Website Redesign and New Features

Hiveword has a new website today.

It feels so good saying that because it’s been a LONG time coming. As a bonus, there are also some new features!

As for the old design… Well, I guess it wasn’t really a design at all. And boy was it ugly. It didn’t convey that Hiveword is actually a suite of tools for writers with a novel planner, a module of expert guidance from a writing coach, and a repository of great articles on writing captured from around the web.

But the best part about the new design is that your eyes probably won’t bleed with the new look. It is MUCH prettier in my opinion. But more importantly, it lets everyone know what Hiveword offers. And that’s a good thing because there was some confusion before about the different offerings and how they relate. (I should point out that the redesign only applies to the main website and not the Hiveword application. That will come later.)

Anyway, enough about the pretty website. How about those new features I mentioned?

First of all, the Writer’s Knowledge Base (WKB) got a facelift and has a much cleaner look than it did before. It also got some new functionality. The WKB now has a browsable directory of articles thanks to recent article categorization work. So, you can explore by topic or you can search the WKB as before (after all, it is the “Search Engine for Writers“). Soon, you’ll even be able to get new categorized articles delivered to your inbox.

Secondly, the redesign includes two other features that are already well-known to folks with a Hiveword account: a character name generator and a place name generator. Now, these generators are available without an account. Plus, they work great on mobile devices so you can use them wherever you go.

I hope you like the changes. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the design or the new features.