We also have an essay contrasting the adolescence of a first-world teenage boy with that of an embattled youth in Rwanda: “I Was 16.”

I recently posted about the 10 Best Books I Didn’t Read in 2011 and weighed in on the Amazon vs. Indie throwdown.

And I updated the submissions guidelines for writers.

Now I just need to redesign the whole site, finish the WordPress development, and everything will be dandy.

The task of rebuilding Identity Theory from the ground up is daunting because there are so many old stories — ten years’ worth — that are difficult to transfer to a more high-powered content management system, not to mention that the site contains a handful of multi-author blogs, substantial “orphaned” content, and dozens of photo galleries. (I also worry about losing the search placement we’ve built up through eleven years of backlinks, though I have some faith in 301s.)

This large-scale content transfer and redevelopment is such a complicated undertaking for a relatively minor literary journal — thousands of dollars of development work for a payoff that is at best questionable — that I’ve put it off for years, settling for minor patches to a sinking ship on the theory that people ultimately only care about the content (which is true, I hope).

I don’t believe, however, that you can produce a quality magazine-style website unless you can manage the content at least as well as a random blogger can manage a Blogspot blog. Since Identity Theory launched 11 years ago — before you could build a powerful online magazine in WordPress, Drupal and the like — it has paradoxically lagged behind the more recently launched journals in interactivity and ease of use.

With that in mind, here are some online magazines/literary blogs that have actualized many of the ideas I have wanted to put into place on Identity Theory over the years — and with very nice designs to go with them.

The Awl – Their motto: “Be Less Stupid.” I couldn’t “Be More Impressed.”

HTMLGIANT – I like the informality, visual feel and constant literary dialogue.

The Nervous Breakdown - Haven’t spent much time on this site yet, but when I found it I was like, “Hey that’s exactly what I envisioned years ago doing with Identity Theory if I ever had the time.”

Similarly, The Rumpus - Always has good stuff. Every day. Stephen Elliott has done a great job putting together a literary website that takes advantage of all the latest web technology.

Feel free to point me to other magazine websites using the latest publishing technology that will make me jealous. It motivates me to see what the new kids are doing, and I am excited about building Identity Theory into a fully functional site that could be even half as useful/informative/awesome as the sites listed above.

The conclusion? “With content ranging from John Cusack’s views of torture to a wickedly satirical short story about a marketing consultant, IT defies demographic niches, and proves that you can do serious reading on a screen.”

Check it out over at: Burlington Resident Explores Identity Theory in His High-Profile E-Journal