’Twas in the year 2011, and of October the 18th Day,
That the appearance of McGonagall Online was changed in a dramatic way…
Today is an important one in the history of McGonagall Online – after two months of development, a complete redesign of the site has gone live. The new look makes use of a lot of 21st century features, whilst retaining a resolutely 19th century appearance.
The site now sits on a heavily customised install of WordPress, which allows me to include this blog, commenting on individual pages & poems, more sophisticated linking between pages and many other features.
I hope you’ll like the new look. It’s intended to have the impression of an upmarket Victorian book, and uses many design elements drawn from a genuine typefounder’s catalogue published in 1897. The marbled background is a heavily transformed section of this image.
Most of the page addresses have changed as a result of this redesign. If you had any links and/or bookmarks pointing to pages on the old site, they should continue to work as they get redirected to the equivalent page of the new site. Please let me know if this doesn’t happen for you.
The only element of the old site that has been broken is the “Gem of the Day” mailing list. If you signed up in the past to get each day’s gem emailed to you, you’ll need to register as a user of the new site to continue to get them sent to you. Once you’ve got a user account, you can log in to your profile to adjust the frequency of deliveries. Logging on as a user also makes it a bit quicker to post comments too.
A new feature of the site is the shop, where as well as a range of McGonagall books (via your local version of Amazon), you can buy T-shirts and other McGonagalia. Keep an eye on this page, as new products will be appearing there soon!
Another new feature is the “Readers’ Gems” category of this blog. If you feel moved to write your own gem in McGonagallesque vein, on any subject, feel free to send it in and I’ll post it up here.
I hope you like the new design, use the comments below to tell me what you think.
The new web site is great. Thanks for all your hard work and imagination.
Viva McGonagall!
The new design is wondrous.
The comments feature is much appreciated
Thank You from Cold Montréal
Thank you for your dedication. My mornings would not be the same without a daily dose of poetical toxic waste.
My local tame Scotsman, a member of the Crawford clan, introduced me to this wonderful site some years ago and it continues to brighten my mornings. The new site is an excellent development. Continue with the good work. Poems will be written in your honour and your name may even be engraved on a trestle on the Tay Bridge.
A most remarkable chronicall
Of the eminent Mr. McGonagall!
The new site design is splendid! The Readers’ Gems is an especially worthwhile new feature, it’s good that fans can add their comments, and I dare say I will probably end up shopping in your new shop. A very creditable piece of work. Bravo from way out here in the Arizona desert.