Welcome to the new and improved Mike Went West! I’ve made a ton of changes in an effort to improve your browsing experience. One of the more noticeable changes is the top banner image, which now prominently displays my blog name. Another big change is the drop-down menu system under the banner. This should help in browsing the archives (which are all finally available now). I’ve also modified the popular articles section in the side bar to display the most viewed articles from the past day, week, month, and year.

I’ve made significant changes to individual article pages. First, I added Twitter and Facebook integration so you can more easily share my site with your friends (if you are so inclined). Second, I added a related articles section at the end of each post to make it easier to find similar articles. And third, I added threaded comments to facilitate dialogue on my site.

Some sections and pages may not display properly yet; however, most everything should be functional. I’ll be rolling out additional site improvements over the next few weeks, so check back regularly. Enjoy!

About a week ago I tweaked the layout of my front page. Perhaps you noticed. If not, here’s a verbal summary of the changes. First, I made the Features section more prominent – it now takes up the entire width of the page. And second, I moved the Reviews section downward and put it next to the News. See the above images for a visual summary of the changes (old design on the left, new one on the right).

More importantly, I added two new post categories. The first category, New Releases, will feature short articles about the most noteworthy new albums released each week. The second category, Free Music, will highlight the best albums and mixtapes available for free on the internet. Both categories will show up in the News section on my home page. I’ll try to post an article in the New Releases category each week (except for those weeks when nothing good is released) and new articles in Free Music whenever something amazing comes along (I already have a few in the works). Stay tuned.

And while I’ve got your attention, expect a new Mike Mix sometime this week!

Welcome to the newly-redesigned Mike Went West! As you can see, I’ve drastically changed the layout of the front page. I’ve also organized the content of my site into four main categories: mixes, features, reviews, and news. Each category has its own section on the front page. Archives for a particular category can be viewed by clicking either the section heading (on the front page) or the button in the blue menu bar (at the top of all pages). Everything except the archives should be functional. Hopefully these changes make my site easier to navigate. Enjoy!