Welcome to The Collation's new look

The Folger’s blog renovations are done! The Collation now has a new look and a new tag line, but the same enthusiastic commitment to research and exploration at the Folger (which is now spelled out as such in the tag line).

New look home page

It’s not hugely different from what we had before: the colors are still red, white, and black; the title banner still stretches across the top;  and the books on our shelf haven’t changed (though the image has been cropped differently). Here’s a screen shot of the original look, for comparison:

Vintage home page

So why the change? The new design brings two big improvements: a mobile-friendly responsive design, and integration with the Folger’s larger web presence.

If you’re reading this on your phone, you should already be seeing the responsive design. If you’re reading on a full-size screen, you can see the responsive design in action by making your browser window narrower. Up to a certain point, the columns simply get narrower, with line breaks after fewer and fewer words. But once the window reaches a trigger width, “mobile navigation” kicks in. Now the elements making up the page are stacked one about the other instead of side-by-side, and the search box and navigation menu disappear behind the word “Menu” at top left and the “hamburger menu” icon at top right. Both menus have the same drop-down choices, it’s just that one is easier to reach with your left thumb, the other with your right, if you’re using a touch screen on a wider-than-your-hand hand held device. In addition, you can swipe right to open the menu, and swipe left to close it.  If you’re reading on a full-size screen and don’t want to re-size your browser window, here’s a screen shot:

Screen shot of mobile menu

The Collation’s new integration with the Folger’s larger web presence can be seen at the top and bottom of each post and page, which now match the header and footer standardized across an increasing number of Folger sites. The black band at the top contains a search box and navigation buttons for the Folger’s general website. The standardized two-part footer at the bottom contains a dark purple informational banner about the Folger as a whole, and a narrower black banner with our CC BY-SA licensing information and icons linking to the Folger’s general social media sites.

The last piece of blog news concerns the Folger’s other blogs, which now join The Collation at the folger.edu domain. The first two—focused respectively on K-12 education and on our live performances—had previous incarnations as hosted WordPress blogs. Please meet The Collation’s sister blogs:

Homepage of Teaching Shakespeare! A Folger Education Blog (tap or click image to go to the site)

Homepage of The Folger Spotlight: What’s On at the Folger (tap or click image to go to the site)

There will also be a third blog, Shakespeare & Beyond, that will explore “the topics that shape our experience of Shakespeare today,” including performance, scholarship, new discoveries, and exhibitions. This blog will launch soon, and will complete the Folger’s new suite of blog platforms.

We hope you like the changes, and we look forward to continuing to showcase the Folger’s collection and the research it supports.