My World

Most websites have some sort of interactive component in their design that allows and encourages readers to do an activity with the news they read. It has become clear to me, however, that we’re nowhere near where I think we should be with regard to consistency throughout news organizations. This is especially true when you consider that the consumer has become more demanding in quality.

That being said, I feel that the Knoxville News-Sentinel was by far the best website among the six I looked at. This had mostly to do with the design, easy navigation, and the professional look I was hoping to find. I’m not a big fan of typical gossip papers or magazines, so that ruled out a couple of websites that had a gossipy feel to it and had very busy looking imagery. My senses like being tickled, but on some of these sites there was a big, BIG sensory overload.

I was happy to see that all sites had RSS feeds. Though very basic, given other options that are out there, at least it’s something. My suggestion for all online newspapers is to look at your competition. Having a large subscriber base no longer has to do with just news quality, but also with other aspects (i.e. your WEBSITE!). So please, look around, and find out what your target audience is interested in. I don’t believe for one second that an online paper is only interested in having high school students as its audience, but their site would certainly suggest that…