Food, and cars, and games – oh yes!

The GATE is changing a little more once again. Call it The GATE version 5.1, if you will. I’m not changing how the site actually looks this time though, but more how I sort the stories, where you can find things on the site, and some changes in what The GATE covers as well.

Since 2000, I’ve grown the site from focusing on music alone, to covering film, television, gadgets, and games, but I haven’t done a lot to change the categories on the site since then. I’ve grown those categories, and added to them, but Spotlight has remained as the “features” section of the site, and then there’s the News, Reviews, and Blog.

For all of the different things The GATE covers though, that scheme just doesn’t make much sense any more. When people browse this site, or any other sites, they are looking for something specifically, and Spotlight doesn’t mean a lot in that frame of mind, so I’m finally breaking out new categories to suit what we cover.

The new categories are already being used, but they’re a little sparsely filled right now while I move some recent stories over into them, and get new content rolling. You can get a taste of what all these categories mean now down below, but it also signals a change for the site.

Up until now, I didn’t cover food, style, clothes, cars, appliances or anything like that because there was no place on the site to put any of those things, aside from in the blog. Now though, with the new Food & Style category, I’m expanding to make room for those things. It’s a very broad category, but I think it brings together like-minded stories that all have to do with lifestyle topics.

There is also a new category for video game coverage, gadgets, and technology, which finally provides one category for that topic, including reviews, interviews, and news.

Here is the full list of categories The GATE will be using going forward: Film, Television, Music, Food & Style, Gaming & Gadgets, Travel, and of course the Blog, Contests & Giveaways, and Event listings.

The Spotlight section will remain as the ongoing home of the Toronto International Film Festival coverage each year, in addition to coverage of other festivals and events, like NXNE and CMW.

So, what do you think? We’d love to hear any feedback you have, and whether you’re looking forward to stories in any particular category. Let me know what you think!