Introducing APSnet

Introducing the New APSnet

Jim MacDonald

I'm pleased to announce the revised APSnet. One of the most obvious changes is that the site is located at www.apsnet.org, not at the old "scisoc" location. The new home page now includes a rotating "notices" box. It will highlight information important to APS members regarding APSnet itself, society activities, and plant pathology generally. The popular monthly APSnet feature stories and image of the week will continue to populate the home page as in the past. I hope you will stay informed by being a frequent visitor. In fact, why not make APSnet your personal home page now?

Another feature of the new site is improved navigation. The expanding Main Menu in the left hand column of most pages is designed to move users to nearly all pages of the site in an intuitive, efficient manner. Please, give it a try. Once within a section, such as the APS Member Area, links at the top of the page facilitate access to other pages within the same section.

To further improve access, password restrictions have been removed from nearly all areas of the site. Currently, passwords are needed only for full-text journal articles from Phytopathology, Plant Disease, and Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions. But even in these areas, tables of contents, abstracts, and search capabilities are free.

Most APSnet content has been reformatted to the new design, although, some has been left in its archival form as originally published. Dated and infrequently accessed material has been removed to keep the site fresh. Some content has been reclassified and relocated. Hopefully, users will easily find what they need. In particular, most items from the original APSnet Resource Center now reside in Online Resources, including past APSnet feature stories, image resources, proceedings from online events, and Common Names of Plant Diseases. Components from the Resource Center that originated from the annual meeting and journals now reside in those areas.

Three exciting new areas of APSnet are the Plant Pathology Education Center; the journal, Plant Health Progress; and a fully functional online bookstore. More information concerning the Education Center and Plant Health Progress is available in messages from their Editors-in-Chief, Gail Schumann and Tim Murray, respectively. The APS PRESS Bookstore is now open for business.

With all of the good news, there is also some housekeeping. Users must reset all links and favorites from the old site to the new. Although the former APSnet, www.scisoc.org, will remain available for some time, it will no longer be updated and will eventually be removed from the web. Also, the new APSnet is dependent on more recent technologies. I strongly recommend you visit Get Help Viewing APSnet and update your Internet browser as necessary.

In revising APSnet, we've literally moved and redesigned thousands of pages and reset even more links. Please help us by reporting any problems.

Also, please take time to familiarize yourself with all of the new APS electronic initiatives and to participate in them. They are intended to move the society into a new era of online communication, collaboration, and information dissemination.

Jim MacDonald
Director
APS Office of Electronic Communications
jdmacdonald@ucdavis.edu