The Merrillville Community Planetarium introduced its new website as of January 1st. The new website provides information on all of the shows MCP offers, as well as easier navigation and a more pleasant appearance. Planning for the new website began about four months ago and was executed by two former Student Assistants, Tom Dobes and Steve Sumichrast.

The new web site offers users much easier navigation, as well as new features such as site-wide searching, an online calendar, and the ability to browse the Sky News database by topics. MCP elected to use the new Content Management System Drupal, which uses PHP. The hosting service for the website was also switched to Ohio-based Made2Own.

The new Drupal system allows utilizes a Google-like searching feature, which returns relevant content based on numerous characteristics. Visitors will now be able to find content on the MCP web site very quickly and easily. This upgrade also introduced a new feature that group's have been requesting for years: an online calendar of already-booked slots. Group's can now visit the Group Shows section and see a daily-updated calendar of shows that are booked at MCP. This can help groups cut down on the time they spend on the phone trying to reserve a time at MCP. Our popular Sky News newsletter has also received an upgrade. Over the next few months, content will be listed under various categories, allowing users to browse our articles by content, rather than by issue dates.

More information about the site can be found at http://www.mcpstars.org/info/website. The Planetarium is located inside of Clifford Pierce Middle School, at 199 East 70th Avenue in Merrillville, Indiana. You can contact the Planetarium at (219) 650-5486.