A New Look for www.wta.org
New look, new navigation and even more great content
If something looks different to you here at wta.org, you're not crazy. Washington Trails Association's website has gotten a facelift!
Don’t worry, all of your favorite sections are still there – Trip Reports, the Signpost Blog, Volunteer sign-ups, and the Photo Gallery remain largely unchanged. But in this first phase of a year-long website upgrade project, you will find a newly designed site, with an updated navigation, larger photos and more features.
What’s New
The most noticeable changes on the website are to the design and navigation. The new design features more (and bigger) photos and sidebars that point to hiking news, events and related content. The updated navigation is intended to help you locate all of the website’s great content.
You will also find plenty of new content at the website. The new homepage features five stories that change frequently. It includes the Signpost Blog and new Hike of the Week, volunteer, advocacy and magazine items. Inside you will find new sections, including suggested hikes, hiking basics, hiking with children, and more.
Where you find Trip Reports, the Trail Guide, the Photo Gallery and Work Party sign-ups on the website is a bit different, but they remain the same user experience for now. You can access Trip Reports and the Trail Guide (renamed Hiking Guidebook) from the Go Hiking dropdown menu on the homepage. The Photo Gallery is in the Trail News section and on the homepage, and work party sign-ups can be found at Volunteer.
Still Ahead: More Upgrades in 2008
The website upgrade project will continue into 2008. This phase of the project will address the #1 issue raised by participants in our spring website survey: linking the Hiking Guidebook and Trip Reports - and bringing in more maps. We will also be streamlining the system that allows you to make online donations and to purchase items through the store.
Finally, we will be converting the systems that allow you to submit pictures to the Photo Gallery, sign-up for volunteer work parties, and use the Lost and Found. We intend to replicate the aspects of these features that work well, while making improvements (like more maps) to the user experience along the way.
We’re quite excited about all of the changes to the website, and we hope you are too. Check back often as we add new hikes and add new helpful content to the sidebars and to the website.
And a big thanks to The Mountaineers Foundation for supporting this re-design!
Questions about the new website? Contact Web Content Manager Susan Elderkin at (206) 625-1367 or susan@wta.org.
