A Publish2 network
Elements for Success
Wired Journalist Shawn Smith recently put up a post saying:
I got a message college listserv today from a designer who is looking to score an online news job. They posed the question of what are the “essential components of a good newspaper website?” and what are your favorite online news sites.
I responded that no one newspaper website is the same, as most have different audiences, which call for different functions.
I did say that newspaper websites need to optimize their content to be found by search engines and they need to make their content shareable. But those are pretty much the biggest overall items I thought of.
This is such a huge question right now, that I decided to take a moment and whip out a few of what I see as being the most important or beneficial elements of a ‘good’ newspaper website. There are as follows:
* Content is the most important thing, and should include in-depth articles along with multimedia. Don’t get distracted by the nature of the web, content still matters most. Would the information still be as useful were it written on toilet paper?
* The design should be clean and lend itself well to adaptability. It needs to be professional and appealing in its appearance, but clean. Everything should be built around a stable story archive core, and adding multimedia bells & whistles only after-the-fact. Centering the site around the use of technology will only leave it dated in a years time.
* Stories need to be easy to browse by subject, region, and date.
* As much content as conceivably possible needs to be free.
* User ability to ‘digg’ or vote for articles as being interesting with list of most voted in last hour, day, week, year, ever.
* Interactive / targeted ads should generate revenue to support print dept.
* Include some degree of social networking (user ability to create profiles, blogs, highlight favorite articles, list favorite other people also reading articles, forums, so forth).
* Expand on articles with links to further info around web — making newspaper sites a fantastic homebase resource.
* Web-only content responding to articles and blog posts around the web.
* RSS
Of course this list could go on indefinitely. These considerations though, should form a strong foundation from which to work from. Part of what has led to frustrating newspaper sites is that so many of them were poorly designed to begin with. Trying to throw a bunch of imagery and video on top doesn't suddenly equate to 'good stuff.'
Can you think of anything huge I've overlooked?
Shawn Smith’s Wired Blog Article: Link
I got a message college listserv today from a designer who is looking to score an online news job. They posed the question of what are the “essential components of a good newspaper website?” and what are your favorite online news sites.
I responded that no one newspaper website is the same, as most have different audiences, which call for different functions.
I did say that newspaper websites need to optimize their content to be found by search engines and they need to make their content shareable. But those are pretty much the biggest overall items I thought of.
This is such a huge question right now, that I decided to take a moment and whip out a few of what I see as being the most important or beneficial elements of a ‘good’ newspaper website. There are as follows:
* Content is the most important thing, and should include in-depth articles along with multimedia. Don’t get distracted by the nature of the web, content still matters most. Would the information still be as useful were it written on toilet paper?
* The design should be clean and lend itself well to adaptability. It needs to be professional and appealing in its appearance, but clean. Everything should be built around a stable story archive core, and adding multimedia bells & whistles only after-the-fact. Centering the site around the use of technology will only leave it dated in a years time.
* Stories need to be easy to browse by subject, region, and date.
* As much content as conceivably possible needs to be free.
* User ability to ‘digg’ or vote for articles as being interesting with list of most voted in last hour, day, week, year, ever.
* Interactive / targeted ads should generate revenue to support print dept.
* Include some degree of social networking (user ability to create profiles, blogs, highlight favorite articles, list favorite other people also reading articles, forums, so forth).
* Expand on articles with links to further info around web — making newspaper sites a fantastic homebase resource.
* Web-only content responding to articles and blog posts around the web.
* RSS
Of course this list could go on indefinitely. These considerations though, should form a strong foundation from which to work from. Part of what has led to frustrating newspaper sites is that so many of them were poorly designed to begin with. Trying to throw a bunch of imagery and video on top doesn't suddenly equate to 'good stuff.'
Can you think of anything huge I've overlooked?
Shawn Smith’s Wired Blog Article: Link
Add a Comment
-
Comment by Tom Mattson on March 5, 2008 at 1:21pm -
"An intersection between article and directory could be interesting there as well. Within each business' directory could be a list of all the reports it has been involved in."
I suppose it bears mentioning, looking around, that the NYT are already doing this.
-
Comment by Tim Burden on March 5, 2008 at 1:17am -
"An intersection between article and directory could be interesting there as well."
Right on. I just blogged about something like that over here.
I love the idea of mashing-up bus listings with articles. Articles about businesses form a pretty good proportion of most community newspapers - right on up to big nationals.
Which reminds me (not sure why) of another feature of a good news site: links to related articles. Check out the bottom of this story. It was amazing how many times the museum was about to close and was miraculously resurrected, and useful to be able to follow the history. Disclosure: I made that site.
Also! Awesome search. Another place to mash up business directory listings and other sections of the site with news stories.
-
Comment by Tom Mattson on March 5, 2008 at 12:57am
-
A thoughtful response Tim. I love your additions, particularly comprehensive bus. directories which hadn't occurred to me in any fashion. An intersection between article and directory could be interesting there as well. Within each business' directory could be a list of all the reports it has been involved in. For example, all the stories involving a particular local venue, or even look bigger with companies like Microsoft or TWA.
As for web-only content, I was referring mainly to some print-journalists who have well kept blogs on their paper's site in which they react to and interact with the community. Often this includes quoting and responding to other blogs around the net.
I'd link some favorite examples in true new media fashion, but I'm on a public computer and out the door this moment. Perhaps later!
-
Comment by Tim Burden on March 5, 2008 at 12:01am
-
I agree
I'd add:
* comprehensive business directories
* comments on stories
* community participation (forums, photo galleries, etc.)
* "own" your community on the web
I'd remove:
* web-only content
That's something you do after the site is making money. Maybe. Even then, what sort of story could you write for the web that couldn't go in the paper? That isn't covered by your point on expanding articles with further info around the web, adding multi-media on top of good basic content, etc.?
About
Find out more
Badge
© 2009 Created by Ryan Sholin on Ning. Create a Ning Network!
You need to be a member of Wired Journalists to add comments!
Join this Ning Network