Public Invited to Give Feedback on New LDS.org By Abbey Olsen, Church Magazines New look, new features, same feel. The Church has released the redesigned LDS.org in beta form. The test is available to the public at http://beta.lds.org, and members are invited to review the site and give feedback before the Church replaces the existing LDS.org with the new site later this summer. “We hope that a lot of people will use the site and let us know if they find any problems or if they have suggestions to make it better,” said Larry Richman, director of the Church's Internet Coordination Group. “They may see things we didn't see because we're so close to it.” The new Web site is part of a project that began in 2004 to redesign the site not only for visual presentation, but to make it more user-friendly and to provide easier navigation and a wider array of tools. The redesign is based on a software and infrastructure upgrade that also allows the Church to build and maintain the site more efficiently. The initial release of the site includes several new features such as a new home page, the ability to search content on all Church Web sites (not just the Gospel Library), an A–Z Index, a new Gospel Topics section, news and events, helps to prepare talks, and expanded e-mail subscriptions. Subsequent releases will include additional features. When the new site replaces the old site, the Church will also release an enhanced Gospel Library with more content and formats, and better search capabilities. “The new Gospel Library will make it much easier to find Church materials,” said Brother Richman. The new library will allow users to first search for content they need and then choose the format available, such as text or video format, rather than select the format before searching as the current site requires. Future plans for the site include (1) the ability for users to register, allowing members to identify themselves so they can access information and services relative to their Church callings, (2) additional instructional and training material for Church callings, (3) content created especially for youth and children, (4) a global version of the Meetinghouse Locator in several languages, (5) international stake and ward Web sites, and (6) a worldwide calendar of events. Later this year, the Church expects to make all LDS.org content available in nine additional languages: Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. LDS.org has existed since 1994 when it was a static site in English. Over the last 12 years, LDS.org has gone through several changes with multiple redesigns—the current design was implemented in 2000. Within the last six years, the Church has implemented the Meetinghouse Locator feature (2000), the Public Affairs Newsroom site (2000), the CES Web Site (2001), Stake and Ward Web Sites (2001), Mormon.org (September 2001), multiple country Web sites (beginning with Germany in 2000), a Temples Web Site (2002), the Provident Living site (January 2003), the Church History site (April 2003), the Home and Family site (October 2003), the Church Music site (May 2004), Serving in the Church (June 2004), handheld content in multiple formats (July 2004), audio and music files in MP3 format (September 2004), Braille files (March 2005), the Joseph Smith Web Site (April 2005), an American Sign Language page (January 2006), and RSS feeds (March 2006). For more information on new features and future plans for the Web site, link to "What's New and What's Coming?"