Simpsons Channel

The Simpsons Channel was opened on December 17th, 1997 by Brian Chen. It was the first site to offer Simpsons web news, and a linking system which grouped he best sites by categories. It was an immediate success and a great way to find relevant content around the web. Chen quietly left the scene by leaving the site unupdated seven months later and in July 1998 the site was given to current owner Adam Wolf. The site was given it’s first design change on October 3rd, 1998, and was expanded to include more community-driven elements such as Springfield Community Switchboard and Interview With A Webmaster. Eric Wirtanen was added to the staff for link maintenance duties.

COMMUNITY ERA

The third layout was our biggest change yet and was launched January 15th, 2000. Daily updates were a feature that kept people coming back to the site. A fourth, yellow and black design arrived just 7 months after the blue one, in July 2000. Updates to the Channel slowed down until early 2001 when a content management system was installed to make the posting of news easier. A loss in hits prompted some changes to the main page. These changes formed the fifth layout, which arrived on May 12th, 2001. The site was given its next design on December 17th 2001, for it’s fourth birthday. While updates were kept at a constant state with this design, the web community was dying around it and sites had no news to report.

A NEW(S) DIRECTION

It was time to take a different approach, and so began the new era of The Simpsons Channel. Focusing entirely on news, The Simpsons Channel now aims to bring the latest show news to your home. The new format was a success throughout a two month trial period beginning October 2002 and has lasted up to the present day, more successful and informative than ever. The site changed its design in December 2003 which was slightly modified in June 2005. The 9th design was released in December 2005. Eric quietly left the site in July 2006, when the site added enhancements such as RSS Feeds and the ability to comment on news stories. The tenth design was unveiled in September 2006, and another in June 2007. In February 2008, the final design under our original news management script was unveiled.

PRESSING ISSUES

The site finally said goodbye to its 2001 news script on September 16, 2008, making way for Wordpress, a content management system which is popular with bloggers. This would allow for further growth of the website and allow for staff expansions.