We'd like to take a moment to introduce the new look Everything Geraldton website.

For the last 3 weeks we've been working around the clock to get this site ready, and we're very pleased with the result.

All the features you know and love are still here, including News, Job Vacancies, Rental Properties, Business Directory, Geraldton Events Calendar and others. And lots that were buried on the old site are now much easier to find, such as the "I'm new to Geraldton" section.

Popular services that had to be accessed through the Business Directory are now only one click away, such as Accommodation, Cafés, and 'Food and Dining'.

There a heap of new features, such as the Best of Geraldton section, which will feature community feedback on what places you think are the "best", like best coffee, or best steak. There's the new Things to do Blog, which we're super excited to get rolling.

New sections include:

Buy and Sell
Lost Geraldton (now part of this website)
Births Deaths Marriages
Community Questions (dedicated section)
Council Information
Employment Wanted (many requests for this one)
Facebook Groups
Garage Sales
Gig guide (free to post on)
Letters to the editor
Lost and Found
Public notices
Surf Report (well, it's a link, not a section)
Weather (back with bells on)
News archives (easy to browse by date, category or author)
Things to do Blog

Plus we're working on some more great features we plan on rolling out over the coming months.

To coincide with the revamp, we've refreshed our logo and colour scheme. Updates to the apps are on the way.

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In addition to all the new content, we've made it easier than ever subscribe to just the content that interests you. Head to the "Subscribe to EG" section to choose from 11 different emails to subscribe to, as well as RSS feeds (if you know what the heck an RSS feed is).

So why the heck did you change it?

It's always frustrating when you know how to use a particular website, then they go and move the buttons... and with 15,000 weekly users of this site we're sure some of you will be frustrated by having to find things again. Sorry.

These are the reasons we have changed the website:

1. The old platform was a pain in the butt

The platform our previous site was built on was called Wordpress. It's the most popular CMS for websites in the world, and is a powerful and flexible service. But the large number of different services we offer on Everything Geraldton meant constantly configuring and reconfiguring plugins and themes and installing updates, fixing hosting issues, fending of a constant barrage of hackers, finding and fixing bugs etc etc etc. We spent more time and energy in keeping the website alive than generating the news and content that you actually come here for.

This new website is built on a platform that reduces our workload considerably, so we can spend more time getting you the information you want.

2. We want to be much more than just a news service

The home page of the previous website was very news centric. While keeping you informed of the latest news is certainly one of our core aims, Everything Geraldton's goal is to give you easy access to everything to do with Geraldton in one convenient location.

The way the old site was laid out meant any new features or services we introduced simply got buried in submenus, never to see the light of day.

Our new layout gives us the flexibility to introduce a lot more features without having them hidden, and its clean look means users don't feel overwhelmed when visiting.

Everything is laid out in a logical fashion, with a very limited number of menus; there's one menu along the left hand side of the site (top on a phone), and there's a couple of links at the bottom of the site. And that's it.

Apart from the very top and bottom, the menu is in alphabetical order for ease of use.

Some more tips for the new site

Comments - At the bottom of each article is the comments section. You can comment anonymously, like a post by clicking on the heart, and if you want you can subscribe by email to the comments. If there's a discussion you want to follow, just click Subscribe by email above the comment box, and follow the prompts.

Home Page - The home page displays a selection of content from the site. Above each row of images is a couple of small arrows you can click to scroll and see more headlines, without having to leave the home page. See something you like? Click the image or title.

More - The menu option "More" expands when you hover your mouse over it, or if on a mobile device, just click it to reveal extra items.

Categories - Beneath each article is the list of categories that apply to it. To see more items in the same category, just click on the category. If you want to browse all news by category, head to the news archives section which is under "More".

Feature requests - We'd love to know what you'd like added to the site. Head to the contact us page and let us know your suggestions.

We hope this website will be a very useful tool to serve residents, new-comers and visitors to Geraldton.

Everything Geraldton
Everything to do with Geraldton in one location.