Direct Access

Eric Herman

More than ever, the Internet is shaping the way we communicate and run our businesses. As I’ve mentioned previously, this why we’ve been working for a year now to enhance watershapes.com, backing the magazine up with resources and features designed to give you quicker, more convenient access to important information.

As a prime example, in this issue we welcome you to a better way to get additional information from advertisers in this magazine and from companies appearing in our Of Interest pages. Effective immediately, we will be switching from our old postcard/snail-mail system and graduating to an all-new, Web-based system that will give you easier, faster, better access to details about products and services that catch your eye.

So now, instead of pulling out a card, circling numbers, filling in all sorts of contact information and waiting for replies, you simply go to a single page on our Web site where you will find direct links to supplier sites and, whenever we can manage it, to the exact page carrying information on the products or services that interest you most.

In the magazine itself, we’ll still provide a page with an index of our display advertisers and companies that appear in Of Interest, including their phone numbers and Web addresses. But we’re also adding a huge dose of modern convenience to the mix.

With the old indexes, you needed to type in a supplier’s full Web address yourself and laboriously repeat the exercise for every advertiser site you wanted to visit. Now, all those addresses will be listed on our site with fully active links – all on one page. All you need to do is click on the link and you’ll be right where you want to be; then, simply by clicking on the “back” button, you’ll return to our site so you can follow up additional links.

It’s as easy as can be – all part of the series of upgrades that has added greatly to the value of visiting watershapes.com. Check it out: There’s lots to see!

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In this same spirit of innovation, we’re also pushing elements of the magazine’s coverage in directions that both inspire and inform across the broad spectrum of the watershaping arts and crafts.

In this issue, for instance, you’ll find the first part of a new series of short features by watershaper Paolo Benedetti: Called “Solutions,” it’s the result of conversations Paolo and I have had about the desirability of the magazine offering focused technical pieces about specific design and construction details.

First time out (click here), he hits the ground running with a discussion of an approach he uses to conceal isolation joints between bond beams and decks – a nifty trick that serves both the structural and aesthetic needs of custom watershapes.

We know you’ll find it helpful!