LINGUIST List 11.555

Mon Mar 13 2000

All: Improvements in LINGUIST

Editor for this issue: Karen Milligan <karenlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. The LINGUIST List, All: Improvements in LINGUIST

Dear Subscribers:

At the end of 1999, we asked for your comments and suggestions 
about LINGUIST. We took your responses seriously and have 
been making some of the site improvements you requested. We 
are pleased to announce that: 

1) The Linguist search engine has been improved--it now works much
faster. Try it:

http://linguistlist.org/search.html

This search engine is keyed specifically to Linguist issue types
(e.g. Books, Disc, TOCs), so we think you will find the improved
version to be a helpful research tool.

Other ways to search Linguist are also still available: Listserv 
search at: 

http://linguistlist.org/listserv-search.html

Or search of the whole Linguist web site using Alta Vista technology:

http://linguistlist.org/searchsite.html
 
2) The Dissertation Abstracts Directory has been improved: the 
search engine is now much faster and some bugs have been fixed. 
Also the abstracts have been reformatted.

If you have not yet added your dissertation abstract, now is the 
time: 

http://linguistlist.org/dissop.html

If you previously submitted an abstract, we would appreciate your
testing the new facility: check to see that your abstract is retrieved
properly.

3) In response to a suggestion that we start a list strictly for 
discussion: we would like to remind you that the equivalent is 
already available. Linguist issues are categorized into topics, one 
of which is Disc (Discussion). If you want to read only discussion, 
not announcements or queries, go to 

	http://linguistlist.org/subs.html

and change the Topics you are subscribed to.

4) We are also working on a facelift for the homepage. Many of you
have mentioned that it is difficult to navigate because it is too
text-heavy. We agree, but--being academics and therefore graphically
challenged--we have had to request help from a real web designer,
whose report is expected shortly.

In the meantime, we have created the site map :

http://linguistlist.org/sitemap.html

and the index pages to help you navigate. Remember that if you click
on a heading on the homepage, e.g., "The Profession," you retrieve a
page giving you an explanation of all the links indexed under that
category, with cross-references to other links on the site. To see
what we mean, take a look at the index page for "The Profession":

http://linguistlist.org/prof-index.html

The Linguist site now has over 2000 pages of data, most of them
carrying numerous links to other resources. It is perhaps no wonder
that site navigation is becoming ever more challenging. But we hope
you will find that these improvements have helped considerably. As
always, your comments and suggestions are appreciated.

Helen, Anthony, Andrew
Moderators, LINGUIST