On Oct. 1, Southeast Construction launched its redesigned Website. In addition to being much more pleasing to the eye, it's also now packed with numerous new features that should help visitors looking for information about the Southeast construction and design industry find it more easily and quickly. The upgrade also includes additional information and features not previously offered by our "old" site. Here's a quick rundown.

The new design -- which is similar in style to those of some of McGraw-Hill Construction's other sites, such as Engineering News-Record and Architectural Record -- gives readers more content, in a much more user-friendly way, than ever before. For starters, some of our most important stories are now highlighted to be more prominent and easier for readers to find. A revolving "picture box" at the top of the homepage displays major feature stories and other items, while the nearby Top Stories section accentuates the biggest news stories happening now in the region. Both of these sections will be updated frequently.

Also, feature stories are now more apt to have associated slideshows, with links prominently displayed at the top of the page for that story. The story accompanying our annual Top Design Firms ranking includes a slideshow, for instance. In short, all feature stories with a certain number of accompanying photos will automatically include slideshows. This provides our readers with an alternative way to access that information. The site's improved aesthetics also helps with more readable Top lists, such as this month's Top Design Firms ranking.)

We've also increased the presence of regional Dodge Reports by allowing visitors to link directly to individual projects from the home page, as well as from dozens of other pages elsewhere on the site. Check here for the Dodge Reports landing page. The new design also improves ease of access to the latest news items, blogs and Dodge reports from almost any page of the site.
 
Another improvement includes the ability for readers to now subscribe to an RSS feed of the site's news updates. There's also a link to the magazine's Twitter page, www.twitter.com/SEConstruction, which is also included at the top of the homepage.

Again, check back frequently as the updates will be coming fast and often. This is the website we've always wanted for our readers and now it's here.
We hope you enjoy it. Of course, as always, we'd love to hear your feedback!

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