Throughout my whole life, whenever anyone walked into our home – be it stranger or friend, seldom seen or always around – my Dad always greeted every visitor the say way:
Welcome home!
Mom and Dad wanted our home to feel like their home. They wanted every visitor to be at home.
And to this very day, my dad still greets every visitor the same way: a warm handshake, a big smile, and a hearty Welcome Home!
Today, I want to welcome you home the same way – to my new online home, right here at Needle ‘n Thread!
If you subscribe to the daily newsletter here on Needle ‘n Thread, or if you visit Needle ‘n Thread via a blog reader or feed, then you might not even realize that much has changed on the website.
But if you pop by for a visit, you’ll see that the whole site has had a complete facelift. And not only is our new online needlework home squeaky clean and bright and spacious, but it’s also uber-functional. It will perform spectacularly for you on your tablets and mobile devices!
No more teeny tiny text, no more zooming in to read. And a constant infinity scroll, so you can browse previous articles with great ease!
Even though the look and the functionality are new, all the same great content is still here. After all, when you move house or remodel, do you throw away your furniture and all the good stuff that makes your house a home? Of course not! It’s all still here, unpacked and ready to play with!
Some Highlights
Just to highlight some of the major changes on the site:
1. When you are in mobile view, the top menu will disappear and will be replaced by a “hamburger” (that’s a little stack of lines). If you click on that stack, the menu will float out for you.
2. The needlework shops and businesses that advertise directly on Needle ‘n Thread (and who, in a big part, make the site possible) are located in the right column on desktop view and will show up between articles in mobile view. The big, beautiful ads you see there are for quality needlework businesses, all hand-embroidery related, and all small businesses offering great services to the needlework world. Each business is reviewed and approved by me as a good fit for my readers. I’ve dealt with them all personally, and I know they are solid. Please support them! Supporting them goes a long way to keeping the needle arts alive and prospering!
3. In the left column, you’ll find some structural organization for the site and various highlights, like tags (if you want to look up specific topics by a topic tag), archives (if you want to browse the site by year), recent comments, recent posts, featured e-books, and two sections that have always been on Needle ‘n Thread, but that I plan to expand and pay a little more attention to in the upcoming year: Types of Hand Embroidery and Pictures of Hand Embroidery. Those are a work in progress! You’ll also find information about me, contact information, the newsletter sign up form, and social network links where you can connect with me in other places online.
4. The Search function is in the top menu, so it’s easy to find!
5. The Ask & Share link is located under “Other” at the end of the left column. The forum is no longer functional, but it can still be viewed (it looks like the old site). It’s being phased out, and eventually, it will disappear.
Gratitude All Around!
As many of you know, from this article last year, there’s really only me on this side of the computer screen, when it comes to creating the daily content you see here on Needle ‘n Thread.
But when it comes to site design and functionality, I put these concerns into the very reliable hands of the folks at Imagemakers in Wamego, Kansas. They know how to take an idea, a vision, a “feel” for what I want and turn it into Website Reality. I sleep soundly at night, thanks to them! Thanks, Dan, for your vision and understanding, Clayton for your magic coding skills, and all of the image makers who helps make Needle ‘n Thread work!
Finally, thank YOU, my friends, who visit with me daily in my online home! Without you, what would be the point of Needle ‘n Thread?
To say a proper thanks and to celebrate the new look, I’ll have a free, fun project for you next week!
I hope you’ll take some time to explore the new site and that you’ll always feel at home on Needle ‘n Thread!
