds like it could be a Hooters ad. Sorry, Bob.

    By Jane
    ByJane.blogspot.com

    Submitted by ByJane on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 09:06
     

    Oh Jane, how funny -

    I've been thinking it's very Dolores Hart:

    Image credit: Wikipedia

    Lisa Stone
    BlogHer Co-founder
    Surfette

    Submitted by Lisa Stone on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 09:12
     

    Re: Oh Jane, how funny -

    Hooters, Dolores Hart - yikes! Never crossed my mind once, honest. I didn't even know there was a film called "Where the Boys Are" - that's a riot. Is that where the old BlogHer tag line came from - a mod of that?? Oh well... I still like it! :-)

    -Bob
    bobafifi.com
    usedviolins.com
    fluteplayer.net

    Submitted by bobafifi on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 21:29
     

    I heartily approve!

    When it comes to user interfaces and usability, I know what I like (and what I don't) when I see it - but if I had to write the design spec for a good website UI from scratch, I probably couldn't capture it all in words.

    Now, I don't need to - I'd just point them here.

    *That's* how impressed I am! BlogHer goes from strength to strength.

    Submitted by Koan on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 10:01
     

    Koan! Speechless here...

    Music to my ears. And so I will point again to the rock stars who made it happen:

    - this community
    - RD2, Inc.
    - Haystack
    and, here in the front office, Denise, and the site's editors, whose patience, encouragement and commitment are reason enough to pull more all-nighters to get it right.

    Not that we're done... thanks again, K.

    Lisa Stone
    BlogHer Co-founder
    Surfette

    Submitted by Lisa Stone on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 15:33
     

    Koan!

    Your thoughts mean an awful lot, thank you!

    ~Denise
    Fast Times @ Homeschool High & Flamingo House Happenings

    Submitted by Denise on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 15:49
     

    BlogHer Reface

    I have to say this site is very easy to follow, great funtionality all round. Nice touches on the new design. I picked my color and loved adding my favorite things.

    Submitted by ChristineGSS on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 14:50
     

    "Reface" is much better than "makeover" thank
    you

    What's your favorite color Christine?

    Also, great headline on the article you just posted, although I haven't had enough time to dig into it: Don’t Get Bullied by the Internet! Web Page Optimization ~ How it Can Work for You

    Lisa Stone
    BlogHer Co-founder
    Surfette

    Submitted by Lisa Stone on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 15:36
     

    Looks great!

    Now if Denise would stop trying to fall asleep, she might be able to give me some insight on where to look around.

    I'll trod off to read her post momentarily.

    nelle

    Submitted by nelle2nelle on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 15:44
     

    Read my mind, RE, lol

    ha.

    You know where to find me if you have questions.

    ~Denise
    Fast Times @ Homeschool High & Flamingo House Happenings

    Submitted by Denise on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 15:50
     

    Would that be...

    in bed?

    *spreads some catnip around your home*

    nelle

    Submitted by nelle2nelle on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 16:09
     

    you're asking for it!

    You know that, right?

    catnip

    hmph

    ~Denise
    Fast Times @ Homeschool High & Flamingo House Happenings

    Submitted by Denise on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 16:20
     

    If only there were something...

    to fire up the pooch.

    By the way, this is really a dream, and I'm annoying you as usual.

    nelle

    Submitted by nelle2nelle on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 16:29
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