John O'Connor, editorial director, McKnight's Long-Term Care News

Unfortunately, I’m old enough to remember when many restaurants charged 25 cents for a cup of coffee. Refills were free, of course.

Then Starbucks came along. Caffeine injection and the nation’s sleeping patterns have not been the same since. Did the Seattle-based upstart succeed by making a brew that was eight times better — and priced accordingly? No. They did something more subtle, but critical: They improved the coffee experience.

With today’s official unveiling of our new mcknights.com website, we’re hoping to make the way you obtain industry knowledge a more enjoyable experience.

The cleaner presentation and enhanced visuals are probably the first things you’ll notice. But if I may paraphrase the late-night infomercial barkers, wait, there’s more.

It probably won’t be long before you’ll notice that you can now always see your favorite bloggers — Gary Tetz, Jackie Vance, Shelly Mesure and the McKnight’s Editors — on the home page. We’ve added social media icons for many stories and blogs so that you can share them with colleagues and friends; added Google Plus pages for the four editors; and updated our LinkedIn company page.

We’ve also upgraded our navigation bar so that hovering over “News” will give you a selection of hot stories.

In response to reader feedback, we’ve also made it easier to find stories from print editions — you can find these in “Editor’s Picks” or at the footer at the bottom of all pages. You can also look at the top right corner of your screen where you’ll see “Latest Issue.”
It’s now easier than ever to subscribe – the “subscription box” in the right hand column.
The Weekly Roundup Page has been revised so that you can always see the “Fast Forward” items listed in the e-newsletter. Product News also has changed — instead of only news that appears in the weekly Product Buzz, you will also see that month’s vendor and technology news.
What hasn’t changed is that you’ll still be able to find great content on the McKnight’s site and continuing education opportunities.
Of course, those are just the highlights.

So please feel free to take a closer look. We think you’ll enjoy the experience.