- 06 November 2006 -
Web Site Changes to Better Meet Your Information Needs
By Greg Valero, Publisher

One of the benefits of being affiliated with an $8-billion publishing company, Reed Elsevier, is we have the ability to leverage our corporate capabilities to provide additional benefits to our readers. Over the past few months, we have tapped into the resources of our IT department to refine our Web site—www.metalfinishing.com—to offer visitors additional opportunities for suppliers to reach their customer base.

We are continually updating our editorial content and recently added some new elements to the site that provide industry members with additional business and technical information related to surface finishing. By complementing Metal Finishing with electronic media solutions, we can deliver essential information on a daily basis.

For example, the new "Washington Wire" section provides updates on the latest environmental, health and safety issues and legislation that stands to impact our industry. Similarly, "Global Watch" offers international announcements relevant to finishing.

If you're looking for breaking news, check out the top of the home page, where you can get industry updates as they happen. You can also access the Metal Finishing Weekly link, where you'll find the latest edition and can opt-in to receive this free weekly e-newsletter.

We've also made it easier for you to surf for technical and product information on the Web site and Web by incorporating a Google search engine. If you’re interested in locating technical papers previously published in Metal Finishing, you can visit our " Archives" section. This area will take you directly to Reed Elsevier's renown Science Direct Web site, which contains more than a quarter of the world’s scientific, medical, and technical information online.

Coming soon are additional features and content that promise to make our site even more functional, thereby enhancing your buying/selling efforts. For instance, we have the ability to produce a streaming video and audio Web cast that combines the immediacy of the Internet with the impact of the latest Web-viewing technology. We can offer streaming video and audio segments demonstrating product solutions live from, say, a trade show floor such as SUR/FIN. These and other capabilities will be available by January.

When you have a moment, please check out www.metalfinishing.com and let us know what you think. Our goal is to better tailor our coverage and service options to provide industry members with new and updated information that can help them make informed business decisions. That's what quality editorial is all about.