2009 Safety Matters Redesign – More Information, More Tools

While the impetus may
have been the mysterious disappearance of my widgets, I decided it was time rethink
how I could be providing more information to my readers. While I still have work to do on the design,
I have started by splitting the page into three columns and adding new tools
that I hope you will find useful. So, without
further ado, please allow me to walk you through the new features of the Safety
Matters blog.

In general, key pages are linked across the top, blog navigation
is on the left, and tools are on the right.

First, Across the Top:
Home – Takes you
to the frontpage.

About Me – Click here
to read my bio. A bit more info can be
found on my linkedin profile, and in the blog posts categorized under WeMakeItSafer.

Archives – Links to past blog posts.

WeMakeItSafer
– Though we have not launched yet, this is a link to the www.WeMakeItSafer.com
site.

Calendar of CPSIA Deadlines and
Other Consumer Product Safety Dates - I
am very excited about this one. Here, I have
shared a calendar of events relevant to consumer product safety. By clicking on an event, you can either print
the details or add the event to your own calendar, where you can then set your
own alarms and reminders. As I learn about new dates such as conferences and
information sessions, I will add them to the calendar, so please let me know if
you become aware of events that would be of interest to our readers.

The Left
Sidebar:
Recent Readers Map – I love that we have readers from all over the
world! This map shows where the 250 most
recent readers are located. Hover your
mouse over each dot to see the exact location.

Search – Looking for information
on a specific topic? Enter keywords in
the search bar and you’re good to go.

Add This – Add posts to your bookmark
services such as del.icio.us and digg. You
can also StubleUpon to share this site with others.

RSS Feed – If you have a
reader or dashboard such as iGoogle or Outlook, you can sign up to have Safety
Matter posts sent to you by clicking this link.

Subscribe in Email – If you don’t
use an RSS reader, you can have updated posts emailed to you by clicking on “subscribe
to Safety Matters by email.”

Mippin – Click this link to learn how you can view Safety Matters on
your mobile device. 

Recent – A list of
my ten (or so) most recent posts.

Categories – Just like it sounds, these are
the categories my blog posts are filed under.
Want to read more about a specific topic? Just click a category from the list.

Resources– Here is where I post longer articles. These typically include summaries of research
I have conducted or law summaries.

Archive
– Past blog posts listed by month.

Lastly, but perhaps most importantly, the Right Sidebar:
Helpful
Products – This is where I will list some ideas for products that are related
to the current blog posts. For example,
if I am writing about replacing your bicycle helmet, I may post some
recommendations for CPSC-approved models.
In the future, I will provide additional information from our research
about the product or the company in the product comments section.

My Picks – Here
you’ll find a handful of books I have read that may be helpful to you in your
personal life or in your business dealings.
Click on the book image for more information. (Looks like this widget is not functioning at
the moment. I have submitted a help ticket
and hope to have it up shortly.)

Job Thread – This is an experiment. The jobs posted here are intended to be relevant
to readers who visit this blog. However,
because we have such a wide variety of readers, you may need to poke around a
bit to see something that fits your skills and interests. Don’t see anything relevant to you, please
let me know so I can update the job profiles.
Jennifer [at] WeMakeItSafer [dot] com.

Bulls of the Day – This one is just for fun. At a time when it seems every stock is down, I
thought it would be nice to see a few winners now and again.

There you have it, all the changes (so far) for 2009.  Please let me know what you think.