About

Background

Pacific NW Portal was founded on January 31st, 2005 as a news hub and gateway for the Pacific Northwest region of North America (also called Cascadia). It provides up to date news headlines and progressive commentary on current events for the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho.

Pacific NW Portal is regional in scope. It brings together perspectives from Idaho's Treasure Valley to Washington's Olympic Peninsula - and beyond.

Pacific NW Portal is owned and powered by the Northwest Progressive Institute, a netroots powered strategy center working to raise America's quality of life through innovative research and imaginative advocacy.

It is our policy to try to be as inclusive and helpful to the entire regional progressive community as possible. We created the Regional Blogroll for this purpose. If you are the author of a progressive blog, or a webmaster of a website based out of Washington, Oregon, or Idaho, your site is eligible for inclusion in our directory. Submit your site for consideration here.

Blogs with multiple contributors are welcome for inclusion in the directory as long as one of the contributors is living in one of the five states mentioned above.If you make your home in Washington, Oregon, or Idaho, but are temporarily out of the region, your site can still be included.

Pacific NW Portal has stricter criteria for blogs selected for syndication. The following are the basic criteria generally required for syndication (in addition to the directory inclusion requirements):

  • Publication of an RSS or Atom feed that we can access;
  • A strong focus on local, state (any state in the Pacific Northwest), and or regional issues, blended with periodic national and international news and analysis
  • Frequent updates (daily posting is ideal, but near daily posting, at least a few times a week, is also acceptable)
  • Well written, original content (not just a compendium of links to other places, but original news, investigative reporting, or analysis)
  • Neatly presented for easy navigation

Pacific NW Portal currently syndicates twenty-four blogs. Each of those may display a syndicated button featuring their home state.

Blogs we don't syndicate may still display a link button, but they may not display a "Pacific NW Portal Syndicated" button.

Timeline and Development History

The following is a comprehensive overview of Pacific NW Portal's growth, looking back from the present to January 31st, 2005. Each version release reference includes links to related posts from The Advocate.

About the codenames
Every release of Pacific NW Portal is named for a community, town, or city on the Oregon coast, beginning with Version 1.0 (Astoria) to Version 5.0 (Newport). Many releases have had other informal nicknames as well, which are listed next to the official codename for that release.

Yachats/Tenth Anniversary Edition (Version 5.7)

Released on January 31st, 2015

Summary: Maintenance release, with bug fixes and minor enhancements.

Otter Rock (Version 5.6)

Released on September 23rd, 2013

Summary: Maintenance release, with bug fixes and minor enhancements.

Waldport (Version 5.5)

Released on March 13th, 2013

Summary: Maintenance release, with bug fixes and minor enhancements.

Beverly Beach (Version 5.4)

Released on December 28th, 2012

Summary: Maintenance release, with bug fixes and minor enhancements.

Depoe Bay (Version 5.3)

Released on October 24th, 2012

Summary: Maintenance release, with bug fixes and minor enhancements. New site tagline introduced (cascadia's news hub).

Seal Rock (Version 5.2)

Released on February 24th, 2012

Summary: Maintenance release consisting of minor improvements. Pacific NW Portal relocated to a new server and also received its own domain name (http://pacific.nwportal.info/)

Agate Beach (Version 5.1)

Released on January 29th, 2012

Summary: Maintenance release consisting of bug fixes and adjustments to improve accessibility and readability.

Newport (Version 5.0)

Released on December 22nd, 2011 | Theme: Speed
Summary: The most complete revamp of Pacific NW Portal yet undertaken, with a particular emphasis on speedy loading, support for smartphones and tablets, and graceful degradation of advanced features in older, more crumbly browsers. Several new pages were introduced, including NW Life, Breaking Now, and the Idaho Digest. A modernized Regional Blogs Directory was unveiled, with listings sorted by city as well as state.

Inauguration Day Edition/Sunset Beach (Version 4.3)
Released on January 17th, 2009
Summary: Debuted nearly half a dozen new syndicated blogs and upgraded a few outdated features. Last major change to the Seaside foundation.

Third Anniversary Edition/Miles Crossing (Version 4.2)
Released on January 31st, 2008
Summary: Introduced several fixes, updated features, and a sampling of newly created blogs on the front page.

Svensen (Version 4.1)
Released on August 29th, 2006
Summary: Version 4.1 included a syndicate change, an improved Daily Kos diary tracker, and enhanced filtering technology for news wires.

Seaside (Version 4.0)
Released on May 24th, 2006 | Theme: Compatability
Summary: Billed at the time as the most compatible version of the site ever, Seaside introduced a sleeker, edgier, faster, and more reliable site, packed with well organized information. With a revamped Regional Blogs Directory featuring new tooltips, coverage of Montana, and many other new features, Seaside ranks as one of Pacific NW Portal's biggest overhauls.

Late November Update/Necanicum (Version 3.7)

Released on November 21st, 2005

Summary: The Regional Blogs Directory receives an update, and most of the pages on Pacific NW Portal receive minor upgrades or added news sources and blogs for indexing.

Marine Green/Gearhart (Version 3.5)

Released on October 24th, 2005 | Theme: Coverage

Summary: Major changes in "Marine Green" include new graphics, a new Resources section, redesigned Highlights section, clickable blog titles, and an expanded navigation bar.

Late August Update/Melville (Version 3.2)
Released on August 30th, 2005
Summary: The "Late August Update" includes the debut of a new syndicate member, another directory update, and another set of new graphics.

Early August Update/Tolovana Park (Version 3.1)
Released on August 4th, 2005
Summary: The Early August Update includes new graphics, better newswires, new syndicated blogs, a revamped Toolkit page (with better traffic and weather), another directory update, and minor changes to a few other pages.

True Blue/Cannon Beach (Version 3.0)
Released on July 20th, 2005 | Theme: Stability
Summary: "True Blue" is the most significant overhaul and redesign since the site's debut nearly six months earlier. The new version includes new sections andnew syndicated blogs along with a sizable Regional Blogs directory update and vastly improved feed engine.

Lukarilla (Version 2.5)
Released on May 10th, 2005
Summary: Version 2.5 introduces the Toolkit section. Most pages are given important updates.

Knappa (Version 2.3)

Released on April 25th, 2005
Summary: Version 2.3 launches with an updated Regional Blogs directory and a new Highlights section.

Jewell (Version 2.2)

Released on March 29th, 2005
Summary: Version 2.2 includes blog syndication changes and an update to the Regional Blogs directory.

Elsie (Version 2.1)

Released on March 21st, 2005
Summary: Version 2.1 rolls out improved newswires with better filtering to screen out conservative and unwanted traditional news sources.

Warrenton (Version 2.0)
Released on February 28th, 2005
Summary: Version 2 debuts a smarter front page, two new sections, and a new Blogs & Websites directory with site icons for every blog.

Arch Cape (Version 1.7)

Released on February 14th, 2005
Summary: Version 1.7 includes an Expanded Oregon section with six additional syndicated blogs from the Beaver State.

Wauna (Version 1.5)

Released on February 10th, 2005
Summary: A minor package of changes is released - with the largest being a font change on the RSS feeds, which is changed to Trebuchet MS from Garamond. Version 1.5 also includes new CSS code to stabilize the display in different browsers. Support for Firefox is improved.

Brownsmead (Version 1.1)

Released on February 7th, 2005
Summary: Version 1.1 introduces the Expanded Washington section with six additional syndicated blogs from the Evergreen State.

Inaugural Debut/Astoria (Version 1.0)

Released on January 31st, 2005
Summary: Pacific NW Portal Version 1.0 is officially launched, and traffic takes off. Version 1.0 includes just three pages.

Beta
In Development January 10th-28th, 2005
Summary: Pacific NW Portal is conceptualized and developed. By the 28th, a beta version is live on the web for testing.