Nathaniel Popkin

Rural America is often used to evoke the spirit of the nation. At least that’s what we have learned from pickup truck commercials and politicians. But we tend to think of urban America as a better gauge of where this country has been and where it’s headed in the future.

Philadelphia writer and author Nathaniel Popkin writes about the urban landscape, searching for American stories, both past and present, most notably in his book Song of the City. In his words, he writes about “the relationship of a city to its history, mythology, and people.”

A Growing Body of Work

Popkin felt the time had come to build his own home on the Web, a place where he could collect his growing archive of published work, try out new material and connect with his audience—and where his audience could find him. Regarding design, he wanted something that reflected his interest and had a literary vibe. He also wanted to be able to add new content himself.

Deliberately Literary

Nanomonkey started with a design that used minimal embellishments to convey the themes of serious writing about urban life. We also kept the focus on the written word, with an emphasis on typographic styles and layouts that are meant for reading, not the customary scanning of the Web.

We used semantic XHTML for information structure and CSS for delivering the literary presentation. While there are many benefits to this approach, one of the most immediate was that, within a week of launching the site, entering “Nathaniel Popkin” into one of the major search engines brought his new site to the top of the results.

Under the hood we installed a customized content management system the gives Popkin the ability to add new essays without fuss. Since his talents also include photography, we are in the process of adding a gallery function.

Services: graphic design, CSS and XHTML templates, custom CMS development
Launched: February 2007

About

Nanomonkey, LLC is a small consultancy, founded by Michael Prell, that makes websites and provides consulting and expertise to optimize the Web experience through editorial services, design, usability and Web application development. Read more.

Featured Work

Nathaniel Popkin
A place to collect a growing body of work, try out new material and connect with an audience.

University of Pennsylvania Department of History and Sociology of Science
Streamlined branding and a better way to organize content and keep it current.

Contact

Nanomonkey, LLC
465 W. Ellet Street
Philadelphia, PA 19119
Send a message
Download vCard

Bookmarked

• 10 High-Profit Redesign Priorities
  Jakob Nielsen tells you where to put your money. Our favorite quote? “Editors are always worth the cost.”
• The Business Value of Web Standards
  What's so great about using Web standards? Jeffrey Veen presents an air-tight business case for using Web standards on your next project.
• Where Am I?
  Help site visitors find their way with these navigation best practices.
• Entire Harper's Archive Now Online for Subscribers
  Including, in the October 1851 issue of Harper's New Monthly Magazine, The Town-Ho's story from "The Whale," a new work by Herman Melville.
• The Friends of City Hall
  Nathaniel Popkin offers a few suggestions on what to do about the dead zone in and around Philadelphia’s most important piece of architecture.