Hell For Leather launches version 2.0

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By now, you’ve probably noticed some changes taking place around here. That’s because we just underwent a total redesign. The site should now look richer, be more reader friendly and provide more functionality — making Hell For Leather an even better destination to get your up to-the-minute motorcycle news and immersive features.

New features on the site include:

Photo galleries: Scroll through the photo carousel above using the arrows. Clicking a thumbnail brings your selection into the main photo view. By clicking the main window, the images expand to fill your browser. You can now save high-resolution, 1280 pixel-wide versions.

Pagination: Our content is added in reverse chronological order. Browse back in time by clicking “Older” at the bottom of the main page.

Advertising: With the launch of version 2.0, we’re now accepting advertising inquiries. The income from ads will enable us to bring you even better content and much more of it. If you’re interested in advertising, e-mail us.

We hope you have as much fun reading Hell For Leather as we do making it.

  • Ben

    Keep up the good work, Wes (and Grant)!

    • http://hellforleathermagazine.com Grant Ray

      Thanks Ben.

  • Aaron

    Why does the whole page reload when you change a picture. I love the site, it just seems unnecessary.

    • http://hellforleathermagazine.com Grant

      Actually Aaron, the point of the page refresh is to allow 3rd party software, such as Google Analytics, to give proper feedback of HFL’s traffic and user habits. As soon as they, along with Sitemeter and the others, figure out how to track a user’s click history with imbedded Flash, Java scripts, DHTML, etc., we’ll ditch the page refresh.

      Promise.

      • Aaron

        Thanks for the reply Grant. I want to make it clear that I’m trying to help, not just criticize.

        I own a software development company and we primarily do slick websites. The way to accomplish google analytics click tracking with partial page postbacks is to call urchinTracker() in a pageLoad() function. pageLoad() is called every time the browser renders the page.

        This won’t work with a gallery where every image is loaded initially and then DHTML or javascript is used to switch them. It works beautifully where there is an ajaxRequest (or something similar) calling the next image from the server.

        Feel free to email me.

  • Christoph

    I really don’t see any differences…?

    Tastes the same, smells the same, and still shows up in my google reader basket the same.

    I’m a big fan of HFL v2.0

    • http://hellforleathermagazine.com Grant

      Thanks, Christoph. We’ve been implementing the new features bit by bit to ease the transition. We may still have a bug or two to fix, but we felt we were ready to make it official.

  • CB5

    Your blog is really damn good!

    Keep on rolling

  • http://triumphdaytona675.wordpress.com Sam

    It’s looking great and I’m actually glad to see advertising as it helps secure the future of the website.

    Sam

    P.S. If you ever need a UK correspondent let me know :P

  • Rob B

    Hey Wes & Grant,

    I’m a big fan of HFL for not only the bike news and info, but of your pics and story telling style. There were two great examples from yesterday to highlight this.

    First was in the KTM 990 Super Duke story with the descriptions on how to save and download pics dependent on whether you’re a John Hodgeman or Justin Long type of reader. That was humourous and cool enough to appeal to the geek in me. Then it was the Moab Expedition and your use of the classic western movies and actors to tie the story together and put me in the desert there with you. Plus that great jump by Grant!

    Well done!

    The restyle looks great. If the pics would save position after the page has reloaded, rather than having to scroll through again to find where I was would be good, but that’s a small gripe and I’m sure to get over it soon.

    I’ll take the Aus correspondent’s position. Where do I send my CV? It looks like you blokes have the best job ever!

    Thanks again.

    Cheers.

  • jeromelundegaard

    any chance of a mobile friendly site???

    • http://hellforleathermagazine.com Grant

      The site works fine on my iPhone…

      Oh. You meant you want the site to “work” on that Windows-based thingymajig of yours. Hmmm. Maybe call Steve on that one?

      Or maybe you meant an App-based version of the site for your iPhone. Sure thing! In 4 to 6 months, after we save up enough from the allowances our parents give us.

      Although you can get our feeds on twitter right now. It’s still pretty beta in terms of a full branded thing, but I’ll get round to taking care of that shortly.

  • Roy

    Yes we do have as much fun reading HFL. Amazing scoops and thoughtful critical analysis. I’m just wondering what the revenue model is. But keep it up!

  • John955

    I love the site Wes and Grant. I followed you over here from Jalopnik (CafeRacer1200) and really enjoy your fresh take on bikes. Keep up the great work!

  • http://www.damiengaudet.com blankfocus

    Keep up the great work, site is looking good.

  • Deb

    love the new version!! keep the info coming..keep the culture of cycles alive!!!
    you two guys are pretty special i do believe!
    And i am into adidas sports wear..thanks

  • Jonathan

    I’ve been looking in on the site from time to time. I do enjoy it quite a bit. In the day to day “motojournalism” where every new bike story seems to be “How can I lay out every new number with some cute adjectives, yet be slightly different from the last story where I did the same exact thing” it’s really nice to see a different take on things. Between people like yourself, John Burns (around a long time now) and Gary Inman (who I recently discovered), I think there is a new brand of motojournalism beginning to surface. And I dig it.