AVweb Moves to a New Platform

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AVweb has completed its migration from a legacy content management system to a new, up-to-date platform designed to quickly and efficiently deliver text and multimedia to all devices.

“Following denial-of-service attacks over the winter, we chose a ground-up restoration that will make it easier to deliver and consume all kinds of aviation content,” said Editorial Director Tim Cole. “In time we will port over a wealth of back content if anyone wants to trip down memory lane.” AVweb is widely known as aviation’s premier independent aviation news resource and has been in continuous operation since 1995.

According to Publisher Tom Bliss: “AVwebFlash is the most read, independent source of GA news and is published an astounding 167 times per year, making this e-newsletter both habit forming and timely. No other GA news organization comes close to the sheer volume of original news our 100,000 subscribers receive each week.”

For all outward appearances, the goal was to make the site feel welcoming and comfortable for people who liked the “old” AVweb. And while the AVweb team has chosen to remain true to its proven form factor, the new site exploits every technical enhancement currently available, with improvements already noted in site speed and search engine optimization 

As per usual, your thrice-weekly Flash will arrive in reader inboxes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Readers have told us they like easy access without a lot of clicking, so all Flash items will appear as links at the bottom of individual Flash articles, so your next article is always visible and only one click away.

For desktop users, you will notice the Flash arriving as a single column in a vertical stack with ads in between editorial items. This will allow our mobile friendly Flash to become even friendlier when viewed on phones and tablets.

Readers will also play a role in building premium AVweb content. One of the frustrations associated with this transition has been the temporary loss of reader comments. That has been corrected and commenting has been restored. As with the old system, you must be a registered user in order to leave a comment. We ask that you re-register on the new site if you want to give us feedback. Readers who do not wish to comment will still receive their Flash without having to re-register.

The real power of the new AVweb lies behind the scenes. Our new content management system will allow editors to create, illustrate and post with unmatched speed and dexterity. Videos and podcasts also can be created and posted with the greatest of ease. The time savings this affords will allow us to spend more energy doing what editors and reporters do best—namely, investigate, write and prepare multimedia aviation content of exceptional enterprise and quality.

These new tools will allow AVweb to continue the tradition of covering everything and anything that flies.

“More than 90 percent of our subscribers are pilots and nearly 66 percent are aircraft owners,” said Bliss. “They fly light singles, kit planes, high performance singles and twins, King Airs and light jets. They fly and buy retrofit avionics, headsets, insurance, financing, simulators and sim training; thousands of engines and overhauls, interiors, paint, tires, batteries, oil, tires and much more every year. No one delivers the quality of pilot video flight reports, avionics analyses and new product coverage that you can find on AVweb. We are committed to excellence—not fluff—and our audience is fiercely loyal, knowledgeable, sometimes critical—but always engaged.”

All of us at AVweb want to thank our steadfast readers for staying with us while we’ve improved and strengthened aviation’s leading independent news channel. The commenting feature for this brief is open, so feel free to leave suggestions. We look forward to hearing from you.

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22 COMMENTS

  1. 1. I have had an account for several years. When I attempted to perform Password Recovery (as you suggested) I got a message that my account does not exist. The same happened when I attempted to log in with my old credentials. I was therefore forced to create a nes account.

    2. On your Home page you have a set of top articles, each presented with a photo (that rotates through the 3 articles). The user is unable to access the associated article unless they click on the article title (at the bottom of the panel). This is non-intutive to the user. It still works but certainly not as the user expects. The user should only need to click anyplace on the photo, not be forced to click on the article title to access the article.

    Hopefully the few minor glitches can be worked out easily. Best wishes with your new, updated home! 🙂

  2. One thing I noticed about the new comments section, all of the entries are anonymous. No names are attached once the comments are posted. It’s not a big deal, but I always look forward to seeing certain people’s entries, knowing that the person has the background knowledge to add value to the discussion.

    Any chance you could change that?

  3. Good luck with the new platform. Previously we could read the entire issue on our tablets with a single click. Clicking onto each separate article is a pain! Please can you offer something similar to before. Thanks for a very informative site. Mike

  4. In the piece about your new platform, you say “Readers have told us they like easy access without a lot of clicking” and I agree with that.

    Why then do you organise things “so all Flash items will appear as links at the bottom of individual Flash articles”

    That means I have to click once for EACH article, rather than once for the WHOLE issue as worked in the past. Please re-instate the previous behaviour. I find the new multi-click arrangement very tedious!

    in friendship

    Rowland

  5. Per above I also had to start a new account. Also, I use a VPN and can not access the newsletter unless I turn it off. I find this perplexing considering the problems AvWeb has had with denial of service attacks. I hope you can remedy this.

  6. I had to re-register to get the access to leave a comment, NBD but frustrating.

    I did enjoy the old format by being able to read the entire sheet with one click, but I’m an old guy with white hair, so change can some times be a pain in the …

    • I’m another old guy with white hair who preferred the old format. The new format is not disqualifying, but I thought I’d toss my two cents into the pot. Also, allowing “screen names” for attributing comments would be welcome.

  7. Hello all! Creating a new account worked, obviously 🙂
    Only comment is to second those who already miss the “one click and then scroll” method. I’m not a fan of having to look for somewhere to click in order to move on. But we’ll survive.

  8. Two pet peeves, both minor. 1. When there exist requirements for the length and format of a password, those req’ments should be stated up front. I get frustrated when I make up a simple password and the system then replies that it has to be 8 characters, or whatever. 2. related to that, I am puzzled by strong password requirements when there is nothing much at stake. For my bank account, I make fiendishly clever passwords and change them often. Here, it seems unlikely that anyone would bother hacking into my account, and even if they did, so what? Keep up the good reporting!

  9. I am running a Windows 10 desktop using Outlook and FireFox.
    “For desktop users, you will notice the Flash arriving as a single column in a vertical stack with ads in between editorial items. ”

    But that is NOT what I got. That is what I want.

    Carl

  10. Let me echo the password requirements comment above. If you have requirements, state them. I came here because I received an AvwebFlash, yet it did not recognize my email when I tried to do the password reset. It also asked me if I wanted to register to receive the avweb flash when I first arrived, which annoyed me since I am already registered to receive the flash.

    When my password reset failed to recognize my email address, I looked at the FAQ to figure out how to register, it said: You can reach the registration page from anywhere on AVweb by looking for the Register/Login button () in the upper right of all pages on AVweb. The image for the button was missing from the FAQ and does not appear to be on any pages.

    Lastly, you said you moved to a new technology but failed to say what it is. My guess is WordPress.

  11. Well I got what you described; a short intro to each article with an ad between them. If I click on an article I get a page with that article. At the bottom are listed all the other articles. If I want to read any of them, I have to click on them one at a time.

    I DO NOT LIKE THIS!!!!! I like to scroll and entire list of articles and read those I like as I scroll. MUCH faster than this method. I, and a lot of others, did not like it when you implemented it some time back and I still don’t like it. The result, unfortunately, will be much less time that I spend on AvWeb.

    Carl

  12. I am concerned. Every time a provider upgrades to add access to smart phones and tablets my computer access suffers. It appears that you will rely heavily on podcasts. Unfortunately, they are no use to me. My hearing has been seriously damaged by years of exposure to noisy propellers and large pressure changes in high performance aircraft and I cannot hear them at all. Surely there are many like me.
    Written text is my only access. I also agree with the comment of Carl above.

  13. Love the new Flash format. I like that we now have links to individual stories rather than the entire Flash stuffed into a single page. Each story having its own page also allows accompanying videos, photos, and graphics to be an appropriate size and and are actually useful, now. A few bugs are to be expected, but those will get worked out. The overall direction of the site seems to be much improved. Thanks!

  14. Love the work you do. I fly gliders and find it fascinating to see how excited you power pilots get when it all goes quiet!
    However, as noted above, the sign up form has options for “twin” and “single”. Where’s the option for “none”? 🙂
    And, well, we had the “single page” discussion last time around, didn’t we? I think you know what we want.
    As soon as I read “Readers have told us they like easy access without a lot of clicking”
    I KNEW there was going to be a lot more clicking! 🙂

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