In a note buried in a story about the indictment of the Flint police chief a Journal web staffer notes that the Journal will launch a new webpage for the news product by the end of this month.
The employee pointed people to the website syracuse.com as a template for what the Journal is going to do.
I just breezed over there and on first blush it would seem to be a much better format than the current MLive one. It is well past the time the change should have been made, but it is a hopeful sign that the online product may become a much better platform.
The MLive colloboration has been, by nearly all accounts, a total disaster and has contributed to the Booth's tardy entry into the real online news world. So this is good news.
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12 comments:
Personally, I think the "new" layout looks better than the old one, but doesn't appear to fix the navigation problems. I think mlive is a horrible design and a horrible concept. People want to visit their paper's site, not a conglomeration of all the sites. I know each paper has it's own homepage, but it's a pain to find. And hopefully the fix the search feature, because right now it's basically impossible. While I think the re-vamp looks like an upgrade, it's not a big enough step to fix the disaster that is mlive.
MLive is just fine, g.
You should take a closer look at the Syracuse.com design and other Advance sites. They're full of static links and not many headlines. Sure, it's better that Flint's current homepage, but this blog is better than that.
OK, I'll admit (and I did say "at first blush") that I didn't spend much time at the syracuse site. My opinion was simply based on the overall look and layout. So, no, I haven't really explored it yet and my impression may not hold if it is still difficult to navigate.
As to anonymous 00:31:
The horse and buggy wasn't a bad form of transportation either. It was just slow and hard to navigate. Just like MLive.
Try this one: Freep.com. Compared to the horse and buggy MLive, Freep.com is a Ferrari.
Here's a good example anonymous 00:31:
I just popped over to Freep.com (It's about 5:50 a.m.) Right at the top is a story about the Red Wings game which ended after midnight this morning.
There is a full story and recap of the Red Wings game at the top of the webpage.
Look over at the Flint Journal's MLive page and you have the same story about the Flint police chief's troubles that was put up about 4 p.m.
There is also a story about the cold put up before 8 p.m. Now there may be a Red Wings update story on MLive, but it's not where I can readily see it and I don't have time to look.
This is not a criticism of the Journal's web staff. They are, and have been for a long time, handcuffed by the Advance ownership and management of MLive.
Also, if you don't staff the webpage 24 hours a day, you end up with MLive.
So just to follow up, MLive is fine, but Freep.com is excellent. I also try and select excellent when I have a choice.
I just went back (6 a.m.) and someone has put school closings at the top of the site and the Red Wings story (still up front) has moved down a couple spaces.
That's a working web site that I visit often.
The whole Mlive site and forum section just screams 1999! With some added video links.
It should be www.flintjournal.com with added links to other Booth papers if you want to go there.
Well, there is a reason that Freep.com and detnews.com are the second and third most trafficked news sites in the state behind MLive. Just sayin.
anon. 9:57 ... no it shouldn't.
To anon. 21:36.
So what do you think they should do? Why shouldn't they use flintjournal.com as their main address?
Thanks..
To anon that thinks MLive's hit counter is a good thing: Reason you're higher is it takes 6-8 "hits" to find what you're looking for, if you find it at all. Most people give up before finding what they want.
"Most people give up" ...
Real scientific research there.
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