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News-Observer launches redesign

February 6, 2013 in General Media, industry news

Charlotte’s News & Observer launched a redesign of their web site today. Here’s the new site:

And here’s the old site in January from the Wayback Machine:

Publisher Orage Quarles III wrote:

We’ve kept favorite features such as most-read articles and the latest blog postings from our staff, and we’ve eliminated a lot of clutter that had accumulated over the years as we added content.

We know that change can be disconcerting, but the digital world is constantly evolving as research and technology yield a better experience for readers online. The new newsobserver.com design has been extensively tested with users and loaded with best practices for presentation.

On the new site, pages will load faster, thanks to improvements to the system that powers it.

I don’t normally highlight all the redesigns at professional sites, but it’s worth looking every once in a while to see where industry is going.

A few notes about the redesigned front page look:

  • This is not a responsive design. The site still loads a mobile “headlines” version on the iPhone, and the web version is fixed width, although it is wider than the previous version.
  • Headlines and text are sans-serif on the front page, replacing the serif headers on the previous version.
  • The main graphic has been upsized significantly, as have thumbnails on stories further down the page. As you scroll down the page, featured stories get more prominent display in the more horizontal descending layout.
  • There’s a lot more white space on the front, and fewer teaser paragraphs at the top of the page.
  • The main nav bar under the header is less cluttered and each link is larger, while the “family of sites” is now at the bottom of the page.

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Notes from Chicago: OR Magazine – interactive iPad magazines and user interaction

December 4, 2012 in design, ideas, industry news, iPad, Tech Talk, Websites

During the ACP/CMA convention in Chicago, I got to spend about 50 minutes with the students who developed OR Magazine as part of a class at the University of Oregon. The designers have now moved on to produce interactives for Flux Magazine.

For anyone producing student magazines or longform web publications, I’d encourage you to download the app and check it out. While the articles are laid out like traditional magazine articles, there are interactive elements in each one, ranging from video to touch/slide photo slideshows to interactive explanatory graphics.

It was hard to find fault with the overall graphic design of the product, so we talked quite a bit about user interaction, and that’s sort of the focus of this post.

I’m a big proponent of usability testing: getting some audience members to interact with your website/app/magazine/whatever and troubleshooting potential problems. Usability testing is especially critical for touch-screen media.

One reason for this is that people are developing new “habits” in terms of how they interact with content.

There is also this issue: People are still learning about tablets. By now, there’s a sizable user base of people who are familiar with navigating tablets. But there is also a sizable user base of people who have just got an iPad or Android tablet, and are still finding their way around.

Just a few points I’d like to emphasize here:

1) Don’t do touch interactives just because you can. Yes, it’s nice that you can touch a spot on the screen and it changes photographs. But make it worth my while as a user to click on that spot. Don’t give me one photo switch, for instance. If you do that, you’re training me to expect nothing but bells and whistles, no substance.

2) Don’t go too far off the UI path. Remember, people are still figuring out what works and how to use their tablet devices. Just as web sites developed the icons people are familiar with (the “play” button onYouTube and every other video site, for example), app designers are in the process of “training” users to recognize icons on their apps. As much as it might be a challenge, try to see what others are doing in the tablet UI field, what’s working and what’s not. If something’s become a de facto “standard,” maybe try to put your stamp on that instead of reinventing the language.

3) Remember the orientation. Tablets work in both landscape and portrait modes. Unless you’re going to set up your publication so that it only works in one orientation (which would be sort of silly), be sure to usability test in both orientation. Areas that might work in one orientation can act differently in the other, and might frustrate users who use certain portions of the screen.

4) Test, test, and test again. If you have a general purpose magazine tablet app, test that app with experienced users, newer users, and even people who’ve never used a tablet other than on a display at the Apple store. Find where the bugs are, what features they liked, and which navigation caused them to stumble. And then remove those barriers, squash those bugs, and beef up the interactives. And then test it again. Sometimes, when we fix one thing, we create another issue.

I would encourage anyone producing magazine style journalism to experiment with tablet presentation. It has unique challenges, but the format is a fertile field for long-form journalism. The OR Magazine was created using Adobe Creative Suite products like InDesign, so it’s not beyond your reach.

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As a journalist, you should search outside Google

October 24, 2012 in industry news

There are no “regular results” on Google anymore. from DuckDuckGo on Vimeo.

Fascinating study by DuckDuckGo, a search engine company. One wonders whether it’s time for a reformation in search. It’s worthwhile also to check out the comments on the DuckDuckGo Vimeo page for the video linked above. The company has also created a web site – dontbubble.us – with more information about how Google is customizing your search results.

I admit that I have gotten into the habit of just typing words into the URL bar of Chrome or Safari (Firefox still has a separate search input in my version) and hitting the return button with the default setting to Google. But that needs to change. And for working journalists, that should definitely not be the default behavior.

As a journalist, there are definitely times when I want an impersonal search result. Sure, there are also times when I want a personalized search experience. If I’m looking for a cat grooming service, I certainly don’t want a service in Boca Raton, Fla. On the other hand, if I’m searching topics related to my beat, or a story I’m researching, I want a more “unbiased” sample of results so I can find what I want.

I’ve been trusting Google to give me those types of results. But that was a misplaced trust.

It would be nice if you could just flip a switch and turn off personalized search results, but apparently, that’s not possible, even if you’re signed out of your Google account. And I doubt Google will do anything to make such a thing possible.

Instead, I imagine what will happen is the result of the lemming effect, call it the ignorance of crowds. Google has become so synonymous with search that even if a minority complains, they will be powerless to change Google’s mind. “We have X billion happy customers,” Google might say. No, you have X billion customers who have little choice because you are the 900-pound gorilla of search and you’ve tried to invest yourselves into every nook and cranny of our lives. Facebook is the same way.

Which is fine in the marketplace of business. But this could have troubling implications for a journalists.

At a recent workshop, Mark Horvit of Investigative Reporters and Editors recommended always cross-checking searches across at least three different search engines. I’d recommend at least using Bing and Google and one other one. Try DuckDuckGo and see if that gives you other results. If not, there are other search engines to try.

I don’t have any personal interest in DDG, other than having a competitive market in the actual search itself.

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College Media Podcast Ep. 6: Obstacles and a Bloomberg Terminal for journalists

September 25, 2012 in College Media Podcast, industry news

This is the sixth episode of the College Media Podcast. You can listen via the embedded widget above, or download an mp3 at Soundcloud.
Show Notes

Topic 1: Reimold and Buttry examine digital first moves in college media

Steve Buttry: Students already consume news digital-first; student media should follow suit

Advantages, Disadvantages to Student Media Digital Experimentation: My Response to Steve Buttry Report

Topic 2: Spundge

Spundge

A Bloomberg terminal for journalists

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Links to Check Out 09/21/2012

September 20, 2012 in industry news

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

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Detroit Softworks closes shop; SNworks takes over Gryphon

July 27, 2012 in Content Management Systems, Gryphon, industry news, Media Companies - College Related, Websites

 

UPDATED AT 10:41 AM (CDT) WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATIONDetroit Softworks, provider of the Gryphon CMS and hosted news platform, has shut down. The message above is all that remains of their website. They had approximately 15 client college news outlets for the hosted platform. However, the demise of DSW doesn’t mean the end of the Gryphon CMS. In fact, Gryphon is poised to be something of a phoenix this fall.

Omar Sofradzija, editorial adviser/permissions manager of The State News at Michigan State said Friday that the State News would be launching a new marketing effort for Gryphon in the next few weeks. The State News originally developed the CMS and licensed its use through DWS.

“With the end of Detroit Softworks, we feel like we have a product worth sharing with our peers,” he said. “We are looking this fall to offer (Gryphon) to additional clients.”

Sofradzija said the new home for the Gryphon CMS will be called SNworks. There’s no web site (or logo) at the moment, but you can follow them on Twitter, or check their Facebook Page for updates. Anyone interested in the platform can also contact Sofradzija at omars@getsnworks.com.

The company plans to have booths at ACP/CMA, CNBAM and WAUPM conferences coming up this fall.

In the meantime, this changes the calculus for CMS providers for college newspapers, and I’ll be updating my list soon.

 

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Redesigns 2012: Red & Black

July 11, 2012 in industry news, Redesigns, Websites

It’s mid-summer, and we’ve got our first redesign of the new school year. The Red & Black at UGA recently switched CMS’s from WordPress to TownNews.

Here’s the new front page:

and here’s their old design from 2010:

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The perils of breaking news

July 9, 2012 in breaking news, College Media, General Media, industry news

U.S. Supreme Court building.

U.S. Supreme Court building. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This post from SCOTUSblog is a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at what went on at the U.S. Supreme Court the day of the ruling on the PPACA health insurance reform law.

The gist of it is that through a series of human snafus and the desperate need to get the news as fast as possible, two major news networks ended up with egg on their faces.

Yet another cautionary tale that it’s better to be right than first. Which is sort of interesting to me, considering I captured this bit of sage advice from Baseball Hall of Fame sportswriter Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch a couple of weeks ago:

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Time to move – things to consider when changing your website

April 20, 2012 in industry news

When it comes to “moving” your website, normally that means changing what server the site actually resides on.  In college media, “moving” is also tends to mean “let’s change everything how our website operates because there is some really cool stuff we just need right now dear Advisor and we MUST have this to do good journalism because, ya know it is the best thing since Twitter  Pinterest!”

In college media, moving a website can mean actually moving what computer runs your website or changing what content management system (CMS) you use to run your site.  Sometimes, it is both.  In either case, moving a website is NEVER easy or simple.  It can be frustrating and technically challenging as a college media organization while also crucial to your presence.  Add a dollop of poor customer support or lack of student know-how and you may wish for the old letter press days. Read the rest of this entry →

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Seper: Two questions for entrepreneurial journalists

March 30, 2012 in industry news

This week, Chris Seper served as a visiting professional in the journalism department at Eastern. Seper is a journalism department alum, served as editor-in-chief of the Daily Eastern News, and is now the CEO of MedCityNews, a journalism startup company that covers innovation in health care technology.

While he was here, he spoke with three students who are taking an independent study class with me on entrepreneurial journalism (using Mark Briggs Entrepreneurial Journalism book, which features Seper and MCN in chapter 3). As he asked the students about their startup ideas, he mentioned two questions that every investor will ask. I recorded his answers on video above. The transcript is on the YouTube page, or you can read the closed captions.

 

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