"We launched a new News & Record website back in November with a splash of promotion and much eagerness.
We soon regretted the PR and gulped back our enthusiasm. The rollout went that badly — in ways we’re too sensible and proud to recount here.
Thursday, we unveil another News-Record.com. It has a cleaner, more visual design and new content features. It adopts a different approach to handling reader comments. It makes the News & Record print archives accessible in digital format back to 1989. And it is truly mobile, thanks to its ability to determine immediately whether you’re viewing the site from a desktop computer, smartphone or tablet computer. The new site will go live around 9 a.m.
While our November experience might have counseled a quiet, cautious launch, we’re having none of that. No point in being muddy about what we at the News & Record think about the new website. This thing rocks!
Of course, our opinion doesn’t count. Yours does.
I invite you to check out the new-look News-Record.com and its companion mobile version.
I encourage you to tell us what you think. What do you like? More importantly, what would you recommend to make it better? You may email me at the address given below, or use the feedback form we’ve displayed prominently on the new website’s homepage.
Meanwhile, here is some of what’s new or changed:
Look and feel
News-Record.com looks entirely different. It’s still splashed in green as befits a website that serves Greensboro, but a brighter, cheerier green.
It displays photos prominently at the top in a format that permits us to display one story and photo, two or three, depending on the news of the day.
Also prominently displayed are latest news headlines and galleries of photos by News & Record photographers and, occasionally, from wire-service photographers.
The rest of the homepage serves as an index to much of the rest of site, with areas highlighting content about sports, local news, business and features. Also included: the latest blog posts and obituaries, always among most read content on the website.
Navigation through the sections bar near the top is mostly the same, although we added a section for business and, in the dropdown menu for news, for Rockingham County. We’ve also added some of the more popular blogs to the dropdown menus. Classified-ad sections, including those for TriadCareers, TriadCars and TriadHomes, also have a new home in the main navigation bar.
Care to comment?
In November, we began requiring those who comment on stories to use their real names, our attempt to make comment threads cleaner and nicer.
With the new News-Record.com, we’ve taken another step. All commenting will now be done via FaceBook. If you’re a Facebook user, you may use your Facebook account to append comments to stories at News-Record.com. This approach also generally requires commenters to use their real names.
Not a Facebook user? Sorry. To comment, you will need to join the world’s largest online social network.
News-Record.com anywhere
The News & Record has apps for iPhones, Android phones and the iPad. If you use one, fear not. It will remain.
But, starting today, you also can view News-Record.com from your smartphone or tablet web browser without having to visit an app store.
Just type “News-Record.com” into your browser, and we’ll do the rest. The website will detect what size device you’re viewing the site on and will serve itself up in a template that is optimized for your device. Web designers call it “responsive design.” For users, it’s simply slick and easy.
Even better, when you first view the site on a smartphone or tablet, the site will ask you if you want to add a site icon to your screen. The icon is a shortcut: One tap and — voila — News-Record.com opens on your device.
New content
We’ve added several new content features, topped by blogs.
The News & Record was an early adopter among newspapers in welcoming blogs, and popular blogs remain at the new site: Doug Clark’s well-read “Off the Record,” Eddie Wooten’s “Running Shorts,” our sports reporters’ collaborative blog “Sports Extra,” Allen Johnson’s “Thinking Out Loud,” Travis Fain’s “North State Politics” and “The Inside Scoop” by Amanda Lehmert and Joe Killian.
New blogs include “On the Job” by Richard M. Barron, “Around Town” by Susan Ladd, “Hard ‘N’ Fast” by Ed Hardin, and “Faith Matters” by Nancy McLaughlin. Other new blogs are on the way, including by columnist Jeri Rowe.
Also new to the site is a robust package of content features and reader tools in the “Financial Markets” section under business. Read there about the day’s events in the securities and commodities markets. Plug in the ticker symbols for stocks of interest to you so you can follow them daily.
Old news made new
The News & Record’s print archive returns to News-Record.com after a long absence. The archive holds stories that appeared in the newspaper dating back to December 1989. In time, the archive will reach further back — many decades back.
Searching the archive is free, although we’ll ask you to pay a fee to view individual articles. Prices start at $2.95.
Also new to the site: We’ve made it easy to buy reprints of photos by our staff photographers. A “Buy this Photo” icon appears beside every photo that can be purchased. Click the icon and then follow the instructions. It’s easy.
Not all photos are for sale. If the News & Record doesn’t own the copyright, we can’t sell a photo.
Share your events
News-Record.com now will have a built-in calendar that we, who work at the News & Record, and you, who read the newspaper and website, can add events to.
The old website had a calendar service, but it was clunky. And it was hard to display calendar listings on the website except on a single calendar page.
Now we can filter and sort calendar listings to display where relevant. We can link individual calendar listings to related content. So, if you’re planning a block party or potluck, register with the website and share your event. It takes mere minutes.
There is a temporary downside to our change. For now, the calendar database is sparsely populated, and some calendar listings that readers keyed into the old calendar are now lost. I’m sorry.
In time, through our efforts and — with your help — we’ll build the best calendar in the Triad.
Jeff Gauger is executive editor of the News & Record and News-Record.com. Contact him at jeff.gauger@News-Record.com or 336-373-7051. On Twitter: @jeffreygauger. "
If it hasn't disappeared from the web it can be found here. And if not then Jeff Gauger's work hasn't been forever lost. This time.
