Here's David with the first big London Walks news of the Summer 2012 season…
Okay, major major MAJOR changes to www.walks.com are in the pipeline. This, e.g. 1) The homepage will have a completely different look. You'll like it a lot. It's a brilliant design. Fun. Fresh. Very London. And VERY London Walks. And, equally to the point, it's going to be much cleaner, pared down. We're talking take it all in at a glance – and in that same glance, find the click-through you need. 2) The other major change is we're going over to a Google calendar. It's just so intuitive. You click on the date and, hey presto, up comes the schedule for that date. The start time and title of each walk for that particular day (date). Organised chronologically of course. Click on any title and you get "additional" information: e.g., the meeting point, a brief description of the walk in question, and indeed the time the walk ends. And of course, its being Google, there's "further information" just a click away. A map, for example. (Still some teething problems therein, I hasten to add. The map Google is bringing up for Westminster Tube is Westminster, California! Long way to go for the start of a Westminster Abbey walk!!!!) And you can of course, at a click, add any given walk to your personal calendar – with all the attendant bells and whistles that entails (reminders, alerts – if you've set them, etc.). That said, it's early early early days with this. Teething stage. It's entirely possible that we'll end up building our own, dedicated London Walks calendar – rather than going with the Google "off the peg" model. Have to see. Anyway, we've uploaded an upcoming week of London Walks for you to test drive. Rather than front paging it – that step is a few weeks down the road – we've tucked it away, almost but not quite out of sight. A click here, though, will take you there. As you'll see, the week that is up there begins on Monday, May 7 and runs through Sunday, May 13. (Actually, the we've just dipped our big toe into the Monday, May 14 offerings – the Day Trip for that day – to Cambridge – is also listed on the calendar.) Anyway, PLEASE – especially you London Walks aficionados, you loyal regulars – shimmer on over there (a click here – test drive it, explore it, and – hugely important this – tell us what you think. And please don't get the wrong end of the stick. The "Calendar" is by no means going to be the whole story. We're certainly not "reducing" www.walks.com to that calendar. It's an "add on" rather than a replacement. An add-on that surely will be hugely welcome to busy people who want the essentials and want them quickly, cleanly and efficiently. And that brings me to the big question: what's going to happen the the old familiar – and much loved by many – www.walks.com? The old familiar www.walks.com that in some ways is like Great Granny's attic – or an Advent Calendar. I.E. overflowing with wonderful stuff, with all kinds of pretty special odds and ends about London and London Walks. Well, none of that will be lost. There'll be a "door" that those who want to can "pass through" and hey presto it'll all be there, the "old look" www.walks.com. All the London and London Walks stuff that's found its way into Great Granny's attic! But you won't be confronted with that overflowing treasure chest when you first drop in to www.walks.com. First impression will be – well, not minimalist (because this is, after all, London and London Walks), but a whole lot less of a three-ring circus. Much cleaner and leaner. You'll be able to get in, get what you want – and get out. But with that "door" there for those who've come to love this website just the way it is. The door to Great Granny's attic.
