STATter 911

We are hoping to bring you a new look to STATter 911 in the next week or so. Most of the blogs at wusa9.com were switched over to the new format with the debut today (Friday) of the new wusa9.com. Being the prima donna that I am, I wanted to make sure my hair and make-up are just right before we go live. Actually I just like being a pain to our webmaster and want to ensure everything works the way it is supposed to.

As with any change, there are good things and bad things. The absolute best part about the new look is that it will finally get rid of the wrap-around ads that have made you use frame in the middle to see STATter 911. That has been the biggest complaint about this site (with the exception that I am either anti-volunteer or anti-career firefighters ... people please make up your minds).

The web gurus (notice I avoided the word geeks ... I think it's like calling an EMT an ambulance driver) tell me there will be easy ways to comment, upload pictures and video and all of the other things you expect from a web site.

There are a couple of things I am not crazy about. For my taste the headline is way too small, the link section doesn't have enough spaces and so far, I can't embed the nice new video player wusa9.com debuted today (scroll down to the Getting the word out story on today's entry on Blogger). I will still be able to embed YouTube videos, but so far, none from LiveLeak. I am sure all of those issues will be worked out in the coming weeks.

Before we switch over I want you to have a preview and hear your input. Click here to see what today's entry looks like in the new blog (really not that much different). I realize if y0u are currently looking at us with the frames you won't see much difference. If that's the case just copy and paste this unbelievably long link into your browser: http://www.wusa9.com/life/community/persona.aspx?U=6afdb8aa45b444389a4c83c18383b609&plckController=PersonaBlog&plckScript=personaScript&plckElementId=personaDest&plckPersonaPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a6afdb8aa45b444389a4c83c18383b609Post%3a2f3c7276-4b60-49d0-a9fe-cdf5faf75d15&plckCommentSortOrder=TimeStampAscending&sid=sitelife.wusa9.com

Feel free to comment below or send me an email at dstatter@wusa9.com.

Right now I am not as much interested in design and color as I am in making it easier for you to use.

One thing I am thinking about, with the frames gone, is possibly making everything a separate entry (like my man the FireGeezer does) and just do an occasional news digest reminding you what's below (in addition to the recent entry list on the right side). Let me know your thoughts on that idea, too.

My ultimate goal is to make STATter 911 more of a web site and less of a blog.

Thanks for reading.

# posted by Dave Statter @ 11:17 AM