I can’t begin to tell you how hard we’ve been working on this redesign. Last fall, we surveyed readers on Twitter and over email, asking how they felt the site could be improved. We asked how they use the site; what they wish they could do on the site. We also asked web professionals what they felt would be right for a site such as ours. Then we got to work with wongfremont, our new web developer, on building a design that would allow readers to more easily access old content, find articles to help them with their questions, and highlight our best material.
Today, we’re excited to show you our new look. There are lots of new features, as well as a bit of reorganizing. We can’t cover all the changes in one post (and hopefully we don’t need to, as most of the site should be intuitive). But here are three features we hope improve your experience here.
A New Menu Bar
One of the most common complaints we’ve received is that it’s hard to find old articles. To help keep track of things more easily, we’ve created a menu bar. Up above, you can see links to a search bar, our PTO shop, and a new “start here” page (more on that later). The three major sections, however, can be found on the left — labeled Features, Advice, and Knowledge Base.
Features organizes daily editorials on current events, things we love, perspectives on various issues, and regular columns such as our Style & Fashion Drawings series. Advice organizes our daily posts on the nitty-gritty of building a better wardrobe and finding ways to dress in the way you want (it’s a very practical orientated section, whereas Features isn’t always). Finally, our Knowledge Base is for deeper dives — less frequently updated than the daily articles found in Features or Advice, but with higher quality content that we think readers may want to refer back to every once in a while. There, you can find guides, “best of” articles, and features on various companies.
Our “Start Here” Page
One of the challenges of writing for a large audience is that readers come from different backgrounds. Some are just getting started on the process of building a new wardrobe; some have been reading our site forever and may be more interested in niche topics, rather than suggestions for how to find a suit.
So, we’ve created a page that answers some of the more basic questions about how dress better, which we’ve titled “Start Here.” Whether you’re new to our site, looking for something to email to a friend (suggest us to friends!), or just want an easy reference page, this is it. We encourage you to explore it — this is a big feature of our new site.
Highlighting Our Best Content
Should things get busy and you’re not always able to keep up with us, our In Case You Missed It section will highlight some of the better articles we’ve published in the last month or so. You can also see what’s popular by tapping the “popular” filter at the top of the Recent Articles section. That will show which articles have gotten the most views in the last few weeks.
To be sure, the site is still a work in progress — PTO is a small team — but we couldn’t be prouder of this relaunch. In the near future, you can expect to see the menu bar get populated with even more archival content (there are 7,500 articles in there, and we’re only about third of the way through tagging everything). You’ll also see related posts now in the “Up Next” section at the bottom of each article.
In the meantime, how do we look? We’d love to hear your comments and suggestions — both good and bad. Hit us up at contact@putthison.com!
Thanks to our web developer wongfremont for their hard work. If anyone needs a developer, we can’t recommend them enough. And lastly, special thanks to Michael Lee, who consulted us along the way. His advice was invaluable to this project.
