Lawrence.com

Greetings and welcome to your new internets.[![][1]][2]It's been a pretty sweet past couple years. In 2001, we took a [forsaken spot on the web][3] and turned it into [something more useful, more worthwhile][4]. It was hardly perfect, and you sent us many emails that we tried to address to improve the site.In a short while our labor of love became the lawrence.com that serves over 3 million page views a month. And thanks to the support of readers, advertisers and our family-owned parent company, lawrence.com was named best entertainment site by Editor & Publisher and Mediaweek magazines, and the Newspaper Association of America.But lest we kick back with a fatty and rest on our proverbial laurels (also fatty), we kept at it. And over the next week or so, we'll be unveiling and tweaking a shiny new look as well as a bevy of new, badass features.Central to the new design is an improved navigation, including a [site-wide search][5]. We hope it'll make things you're looking for easier to find as well as uncover features that you've never known were here.We've also given you the ability to post comments on most everything on the site not just [blogs][6], but [stories][7], [music][8], [restaurants][9], [movies][10], [events][11] and more. Comments make lawrence.com a community site where everyone can have a voice, not just a forum for us to talk at you. We sincerely hope you'll contribute to the ongoing discussions.As always, to do so you need a [free log-in name][12] - it's your online id and ego while visiting the site. We've fleshed out the user profile pages to help you better know your online peers. Now you can quickly get an idea of who's behind the comments you're reading and so perhaps know how much stock you should put in their opinions of that new restaurant, movie, etc.There are a ton of other new features that we've added like custom playlists of local music, party pics, a cell phone edition, and more. Below you'll find descriptions of some of the highlights.We hope you enjoy the new site. If you find it still lacking in any way, please [send us your feedback][13]. Thanks in advance, and thank you for reading lawrence.com. -homiesMobile editionIf you cell phone has a web browser (like Sprint PCS Vision or Cingular MEdia Net), point it to mobile.lawrence.com for a slimmed-down version of this site. Only the essentials are there for your on-the-go "lifestyle": drink specials, movie listings, today's events, event best bets and restaurants open right now. It's the perfect utility for when you're away from the computer and need "information" fast.Custom playlistsOur [local music radio stations][14] are among the most popular parts of our site, so we've tricked them out, making them even better. Now, you can [create playlists][15] using any local tunes from throughout our site. You can create as many of these online mix tapes as you like and make them public [so other people can check out your mix][16] (or keep them private -- boo). A lawrence.com account is required (so that we can save your playlists between browsing sessions). To create a playlist, sign into your account and click on your username in the upper right corner of the site.Web feeds (RSS)We've added web feeds (a.k.a. RSS feeds) to many of our site's pages -- including best bets, MP3s, blogs, venues and bands. This is full-blown computer geek orgasm-type stuff. It's incredibly useful, and, in a few years, it'll be all the rage among today's AOL users. Be the first among your friends to really "get it" -- try RSS now! For full information, check out our [RSS page][17].Party picsAnd for all you willfull libertines out there (as well all you voyeurs), introducing...[party pics][18]. What's that? You didn't know Al Gore invented the internets so that the masses might perform many Google image searches? It's true. Now you can limit your online voyeurism to only local pictures! Simply click on the hyper-text link in the navigation 'timewasters' and select 'party pix.' Also derive pleasure from embarassing your friends when you upload incriminating pictures from last night using our [party pic uploader][19]. Thank god for Gore.Improved restaurant searchOur [advanced restaurant search][20] is now even more useful. Click 'More search options...' and find more fields to search by, such as 'has heated smoking porch' or 'aceepts local checks' or 'not likely to catch diner-and-dashers.' (Note the absurdity of that last example and you will realize that we kid.)User profile pagesBy popular demand, we've gone all out and added [user-profile pages][21], where you can fill out a Friendster-style survey of things that are special to you and what not. To fill out your profile, [log into your account][12] and click on your username in the upper-right corner of the sight. You can read other user's profiles by clicking on their usernames either [here][21] or above comments throughout the site. More profile-related goodness (like user photos and icons) is coming soon.All this is good and pleasing, but...New search engineOur wizkid programmers' crowning achievement is the [site-wide search engine][5]. Behold! It actually returns the results that you were looking for! Just throw down search term(s) into the box at the top-right corner of every page, and you should find what you're looking for without the hassle. It searches everything on the site -- including our events calendar, local band database, MP3 downloads and story archive. And you can narrow your search by selecting which types of things you'd want to find -- such as songs, bands, musicians, etc. Believe it or not, this is probably the first site-wide search to appear on a newspaper web site. Why nobody has done this before defies basic intelligence.Again we welcome your comments, criticisms and unmitigated flattery [via email][13] or in the space below. [1]: http://worldonline.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com/img/special/newsiteday1.jpg [2]: http://worldonline.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com/img/special/newsiteday1-lg.jpg [3]: http://worldonline.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com/img/special/originalsite-lg.jpg [4]: http://worldonline.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com/img/special/oldsiteday1-lg.jpg [5]: http://www2.lawrence.com/search/ [6]: http://blogs.lawrence.com/ [7]: http://www2.lawrence.com/news/music/ [8]: http://www2.lawrence.com/mp3/ [9]: http://www2.lawrence.com/restaurants/ [10]: http://www2.lawrence.com/movies/listings/ [11]: http://www2.lawrence.com/events/search/ [12]: http://www2.lawrence.com/accounts/login/ [13]: http://www2.lawrence.com/about/contact/form/ [14]: http://www2.lawrence.com/radio/ [15]: http://www2.lawrence.com/playlists/edit/ [16]: http://www2.lawrence.com/playlists/ [17]: http://www2.lawrence.com/rss/ [18]: http://www2.lawrence.com/pix/ [19]: http://www2.lawrence.com/pix/upload/ [20]: http://www2.lawrence.com/restaurants/search/ [21]: http://www2.lawrence.com/users/