| News release – February 2005 |
New and noteworthy on the
official Old Montréal Website |
A new look
We've added plenty of new content
to the Old Montréal Web site over the
years. More has been placed on-line just recently, and still more will be integrated
over the next two months. With all this new content comes a new look: the home
page has been revamped, for instance, to provide a better browsing experience
and help you find what you're interested in more easily. Colour coding and sub-headings
have been used to group information more clearly. And be sure not to miss the
new portal, featuring a spectacular photo taken by Webmaster Denis Tremblay.
Enjoy your visit, and remember – your comments are always welcome!
Web site portal:
www.vieux.montreal.qc.ca
Home page in English:
www.vieux.montreal.qc.ca/eng/accueila.htm |
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Streets and squares, illustrated
The Old Montréal Heritage Inventories include a section devoted to place-names
and the historical evolution of every street and square in the historic district.
These topics are now accompanied by period illustrations as well as recent photographs,
providing a new and often surprising way of "time-traveling" through
Old Montréal. Remparts-RS, a firm specializing in historical and heritage
studies, conducted the research and chose the images. Users can click on any
street or square name on the "Heritage in Detail" map pages, or go
to the index page (available in French only at the moment) providing access to
the place-name database, entering search criteria to find a street or square:
www.vieux.montreal.qc.ca/inventaire/fiches/rech_rue.php
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New, enriched Heritage
Inventories
Work on the Heritage Inventories will be completed by March 31 (even if that
deadline is making some of us nervous!). In the months to come, you will see
this section of the site grow rapidly, as hundreds of texts and archival photos
are added, not to mention new biographies of historical personalities. The completion
of the Inventories marks the culmination of several years' research by a number
of accomplished historians, accompanied by a team from the Université du
Québec à Montréal (UQAM) History Department. For now, the
Inventories are available in French only. |
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Revisiting the store-residence
As a foretaste of all this exciting new
content, we invite users to view three entries, including two
in English, prepared by historian Alan Stewart, our specialist
on pre-industrial Old Montréal, with help from Valérie
D'Amour. They examine the store-residence, a building type erected
in the years 1825-1850. Long misunderstood – and often incorrectly
dated – these mixed-use buildings testify to a period of marked
socioeconomic change, during which housing, business and artisanal
production co-existed within the same four walls.
206,
rue Saint-Paul Ouest (demonstration in English)
171,
rue Saint-Paul Ouest (demonstration
in English)
206,
rue Saint-Paul Ouest (in French)
171,
rue Saint-Paul Ouest (in French)
9-11,
rue Saint-Paul Ouest (in French)
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50% jump in number
of visitors in 2004
The Old Montréal Web site recorded
604,000 visits during 2004, with each visit lasting, on average,
10-1/2 minutes. The Quick Tour, the sections providing tourism
information, and the sections on the district's history were
the pages most frequently viewed. As well, the detailed Heritage
Inventories are enjoying continued success: each of the 580 items
on individual buildings in the neighbourhood was viewed an average
of 30 times per month. |
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Getting to know
you better
Close to 900 Web users have taken the time
to answer our survey questionnaire since its launch in mid-July
of 2004. Your comments are invaluable to us, and we thank all
of you for responding! Here are some of the things we've learned
thanks to you:
If you would like to receive a copy of the
full survey results and analysis (available in French only) or
wish to comment on the site in any way, please feel free to contact
us.
To respond to the online survey, go to www.vieux.montreal.qc.ca/eng/accueila.htm and
click the "Survey" button. |
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