As Skeptical Science grows, the website is beginning to creak around the edges and some housekeeping becomes necessary. In this case, I've finally completed a task I've been procrastinating for years - adding drop down navigation menus. These let you mouseover the top navigation links, instantly presenting links to important subpages rather than have to search around endlessly (as some have reported to me in a somewhat frustrated tone).
So you'll find the navigation links at the top have been reorganised. Arguments now gives you links to the various ways the skeptic arguments are organised - by taxonomy, by popularity, a print friendly version (apparently there's this medium called paper which a small minority still use) and all the short URLs. I've also added in an old link listing skeptic arguments which contradict each other - hopefully I'll get around to developing this page further in 2011 as there's a lot of potential insights hidden away in that particular set of data.
All the SkS software is now grouped under a Software link - it's now much easier to find the Firefox Add-on which doesn't get all the publicity and admiration of the iPhone app but is just as cool (IMHO). The various resources such as the Scientific Guide to Global Warming Skepticism and the high-rez Climate Graphics can be found under Resources. And all 19 languages that Skeptical Science rebuttals have been translated into are available via Translations.
Another function I've been meaning to do, as much for my own convenience as for others, is to create an additional short collection of special short URLs. Currently, we have short URLs for every skeptic argument. But there are other important pages on Skeptical Science which people often link to from other blogs and tweets - now you can give people the link using a short URL. The new short URLs available are:
| The Scientific Guide to Global Warming Skepticism | http://sks.to/guide |
| Climate Graphics | http://sks.to/graphics |
| Skeptic Arguments | http://sks.to/args |
| iPhone App | http://sks.to/iphone |
| Firefox Add-on | http://sks.to/firefox |
| The list of short URLs | http://sks.to/url |
And of course, linking to http://sks.to will send people straight to the SkS homepage. If there's another SkS page I've overlooked that you'd like a short URL for, let me know in the comments below.
Lastly, someone recently asked me if it was possible to make monthly Paypal donations to support Skeptical Science. At the time, I wasn't even aware of such a service but I was pointed to some other examples and I set up a monthly donations form. The work at Skeptical Science is unfunded other than Paypal donations and as the website grows, the time demands and expenses of maintaining the website also grow. So any support, even a small monthly donation, is much appreciated in order to keep Skeptical Science going.
Posted by John Cook on Thursday, 3 March, 2011
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