MotorAuthority launches all-new look, new features
The day is finally here: we've completely updated MotorAuthority with a fresh new look, new organization, and some new features. We think you'll like the changes, so here's a quick guide to get you used to the new layout.
First up, the new look of the front page. At the very top, just below the logo, you'll find a new navigation bar. Mouse over any of the five topics and a handy menu will pop up to help you get to the content you want even quicker. Right below that, you'll find our featured story, highlighted with a large image and headline. That's where we'll put the most interesting or important news of the day.
Next to the featured story, you'll find a quick list of our five latest articles. This way, you can get right to the latest breaking news and reports. You'll notice that above each headline is a tag--that tag is clickable, and will take you to other, similar stories on an all-new dedicated tag page.
Below the top section, you'll find our next-newest set of stories laid out in large image blocks, arranged in descending order of recency. Below them, our first drives module features the four latest first-drive reviews of the cars we've put to the test, and beside that, a photo gallery module gets you to our most recent photo sets.
Still more news stories are listed below that, for a total of 24 news stories listed on the front page.
Don't miss the right-hand column here, though: it's full of stuff to make finding what you want most even easier. From the center strip of categories, like videos, muscle cars, concept cars, and racing, to the most popular stories of the day and our real-time twitter updates.
Once you get to an article page (like the one you're on right now), you'll see we've laid things out differently there as well--hover over the image at the top of a story to get a shortcut to the high-res image gallery, which now gets you to bigger, better high-res images more quickly and helps you navigate through more easily. The related stories section is more accurate and helps you find more on the topic, and we've started writing new short-form reviews that let you dig deeper and stay up-to-date on the details of your favorite cars.
The comments system also adds a handful of new features. You'll be able to reply directly to a specific comment, vote your agreement (or disagreement) with each comment, and follow the thread of the discussion more easily with the improved graphical layout, and you can even choose to be notified via email when new comments are posted, so you won't miss out on any of the discussion.
That's the basic primer on the new site. We'll be adding more features and fine-tuning the presentation daily, so keep an eye out for more updates in the week ahead. Now jump in the comments below and let us know what you think!
