The online home of The Carthage Press, www.carthagepress.com, will roll out a brand-new look to its Web site Tuesday, March 16. Our goal is to give you a Web site that is easy to navigate and highlights a wider array of stories. We believe the redesign will make it easier to find what you need.
Over the next week, we’ll attempt to gently guide you through the transition by way of question — and — answer pieces like this.
Q. When does this change happen?
A. We’ll start rolling out the new design around Tuesday evening into Wednesday. It may take a few hours for all areas of the site and all computers to start showing the change.
Q. Didn’t you just change the look of your Web site not too long ago? Why are you changing again?
A. The current design of our Web site was put in place in 2007. Since that time, many newspapers in the GateHouse Media chain have let corporate officials know how we’d like to see the design improved to fit the needs of our local audiences. Many of the company’s local Web site editors got together in the Chicago area six months ago to voice those concerns again directly to corporate officials. We presented a laundry list of improvements that touched on virtually every corner of the Web site. GateHouse Media and its Web site development company, Zope, got together and came up with the design you will see next week.
Q. What are the biggest changes?
A. There are many new features that you’ll discover as you start surfing the new site. But the biggest change is the new home page story “carousel.” One of the limitations of our current home page is that we can only show off (with a big headline and picture) one story at a time. We try to change that story a few times a day, but it’s a manual process that’s not very convenient. The new design lets us display several important stories that will rotate across the home page every few seconds. This will allow us to more prominently display stories from other sections of the Web site that you usually have to click inside to find now. Another big change is the improved navigation. You’ll quickly discover it’s easier to find and flip between different sections of the site.
Q. When can I see the new site?
A. Because we’ll be putting finishing touches on the site right up until the launch, we’re unable to provide a test environment for you to play around.
Q. Are you removing anything from the site?
A. No. All of the locally produced content you see now on carthagepress.com will still be there after the change.
Q. Are you making any changes to Reader Comments?
A. No. Our popular Reader Comments feature will continue to appear at the end of most stories and will work the same way. Your current commenting account will work just fine. We will continue to monitor the comment boards to keep them free of inappropriate content.
Q. So once the new site launches, what do I do if I can’t find something?
A. Our goal is to get you through this move without rearranging too much of the furniture. In fact, the navigation menus at the top of the new site are almost identical to those on the current site.
But inevitably, some feature or page you check every day might get lost in the shuffle. If that happens, we’re here to help.
E-mail: Online editor dhoover@gatehousemedia.com will promptly answer your questions throughout the transition process.
