We received some fantastic feedback in regards to my post last week about our picks for the best US newspaper websites. I'd like to take a moment here and point out some other great websites that our readers brought to our attention.
A few readers questioned why our list only referred to US papers. Due to limited resources, our initial research only addressed the websites of publications here in the US. Last year, we conducted research on some international papers with help from our readers. In general, however, the Guardian and the International Herald Tribune are two examples of great newspaper websites. Their designs are superior with clean and uncluttered layouts. Both of these sites have successfully differentiated themselves from their print counterparts by combining aesthetic appeal with solid content and technological offerings. The Guardian tends to be known for offering high quality reporter blogs, which are expanded upon on the site Comment is Free, a blog- and comment- driven site tied to the Guardian's website.
Commenter Genevieve pretty much sums up the International Herald Tribune site in the comments from the original post:
I’m really surprised to not see the newly redesigned International Herald Tribune on this list: http://www.iht.com
It’s really clean and easy to read, the navigation “cloud” is interesting. I love how easy Search is to get to, and the video box on the right is cool. Plus, who doesn’t love big photos and big headlines on the article pages?
'Nuff said.
Some smaller US papers also received some positive reviews:
MyDesert.com, a newly-launched (?) local website for the Palm Springs Desert Sun. The design is much different than anything I've seen on a newspaper website. While I think the font is a bit small and a little difficult to read, the overall design concept is interesting. I like the rotating picture/story teaser box in the upper left, and I really appreciate the feature that allows users to browse the site's pictures, videos, forum topics, blog posts, and commented articles all in once place on the homepage. For featured articles, the site links to related articles from around the web and from within the newspaper's own site. I also like that the page is relatively short–not too much scrolling is required to see all the content, which is something newspaper sites are often guilty of. While the design needs some work, with a few tweaks, I think this site could be great. Thanks for the tip from commenter zepol.
We received several comments about LJWorld.com, the Lawrence Journal-World (Kansas) website. I really like this site's homepage, but was a little disappointed by its individual article pages, which I thought were a bit bland. I did find it interesting that as I looked at the site today, it was leading not with a story, but with a feature to submit a question to an online chat. If that isn't Web 2.0, then I don't know what is. Thanks for the tip from commenters Lee and Alex Parker.
Another site I'd like to get some opinions on (ideally from people that actually use this site) is MyNewsOk.com, the website of the Daily Oklahoman. This site was a point of contention between my colleagues and I as we were making our top 10 list. I wanted to include it because it has some great Web 2.0 features on its section dedicated to user-generated content, but I was vetoed when others didn't like the site's design. It is sort of cluttered, but most of its sections on the homepage can be dragged, moved, and relocated according to your user preferences (as long as you're a registered user). If you have a free account with the site, you can also change the site's general appearance and font settings as well as elect to receive topic-focused newsletters or cell phone alerts. I haven't seen any other newspaper sites that offer all these features. Any thoughts on this site?
Commenter matias jaramillo also alerted me to the site for El Pais. It looks solid, but I have to admit, my rudimentary Spanish skills make it difficult for me to give this one an adequate review. A great group project might be to have some people check out the Spanish language papers in the US to take a close look at what they're doing online. Any takers for this?
We really appreciate all feedback regarding this project, as it is impossible for us to review every newspaper site in the country. If you have any other local favorites, please post them in the comments or on our wiki. Everyone knows how hard it is for newspapers to succeed online, as demonstrated by many past failures, so we like to give credit when credit is due.
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