SABEW launches redesigned site

The Society of American Business Editors and Writers unveiled its redesigned Web site on Wednesday morning that is much easier to read and find information.

The site uses a lighter blue background that fades as the page drops down. Previously, the top of the page had been black.

New features on the site include a “Member to Member” section where SABEW members provide coverage tips, and a Blog Roll that has an extremely limited selection of business news blogs.

A nice touch to the site is the inclusion of photos of regular writers to the site, such as that of Dow Jones reporter Dawn Wotapka, who writes the Biz Buzz column.

Executive director Warren Watson writes, “The new website is only part of a series of technical enhancements that will include a new membership database, conference registration system, Best in Business entry system, expanded jobs section and freelance database. Members will be able to log into the website and view and correct their personal information as needed.”

However, other parts of the site still need updating.  The Talking Biz News feed to the site had not been updated in more than 24 hours when reviewed at 11 a.m. EST. And one of the three “SABEW Spotlight” stories was more than four months old, while another was a month old.

The site also has not updated information about the board members. Former president Bernie Kohn, who left the Baltimore Sun earlier this year, is now a spokesman for the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, and former TheStreet.com editor David Morrow is now a journalism professor at the University of Nevada-Reno. Neither has been updated.

The rollout had been expected last week, but was delayed while the organization worked out some kinks. Some still exist. I tried to update my password to get into the members only section, but that function is not working properly.

DISCLOSURE: I previously was managing editor of the news content of the site until September and wrote the Biz Buzz column.