New site layout, functionality will make it easier for Dark Reading's IT security readers to find the information they need

4 Min Read

You know it's there. That one piece of information you need to do your job as a security professional. You've been poring over the screen for minutes, even hours, yet you still can't find it -- it's cleverly concealed, right there in plain sight.

Is this a new type of hack? No, I'm talking about the old design of your favorite IT security news site, Dark Reading. Heck, this site had become so difficult to navigate that even I got lost sometimes -- and I'm its editor.

Today, after almost seven years of delivering some of the best and most incisive cybersecurity news and information on the Web, Dark Reading now has a new look to match. We've streamlined the design, improved the navigation, and added a few features that we hope will make our news site more valuable to you, our loyal readers.

The first thing you'll notice is that the red navigation bar at the top of the home page has been improved and consolidated. Click on any one of those tabs -- Advanced Threats, Cloud Security, Risk Management, etc. -- and you'll be brought to one of our Tech Centers, which are subsites packed with breaking news, commentary, special reports, and data links to help you find the specific IT security information you need to do your job. Each of our Tech Centers provides a level of depth that you won't find elsewhere on the Web.

The next thing you'll see is a news "carousel" leading off the page, providing a rotating display of our latest features, including our hottest news stories, short "Quick Hit" articles, and vendor product news. You can control that display with a click of your mouse, grabbing any story you like or stopping the rotation of the displayed articles so that you see only the one feature you want.

Underneath the carousel, you'll find the same News Analysis section you have read for years; click on any story you like, or click on the "News" tab at the top of the page, for a full display of all of our recent news stories. Click on "Quick Hits" (you might remember it as the Keyhole section on the old Dark Reading site), and you'll get a look at some shorter, quicker stories that may help you keep up to date with the latest breach news and security research.

But, wait, there's more. Dark Reading's old "Blogs" section has been reworked and moved into the new "Commentary" section, which includes this daily blog, "Today from Dark Reading." This will make it easier than ever for you to find opinions and expert advice from some of the IT security industry's best-known and most respected personalities.

Want to locate additional useful content? We've updated our Events, Products & Releases (formerly Newsfeed), and Best of the Web sections to offer more accurate and current information than ever before. Each Dark Reading story now contains links to related material from our news archives. And the home page contains links to reports, white papers, Dark Reading digital issues, expert-written Tech Insight columns -- and even a Bugs report that is streamed directly from US-CERT's National Vulnerability Database.

Still looking? Try our simple "Search" box at the top right of the home page. If it's a topic that Dark Reading has written about in the past, then you'll get a list of all our stories, with the most recent items at the top. Try looking up the word "firewall" -- you'll find dozens of current articles, commentaries, and product announcements, as well as a historical archive that shows the recent evolution of the technology. Try it next time you're writing an RFP for a new product. We think you'll find it useful.

There's so much more to look at and click on -- a single archive for Tech Insight, our regular feature written exclusively by security pros; full archives of slide shows and online video; a comment box showing some of the latest input from readers; and more. Click around -- you'll find some new areas on the site, as well as some well-established areas that you may never have noticed before.

You spend enough time digging through screens of data as you do your day job. Navigating your daily security news site should be a lot easier. With this new look, we believe that we've found a way to give you more information than ever before -- while making it easier and faster for you to find what you're looking for.

We hope you'll like the new-look Dark Reading. And if you don't -- or if you find links that aren't working or don't work the way you'd like -- let us know. In the end, this is your news site. We'd love to hear any feedback you'd like to offer.

About the Author(s)

Tim Wilson, Editor in Chief, Dark Reading

Contributor

Tim Wilson is Editor in Chief and co-founder of Dark Reading.com, UBM Tech's online community for information security professionals. He is responsible for managing the site, assigning and editing content, and writing breaking news stories. Wilson has been recognized as one of the top cyber security journalists in the US in voting among his peers, conducted by the SANS Institute. In 2011 he was named one of the 50 Most Powerful Voices in Security by SYS-CON Media.

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