Same Great Content. Easier on the Eyes

Craig Galbraith

When I was hired by Virgo Publishing (Channel Partners’ parent company until 2014) in 2008, I took over management of the Channel Partners website — a role I still hold today.

A lot has changed over the past nine years, but the launch of our new website on Tuesday is only the second major revamp we’ve done since I arrived on the scene. This is a big one — “big” being the operative word.

That should be the first thing that catches your eye: big, colorful imagery that fills up more of the white space on the page. It’s a cleaner look that translates seamlessly to smartphones and tablets, where the responsive design allows you to get all of the information you’re looking for with just a few swipes of your finger.

Speaking of content, all of the information you’ve come to expect from the Channel Partners editorial team is still there — only better. One of the first things you’ll notice is a friendly carousel at the top of the page that lets you rotate easily among our most recently published news stories, analysis (longer, more in-depth pieces; Q&As; and opinions from both Channel Partners editors and guest writers), intelligence (our industry-exclusive reports and digital issues), galleries and multimedia (videos, podcasts and eventually webinars).

Furthermore, you have to do less clicking to find the content you want. There are more than 50 direct links to our content on the home page alone  That’s less time you have to spend navigating various pages to find what you’re looking for.

We’ve redesigned our navigation bar. You’ll now find our Technology categories divided into two sections — Tech: Core and Tech: Future. Our Business of Channel dropdown item features a pair of new categories — Digital Services and Vertical View, the latter of which explores opportunities for solution providers in verticals such as health care, government, financial services and more. We’ve also added a “Channel Chatter” menu item; this gives you easy access to some of the most talked-about news in the channel, including mergers and acquisitions; industry honors (partner awards and such); new and changing channel programs; and our popular “People on the Move” feature. No longer do you need to wait for our monthly gallery to keep up with new hires and promotions within the industry. Want to learn more about our annual events? The Channel Partners Conference & Expo and Channel Partners Evolution websites remain accessible from the nav bar as well.

We’ve added “tags” to each of our posts. Now, if you’re interested in stories similar to the one you’ve just read, you’ll notice a series of tags (keywords) at the bottom of each post that each link to pages featuring content relevant to that term.

Wonder what your peers are thinking about a particular issue? We have a new poll section about halfway down on the right side of the home page (desktop version) that asks you to weigh in on some of the hottest topics in the telecom and IT channels. We’ll update it weekly; once you’ve voted, check back to see what your friends, colleagues and rivals are thinking.

Our loyal sponsors might notice very minor changes to ad placements and sizes relative to our content. Our loyal readers should find it easier to share Channel Partners content and comment on it than ever before. I would encourage our registered users to log in as soon as possible; if you don’t, we’ll prompt you with an email sometime in the next month to do so as part of a security upgrade.

Take a few minutes to explore the new and improved channelpartnersonline.com and let us know what you think. As the channel continues to evolve, we, too, are excited to evolve and bring you content in a way that you haven’t before seen.