Even though the current version of The Feather Online launched over one year ago, Jan. 24, this does not mean development on new and improved features ceased. Many new features have been quietly rolled out over the past year, continually improving ease of use on The Feather.

In early October The Feather introduced “The Teen Age,” a daily comic written and illustrated by Daniel Hopper.

Around the same time, live sportscasting began in conjunction with the video productions classes, led by advisor Scott Callisch.

The Feather began to incorporate sharing to Facebook in January and introduced submitting to Digg several weeks later. Readers of The Feather can also follow updates on Twitter.

In mid-February The Feather also launched the Downloads Center. Located on the top right corner of the Web site, just above the podcasting link, the Downloads Center is the newest area of development for the newspaper.

The Dashboard widget is the first release into the Downloads Center. Dashboard is a program included on the Mac OS X operating system and The Feather widget is a way to quickly show new updates. A Windows Sidebar gadget is currently being developed. Also, The Feather will now feature slideshows for a more interactive experience.

The first few slideshows on The Feather Online can be found in the following articles: Girls’ basketball sport shorts, Cheer to perform at USA Spirit Nationals, How to: Make a ribbon, Track and field sport shorts, 2009, Autorama rallies motor fans, Golf sport shorts, 2009 and Badminton proffers intramural challenge.

Additional sideshows will be added to articles, including JV and varsity boys’ basketball, and eventually a separate Media Center will house all slideshows.

The Feather Online will continue to explore new possibilities for updates, so check for new features in the future.