At long last, the new site is here! We encourage you to explore. Beyond the crisper presentation, there are a variety of new features for you to check out. One of our chief aims with this new site was to create a platform that made better use of our increasingly vast archives (there’s gold in them hills…); we understand that the range of topics we cover can be a bit frustrating for folks who are only interested in certain aspects. To that end, we’ve introduced a number of new ways for content to “bubble up,” that is, to find past posts on similar themes or topics or by similar authors. For instance, at the top you’ll find seven super-categories, under one of which nearly all of our content falls. More specific categories are in the sidebar (think “table of contents”), and then there are over 2000 individual tags (think “index page”) at the bottom of each post-page. You’ll also find a “related posts” widget at the bottom of each post as well, with suggestions of individual entries that might be of interest.

The slideshow at the top of the home page will feature 5-6 rotating posts, most of them recent, some of them older, that might deserve some extra attention. They’ll tend to be more ‘original material’ than reposted stuff… But we’ll switch things in and out several times a week, so as to avoid it becoming too static.

As a reader, you may now contact individual authors privately via the web form linked to in the “about the author” box at the bottom of each post. Indeed, if you have feedback about the new site, feel free to share it with me via the box below (or via info@mbird.com).

Commenting works much the same as before: you’ll simply have to provide a valid email address. Once your first comment has been approved, the floor is yours! Only change is that we now have “threaded comments” which means you may respond to a comment as well as a post. It should be self-explanatory. We’re hoping this feature will accommodate our many digressions.

Finally, while all websites are, by definition, works in progress, this one will remain explicitly so, at least through the summer. Migrating the blog was the first stage – the next steps involve overhauling and incorporating the rest of our “official site” (mockingbirdnyc.com). We have big plans for the Resources page in particular. For now, that menu in the header will mostly link to the old pages. Please be patient with us.

Other features coming soon: the mobile device version should be rolling out some time next week, we’re working on a media player widget for the monthly playlists, and the glossary is being completely rewritten/reconstituted. Plus a few surprises. Stay tuned.

We’re glad you’re here. Even if you’re not looking to make any friends (but especially if you are):