Welcome to the new and improved Skatter Tech. After five years of blogging, we have taken the next step to go beyond the traditional blog. Our vision was for an amazing clean-cut browsing experience and unparalleled quality content. Today, we proud to launch Skatter Tech 3.0 after nearly three months of design and development.

To our long-time readers, don’t panic. Although we are just took a huge leap with a new look, all our exiting content is here to stay and core purpose remains the same: providing you with the best coverage of all things tech. For those making their way to Skatter Tech for the first time, we’re glad to have you. And if you are wondering, here’s what’s new:

What’s New?

The Hubs

All stories aren’t the same. News, Reviews, Opinion, Hacks, Media, and Deals have long deserved their own Hubs. We now offer a better way explore each section in a manner that is appropriate to nature of the content. And for those that hate the dreaded “next page” link, every Hub features a snappy “load more” button. You can visit a Hub at anytime through the floating menu above.

Discussion

Although Skatter Tech has always had comments, our new layout is something you have not seen before. We now offer five levels of threading to better organize conversations. The comment input field even snaps below the comment you are replying to. To save every extra pixel, comments now extend to the full width of every page. When discussions get too lengthy, browsing through old threads is easy with instant page navigation.

Mobile Theme

To complement our full-blown revamp, Skatter Tech now also supports a mobile interface for feature phones. While all features aren’t available through the mobile portal, users can still read any article on Skatter Tech. If you own a feature phone and have a mobile web access, just visit skatter.com in your browser. As for smart phone users, another touch-optimized revamp is in the works.

Deals

After a few highly popular giveaway contests, we decided to dedicate the entire Deals Hub for getting free gadgets into your hands. Unlike a traditional contest, your chances of winning increase as more people enter a Deal. With our unique contest model, we get to handout more gadgets per contest when we reach a certain number of entries. For a better chance to get your hands on the latest gadgetry, be sure to have your friends and family participate.

Interactive Widgets

To make following, reading, and sharing Skatter Tech easier, we now offer interactive widgets site-wide. Whether you are looking for an RSS Feed or want to email a friend a story, widgets are always nearby. Live streams from Facebook and Twitter even allow keeping an eye on trending stories.

A New Homepage

As Skatter Tech leaves the common blog layout, our new home page becomes the best destination for a quick preview of the latest headlines. With a featured gallery and the latest stories from each Hub, there’s never a story that will fall under your radar.

A Special Thanks

I should note that the Skatter Tech revamp wouldn’t have been possible if it weren’t for some people. Thanks to Sharath Shroff, Ian Thackston, and Sanketh Katta for assisting me through the design and development process. I would also like to thank the amazing folks at WordPress for creating such an awesome open platform. And finally, the helpful community at StackOverflow can answer just about any question.

What’s Next

While these were just a few highlights, there’s a lot more to see. Feel free to jump right in and make your way through the site. Although we beta tested prior to launch, if you do find any bugs, please report them on the Contact page. If you are running Google Chrome, which we definitely recommend, be sure to checkout our new web app. And if you have not already done so, head over to our Subscribe page to sign up for updates.

We hope that you enjoy reading Skatter Tech as much as we enjoy writing for it. There are even more features coming down the pipeline, so keep an eye out for them.

Links: About Skatter Tech