News

If you've visited this website before, you'll notice that we're sporting a new look this week. You'll also find that, in addition to the new sheet metal and colors, there are also plenty of changes under the hood. The Stereophile site was originally launched on December 1, 1997. The old model lasted over three years, but three years is an eternity in Internet time, and we couldn't resist taking all of the comments readers have sent in over the months and sorting through them for fresh ideas.

Thanks go to graphic artist and pixel-pusher James Wigger, who developed the original series of website sketches that eventually led to our final design motif, as well as to all of the readers who took the time to email their ideas for improving the site.

The plea heard most often (other than "put the Recommended Components articles online") was for us to better organize the hundreds of articles in our online archive of reviews and features first published in the magazine edition of Stereophile. There are now three ways to discover where the articles are hiding: use the search engine (which now appears on every page); go to our Archives page, where the articles are all sorted into one or more of a dozen categories; and finally, look to the bottom of the left-hand column (under "Past Issues," which also appears on every page) for the date of a recent issue. Click on the date and you'll see a complete table of contents from that issue along with links to the articles that are online. Every article on the site is now three clicks, or fewer, away.

We've also enhanced the "Links" database to make it more usable, and we've made some subtle tweaks that we hope will make the site flow a little better. There is also a much needed Subscriber Services link on the bottom of every page, as well as an extended Contact Us page to steer readers in the right direction. And finally, on the Back Issues page, where you can purchase past issues of the magazine, you'll find a link to a searchable index that will help you figure out what appeared in any issue of the magazine from 1962 through 1997.