Over at Editor & Publisher Online, Jay DeFoore
(disclaimer: he’s the editor for the monthly column I write there) has
noted lots of redesigns of news websites in recent months. In order to
get a handle of what works, what doesn’t, and what’s new in
news-website design, he’s invited his readers to participate in a “Worldwide Virtual Critique.”
Here’s some of what DeFoore has noticed: “We’re happy to see
comment-enabled article pages becoming standard, and the proliferation
of horizontal navigation seems like a good idea. We love exploring the
‘Most e-mailed’ sidebars, and the podcasts, video content, and blogs
are positive developments. It’s also encouraging to see classifieds
getting more prominent display, now commonly found by hard to miss
links near the top of the page.”
His Virtual Critique is meant to solicit feedback and analysis of redesigns that may or may not have been covered by E&P or other industry editorial outfits.
Alas, the method being used is a bit clunky. DeFoore is asking people to send him critiques by e-mail. (He acknowledges that E&P Online itself “could use a redesign.”) Send them to jdefoore@editorandpublisher.com.
Pick a redesigned news site and answer such questions as: What works,
what doesn’t? What could have been done differently, which features are
right on the money?
This could be interesting.
