MinnPost begins a site redesign. Finally.

Our mission has always centered on providing quality, in-depth coverage of the issues that are most important to Minnesotans.

But we also know that the way you read, find and interact with that content is just as important. And we all know that MinnPost.com is in dire need of an overhaul.

Now, after four years of focusing our resources on the editorial side of things, we are finally in a position to address the design and functionality of the site itself.

Our plan is to move to an open source platform, which will allow us to contribute to and learn from a growing community of online news organizations. We’re very excited to be working with the award-winning Gorton Studios to build and design our new site. We expect to launch the new and improved MinnPost.com — along with a much-improved mobile presence — in the first quarter of 2012.

So, why announce a redesign without a shiny, new site to parade around at the same time? Well, we don’t think it’s particularly transparent — or fun, for that matter — to wait until the day you launch to clue readers in to the process. In fact, we think it’s more helpful to include our readers throughout the whole process, from planning to beta testing.

Here are some of the ways you can get involved and follow our progress:

• Sign up to be a member. In addition to supporting nonprofit journalism, members will get the added benefit of helping us choose MinnPost’s new logo, assisting as a beta tester for the new site, and receiving exclusive updates on project milestones.

• Not able to support us financially at this time? That’s OK, you can still follow along. We’ll be posting updates here, as well as keeping our Twitter and Facebook friends in the loop. For the nerds out there, we’ll also be sending out regular emails with more information about the technical questions we tackle. You can sign up for email updates using the form below.

• Have burning thoughts and comments that you need to share with us? Send me an email at khinck AT minnpost [dot] com. We know we have a lot of work to do, and truly appreciate your feedback.

Thanks for all of our readers and Tumblr pals for your support these past few years. We’re glad to have you along for the ride.

(Dashboard readers, click the box below for the newsletter sign-up form.)

13 Notes/ Hide

  1. jeen-hao reblogged this from free-rider
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  5. liquidchroma reblogged this from kaeti and added:
    Hooray! Good luck! Drupaldrupaldrupal?
  6. kaeti reblogged this from minnpost and added:
    really, really glad. I...project will be inspired by Stephen Elliott, only less...
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