We Want to Be Your Home Port

By John Trotti

If you use the Internet, chances are you go to one of the major Web pages---Netscape, Microsoft Network, Yahoo, or AOL---as your default base of operations. Every time you fire up your browser, you are led automatically to a page that offers you a wide variety of choices, many of which do violent battle for your attention by flashing, hopping around, changing colors, or doing strange and provocative things. Well, we'd like to suggest that the next time you visit the Web, you come check out our totally revamped online presence at www.erosioncontrol.net and see what we have to offer in the way of useful, industry-related, full-featured, and rapid-loading options. Be prepared for the shock of beginning your session without the distraction of gimmicks designed to lure and snare the unwary. In a day when Web sites seem to be vying with one another to see who can be the glitziest, it might appear that we are shoveling sand against the tide.but it's to a purpose.

In redesigning our site, we asked our readers what was important and what features they would like. They responded, "fast-loading and uncluttered" and suggested these key features: industry news, regulatory updates, calendar of events, useful links to other sites, and editorial materials of various kinds. It should come as no surprise that these features now lie at the heart of the site. But there's more.

We've added several components to broaden the site's appeal: loads of content that we can't squeeze into the print version of Erosion Control; news from around the world---presently 69 news sources in 25 countries---to keep you abreast of business, environmental, and political activities as reported in those regions; weather sites with the ability to provide meteorological data of nearly any level of detail; buyer and seller listings of erosion and sediment control products, used equipment, and professional services; an employment center for job prospectors and prospects alike; and a classified advertising section for catch-all items. Then there is a full range of subscriber, advertiser, and visitor services having to do with editorial activities, advertising and business opportunities, information and archive searches, and feedback links to let us know how we're doing. If it has to do with erosion or sediment control, you'll find it here.

Check Out These Special Features

One of the first things that will catch your eye on the Web page is a button that says "Get Your Free Entry in Our Products and Services Guide!" For those who don't already know, we publish the Products & Services Directory, updated each spring. Vendors in the industry get listed free but have to get us information before the deadline, which is January 31, 2000. Your best means of submission is via the Web site. Merely click on the button and follow the instructions. It's quicker, easier, less expensive than using the mail or fax, and eliminates any opportunity for loss or transcription error. EC Talk is one of the most powerful features of our whole Web experience. Get together with other professionals to raise concerns, ask for help, provide assistance, and discuss issues relevant to the field. To join, click the button "Join EC Talk" located on the Erosion Control home page and follow the instructions.

What the Future Holds

We intend to push the envelope to make our site not just the best in the industry, but the one you adopt as your home site. To do this, however, we need your help in such matters as information-gathering, feedback, EC Talk participation, and even censure. For www.erosioncontrol.net to be a true success, it has to be much more than the Web site for Erosion Control magazine. It needs to be your site---everyone with a stake in ESC matters---and for this to happen, you need to pitch in and help.

EC
November/December

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