Monday, August 25, 2008

Pointing at Poynter for online news tips


The Poynter Institute has been doing creative things with online publishing for a dozen years or more, and now has rolled out a new version of its Web site.
Poynter Online - Poynterevolution: "Take a Tour of the New Poynter Online..."

At first glance, there seems to be an awful lot going on, but that was true of the old version, too...

Here are some of the hopes mentioned on the launch page, but I'll break them out into bullets (which may make a list easier to read) and italics (which may make it harder):

  • "Navigation is simpler and cleaner, with most recent articles, comments and community activity linked dynamically from a new left rail.
  • "A new home page carousel enables you to click through the five most recent top stories.
  • "Our new networking service, Poynter Groups, can link you up with colleagues around the world.
  • "And if it's Romenesko you're looking for, just click Romenesko in the nav across the top."
I haven't used the new site enough to have an opinion, but the old one is already a fading memory...

Yike! I didn't realize this new blog template would turn simple bullets into chrysanthemums or increase the line-spacing... Web usability issues are never simple, especially with these "easy to use" tools doing some of the decision-making for you.

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