October 24, 2011 in Redesigns
The Golden Gate Xpress at San Francisco State University updated their web site this semester.
Here’s the new site:
And here’s the old layout for comparison:
The old design was basically similar to what it had been since 2007. The new design gets rid of the left nav bar and adds white space to the top of the page. They’ve also updated the nameplate. Also note the prominent placement of links to their social media channels.
October 20, 2011 in Redesigns
The University of Idaho’s Blot student magazine has redesigned for 2011. Here’s the new design:
Here’s the redesign from 2010, from our post:
Via Madison McCord
September 14, 2011 in Redesigns, Websites
Otterbein360, the combined web site for student media at Otterbein University, redesigned recently, using the Detroit Softworks Gryphon CMS. Here’s the new look:
And here’s a screenshot from Archive.org showing the old look from February, 2011:
I like the lighter look with more white space. The slimmed-down logo also looks nice.
If your college news organization has redesigned their website, send me an e-mail (see the left-side rail for the address) or comment on one of these posts, which are archived under the category Redesigns.
September 12, 2011 in Redesigns, Websites
UPDATE: As sometimes happens, the Archive.org link was not a recent version of the EC. I’ve replaced it with a more current version – ed.
The East Carolinian at East Carolina University recently redesigned their site. The new site uses the WordPress CMS, hosted by College Publisher. Student Media Director Paul Isom said the staff has already taken advantages of new features of the site: “Using WordPress has already freed us up to do some new things, including live blogging the first football game of the season vs. South Carolina in Charlotte.”
Here’s the new site:
Here’s a screenshot of the old site from the Wayback Machine dated June 6, 2011:
Lots of improvements in the new design, which is based on a theme by Gabfire Themes. I do think the header may be a little large, especially with the two decks of navigation underneath. This doesn’t cause problems on a large screen, but someone looking at the site on a 13″ laptop, for instance, would have a lot of screen real estate taken up by the flag.
What do you think?
If your college news organization has redesigned their website, send me an e-mail (see the left-side rail for the address) or comment on one of these posts, which are archived under the category Redesigns.
September 8, 2011 in Redesigns, Websites
The Daily Pennsylvanian has redesigned their web site, with a lot of back-end work going into the project. As Eric Jacobs, general manager, wrote:
We’ve moved from our in-house-created Drupal-powered CMS to the Detroit Softworks Gryphon CMS, and we’ve completely redesigned the site. The new site presents more content, more cleanly; it incorporates feeds from our other sites, like our 34th Street Magazine (34st.com), UnderTheButton campus life blog (UnderTheButton.com), and The Buzz sports blog; has a lot more flexible main page layout options (invoked via simple tagging rather than coding changes); better integrates and features multimedia content, features dynamic and interactive content on section pages, and more. It’s certainly the farthest we’ve ever come from being mostly shovel-ware from the print edition. The Gryphon CMS also gives us a high-quality mobile-optimized site for the first time.
Online Managing Editor Jared McDonald and Lead Online Developer Kyle Hardgrave were the driving forces behind the new site design, Jacobs said, while working with “a working committee of many of the paper’s editors which met weekly through much of the spring semester.”
I like the new navigation and flag design, and the use of more visual content “above the fold.”
If your college news organization has redesigned their website, send me an e-mail (see the left-side rail for the address) or comment on one of these posts, which are archived under the category Redesigns.
September 1, 2011 in design, Redesigns, Websites
The Daily Nebraskan at the University of Nebraska has refreshed their design for the new year. Here’s what the site looks like today:
And here’s what it looked like in February, 2011 (via archive.org):
I like the addition of more graphics “above the fold” to draw viewers into the stories. Also, the “flag” tones down the red somewhat. What do you think?
August 25, 2011 in College Media, Redesigns
Earlier this week, College Media Advisers, Inc., the national organization representing those who advise college news organizations, relaunched their web site with a new design and a new CMS from WildApricot. Here’s the new look collegemedia.org:
It is less cluttered than the previous version of the site, which was put up in 2008, although I’m not a fan of too many items in a left nav bar. There are other changes in store for the new site, so it will likely change in the future. Any thoughts.
In a related vein, the planning for the Fall National College Media Convention is almost complete. You can see what’s going on in Orlando this October by downloading the convention brochure (PDF link).
January 26, 2010 in showcase, Websites
The Daily Campus at Southern Methodist University launched a new design for their web site over winter break. The paper also upgraded to College Publisher 5. Editor Meredith Shamburger says the staff hopes to produce more multimedia and use the redesigned site to develop a web-first mentality.
If your student media outlet web site has undergone a facelift recently, drop me an e-mail, or a comment so we can make note of it here.
September 2, 2009 in Websites
Editor’s Note: I recently wrote a post about using a pre-made content management system vs. building one from the ground up (link). Madison McCord represents a different perspective on the debate. I asked him to share his thoughts on the blog. What follows are his thoughts.
It is safe to say that the landscape of college media has changed. Collegiate journalists are turning in their pencil and notepad for voice recorders and laptops. The reason for this change, a nationwide move to a web-first college news landscape.
Though the extinction of the classic college newspaper model of print first is coming soon, some college news organizations are still stuck in the starting gates when it comes to transitioning onto the World Wide Web. My suggestion to those organizations, or even those newspapers looking to revamp their online presence: Build your site using hand-coded HTML.
I know that the Content Management System (CMS) diehards will have jumped all over the comment boards by now, but it is important to understand my reasoning for supporting a hand-coded HTML-based Web site.
I am the web editor and co-designer of The Communicator Online, the student-ran news site at Spokane Falls Community College. This April, myself and our graphics editor, Marshall Moore, sat in our newsroom and – using a combination of TextEdit and Dreamweaver – built our Web site from the ground up, using no CMS. This means that when there is an update that needs to be made, or a new story that needs to be added, a staff member needs to open the .html page and make the changes by hand. This is a tedious process, but one that is vital to learning and understanding web design and management.
Before building the site, we had the discussion with our adviser about whether to look into using a CMS like WordPress or College Publisher to build the site, or to do it ourselves. Although the obvious answer was to use a CMS, it was also the easy answer. From this, our staff would learn nothing more than how to enter a story and headline into a form, and hit one button to have it magically appear on the site seconds later. What does a student learn from this? Nothing.
Yes, this gives the student more time to create a neat slideshow or tweet it to their followers, but if properly built, a hand-coded site offers you the same thing. What it does give the student that a CMS doesn’t is the knowledge of building and managing a Web site by hand.
I mean, what is the argument here? If you are looking for the easiest way to post your stories and videos, then this is not for you. But if you believe in being a true student and learning the process of how something not only comes together but is also managed, then there is no discussion, building a hand-coded site is the only way to give you that experience.
Some consider hand-coded, static Web sites a “step back” in the industry, but those are the people that have only used a CMS. It all comes down to dedication and the willingness to learn. There is no difference between a great CMS site and a great hand-coded site.
I am in no way making the claim that any Web site built using a hand-coded HTML is better than any CMS site. That is determined by the sites content, not its framework. I am, however, claiming is that the editor who takes the time to learn and understand the workings of a hand-coded site may have more knowledge on the subject, knowledge that could play into a future career in journalism or any other field.
I know that our site is one of the few which still uses a hand-made HTML site, but I hope that others will look at what we have done, and realize that all it takes is a little extra effort to gain the extra knowledge.
Feel free to e-mail me at madison.j.mccord -at-gmail.com or follow me on Twitter @madison_mccord
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August 28, 2009 in Websites
Continuing to point out student media sites that have undergone major renovations over the summer. If your site has undergone a redesign you’d want to share with the world, drop an e-mail to scmurley-at-gmail.com. Include comments about how this redesign/new CMS will help your news organization accomplish its goals.
Washington U’s Student Life switched to WordPress over the summer, and also gussied up the design.
Director of New Media Sam Guzik explains:
Last year we were on CP5 and we made the switch to WP in mid-July. Our theme was designed in house by our web team; we still have a lot that we want to do with the section fronts, but for the most part we are liking how the site looks. Starting in about a week or so, the front page will be run off an in house plug-in for dropping and dragging slugs between the carousel and latest news sections.
In terms of workflow changes, we are transitioning toward getting more content into the system earlier in the night (as opposed to dropping it all in at the end of the night). Part of that transition is getting to a place where reporters file stories and copy editors make edits in a web based system. We also have an overview of some of our new site features at www.studlife.com/new-site.
University of Delaware’s The Review upgraded their web site to College Publisher 5, this summer, and added a facelift to the site as well. Editor-in-Chief Josh Shannon said the redesign is part of a new emphasis on immediacy for the paper.
We spent the summer redesigning the Web site to better reflect our renewed emphasis on breaking news and multimedia content. We pushed the latest news updates to the top of the page and added a multimedia center. We also added eight new staff blogs and incorporated our Twitter feed into the new site. The Review is a weekly paper, but the new Web site will allow us change our mindset and begin posting daily updates.
He also praised the assistance provided by College Media Network.
Much has been written about the drawbacks of College Publisher, but we couldn’t be happier with the assistance they provided, as well as the final product. CP has been with us every step of the process and even sent a representative down to Newark to train us on the new Web site. Not having a full-time tech staff, we wouldn’t have been able to make the new site what it is without CP. Learning the new system will take a little time, but the end result will be a dramatically improved browsing experience for our readers.
The Daily Toreador at Texas Tech University also redesigned their site this summer and launched a new version (via @collegepublish on Twitter). They are using CP5 as their platform. The top photo revolves through six different sections. You might also note there are 12 navigation items in the top nav, which seems a little much from a usability standpoint. But they aren’t using drop-down menus. Interesting choice.
