News

By Alex Russell, Director of Web Development and Office Logistics

With all that’s been happening in the world of manatees, taking on new projects can be daunting. However, I am thrilled to share with you a project we’ve been working on throughout the summer—a new website! You may have seen our new Manatee Store platform earlier this year, and this new main website marks the start of the next chapter of updates.

We received news from our website provider of an update coming to our platform last year that would require an overhaul of the layout. I can’t say that wasn’t intimidating at first, but it’s been amazing to see the collaboration of the mana-team in bringing this all to fruition. Additionally, we have so many thoughts based on our own experiences and the feedback received from supporters like you. It’s been a wonderful opportunity to revisit those ideas and start implementing them.

One of our primary goals with this new website was to offer more options in our top menu without overwhelming the menu, but this can be difficult to balance. We’ve added so much information since our last redesign, including updated facts, videos, and stories about these gentle giants. We wanted to give those updates the space they deserve so that you can stay up to date on information as it’s available.

What’s also exciting for me is developing some of the ideas from our team and supporters, like with our new kids’ section. We designed this with the idea of helping provide engaging ways for future conservationists to learn about manatees and take action on their behalf. If you’re signed up for the digital copy of this newsletter, you may even notice a new system for sharing our newsletters with you! With the new website, we have an updated framework in place that will allow us to work on more projects like these. The possibilities are endless, and we’re eager to bring them to life.

While I’m excited to share what we’ve accomplished so far, there’s still so much on the horizon and a lot more ideas to incorporate. I can’t wait to start working on the next phase of improvements and to share our progress with you!