Our new website is up and running – have a look

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I am surrounded by smart people who are never at a loss for words. Friends, family members, colleagues are all capable speakers with lots of valuable things to say.

I, on the other hand, start quaking when I have to speak before a group. Thus, the editor/writer role.

But this week I’m happy to tell you (in writing at least) about the new Jewish Voice website (www.thejewishvoice.org).

We’ve been online for years. But every few years, it’s time for a freshening, an upgrade. Our new website looks fresher and more up-to-date. It’s easier to use, easier to find your way around. It’s also mobile: Call it up on a smartphone or tablet, and you get all the content you see on your computer.

More of the newspaper is online now. We plan to post all our stories, not just a sampling. And the features will be easier to find. Take a look at the drop-downs – those buttons in the upper right side of the page  – we’ve renamed some areas so they make more sense to today’s readers.

And we have some new features. Looking for news from other publications, like Israeli newspapers? Head for the Jewish Reader (under both our News and Jewish Life drop-downs), where you’ll find links to such publications as Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post. Want to see more photos from our articles? Look at the photo galleries (under News), where we will now post the pictures that don’t fit into the newspaper.

We’ve also added a new way for you to connect with our advertisers, turning our print ads into a Marketplace, which can be found under Jewish Life and on our landing pages. Soon, you will be able to click on an ad to find out more about the advertiser. And we’ll now accept both print and web-only classifieds.

Our calendar has undergone an upgrade, too. Now, you can go online and post your organization’s events right into the calendar. You’ll also be able to see all the other events posted from our community. Many of these events will appear in the print edition, but the online calendar will have much more extensive listings. You can also view calendar items in a variety of formats, such as a Pinterest-like wall view, and daily, weekly and monthly views. 

You can submit your news to us through the website, too. Check out the links at the bottom of each page under “Adding your Voice” to send us your news, photos, Simchas and We Are Read photos. But please note that you do have to register to submit content to the site (this keeps the spammers away). 

You can also donate to The Voice on the website.

One of the advantages of updating anything on the web is the limitless possibilities. Technology only gets better. Not only will this site allow us to post enhanced content, it will allow us to post news stories and photos as we work on them. No longer will we have to wait two weeks to bring you the news you look for in our community. 

As staffing permits, we’ll bring you snippets of the stories we are working on. We’ll also bring you photos of the events we cover as we finish working on them, as well as video and sound clips. 

Stay tuned, visit us often and watch us grow on the web. The website will keep evolving. You’ll notice changes each time you check it out – which we hope will be often!   

And please, if you have comments, feel free to message us. You can do this via the website now. And you can always contact us in the traditional way: 401-421-4111, ext. 168, or by mail: The Jewish Voice, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence, R.I. 02906.