Patriot Ledger Receives an On-Line Makeover

Both Jessica and Eleni have already discussed this but since I have also spent time on co-op at the Patriot Ledger, I decided to weigh in on the newspaper’s new Web site.

First a quick word on Web site redesigns in general. I always find that at first it is confusing to navigate and locate all the features. But, like any change, over time the site lay-out becomes engrained in your mind and you can navigate more easily. Therefore, I am not going to comment as much on how navigable or organized the site is.

The Ledger’s site redesign was badly needed as their previous Web site was terribly outdated when compared to other regional dailies like the Eagle Tribune.

The front page is certainly visually pleasing and has a modern, 21st century feel. But, besides the lead story, all the other articles merely show a headline instead of a summary paragraph. These paragraphs are a great way to catch a quick glimpse of the story’s contents and determine if it is worth reading. Though they are present on the other pages, it would be great to see them added to the front page.

Many of the individual story pages contain grids of photos which can be enlarged when clicked. This is a wonderful way to show off the great work of Ledger photographers beyond the few that make the print edition. I hope they will include this with as many stories as possible. Plus, photos are a great opportunity to increase on-line readership, as who doesn’t want to see a picture of their kids or pets or town on the Web?

Multimedia has taken on a more prominent role with a tab on the site’s masthead devoted solely to these on-line extras including a photos of the week slideshow and video. And, like the text section, the multimedia area has RSS feeds making it easy to keep up to date with the latest South Shore developments.

Finally, I believe the biggest improvement is greater interactivity. All the stories have a comment option which is being used predominately for constructive commentary that adds additional perspectives beyond those contained in the Ledger’s journalism. And, they seem to be making a commitment to blogging by asking for suggestions for new blogs and links to other South Shore blogs.

Overall this is a tremendous improvement over the previous site and hopefully in time, we will see more great on-line elements from the Patriot Ledger.