I was traveling over the weekend, without access to a computer. (OK, I still had the dang Blackberry –- but no laptop!) So I didn’t see the changes on Bradenton.com until early Monday morning. I did a bit of a double-take, and bet you did, too. Here’s some insight.
These “tweaks” are the first in a series of changes to make our site easier to navigate. Every change is meant to make Bradenton.com more user-friendly, handy for both quick viewing and longer visits, and a clear snapshot of breaking news, top local and national stories, and any information you need about our community.
As our publisher, Will Fleet, puts it, “It is all about the user.”
The changes are being instituted by Jackie Luper, the Herald’s vice president of interactive media. “All of the changes have the same end goal in mind: to make the site the best place to find community information and to make the site easy to use and interact with,” Jackie notes. “We won’t make changes just because they look good.”
The most significant change right now is that the navigational tool bar has moved. It truly is a “bar” now, with the menu across the top of the page for easy viewing. It used to be down the left side of the site, a clunky arrangement. We eventually will have menus that drop down when you hover on the tabs. Right now, you can click on each for deeper content.
As you move through the pages, we hope you’ll find a lot fewer traffic jams with content spread more evenly. There are a few glitches (no Weather page yet, for instance -– and with storms on the horizon, we’re working quickly to fix that!) and we want to hear about those from you. Please send an email to Jackie or me
Or comment here on our Editors' Blog.
New content we have planned in coming weeks includes community sites and more videos –- from you as well as our reporters.
Joan
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
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6 comments:
You and the Sarasota Herald Tribune are in a race to see who can screw up their website first..... Right now I cant figure out who's ahead
I like the new website!! We miss the weather ,though. Hope to see it soon. thanks for the informative articles,especially the ami bridge stories. the scooby
Your new web site is soooo s-l-o-w compared to your former one. A real step backward!
Weather is back up on the site - http://weather.bradenton.com/US/FL/Bradenton.html
The link is in the sub navigation under the news section.
Horizontal navigation rules!!
EVERYONE who knows ANYTHING about web sites knows that horizontal navigation is far superior to vertical navigation. I mean, it just makes sense ...
Now if you can just teach your aging subscriber base that www stands for something more than Wonderfully Wicked Wanda ....
(Ok, if you're not a Kenny Stabler fan, you won't know what that means. But if you're anywhere near the median age in Manatee County, you'll know Mr., Stabler, and the lovely WWW.)
But seriously folks, I don't know who gets the credit — Jumpin' Jackie, Cap'n Will, or some lowly newsroom type — but congrats are in order. This is a major improvement.
Navigate, schmatigate, I still can't find the high school basketball scores
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