November 2010′s Telegraph website redesign: before and after
The Daily Telegraph website has a new look - and a new name. The former Telegraph.co.uk is now simply The Telegraph. And the new look - described as "much more than adding a new coat of paint but short of a comprehensive redesign" - aims to "make the site easier to enjoy and easier on the eye".
The name change means that of the main UK national newspapers sites, only the Guardian and the Express keep their URL as their masthead. The Telegraph, Times, Mail, Sun, Mirror, Express and FT all just have their name as their logo now.
Newspaper website logos
Anyway, so what's changed about the Telegraph? Here's a before and after look at the homepage (click it to make it bigger):
Telegraph homepage. Left: before. Right: now
According to the Telegraph, the purpose was:
To harmonise our look across all print, web and mobile and apps platforms; better showcase our outstanding multimedia content; and highlight the depth of our coverage across the site.
Changes include:
- dark borders (which I like - it sort of forces your eyes onto the central bit of the page),
- colour-coded navigation (sport is green, finance is red etc)
- a serif font for headlines (again, I like - nicer than the old very heavy headlines, and maybe a nod to the print style).
- There's also a new image/video gallery on the homepage (it's quite a long way down but is a good way to feature larger photos etc)
Interactive content promos
Further changes include:
More and bigger pictures, better packaging of our content within articles and improved topic pages with links to much more of our archive, and better integration with our blogs.
There's a useful column to the right of the stories, which is fairly similar to the Guardian's approach, to encourage sharing and listing related topics.
The Telegraph has also included some nice visual adverts for interactive tools (see pictured example) in that column.
All in all, it's not a massive change, as they say. But it all seems for the better. Reaction on Twitter seems fairly positive and you can't ask for more than that!
There is a new look, but this disguises the fact that the online articles have been shaved so as not to compete with the print edition.
An example of this is the Obituaries page, where the heavy editing makes the articles meaningless.
I appreciate the economics of this. The site is not behind a paywall. But it is a disappointment.
Paul
That was a bug. A commercial widget was competing with the text, truncating it. It's now been removed, so you'll be able to read the obituaries in full.
Ian Douglas, editorial lead of the Telegraph refresh.
I must admit, I rarely, if ever, read an online newspaper other than the local Gibraltarian rag which is more about learning the local gossip (has yet another guy I went to school with been busted for drink driving? Drugs? etc) than anything else.
However, I must admit that I usually buy the Sunday Telegraph when in the UK (you get charged over the usual price over here (transport and duty), but without the supplements!) and quite like the new look layout. I think I might start reading online more regularly.
Also, Malcolm, surely "(click it to make it bigger):" should read: "(click to embiggen):"? This is a perfectly cromulent opportunity to use such noble word.
Unfortunately there is no letter spacing in the body text font of the articles on the new Telegraph website. Since the letters touch each other, it makes it almost impossible to read (when viewed in the Firefox and Chrome browsers).
They need to update their style sheet and increase the letter spacing property. The Guardian uses narrow font for the article body text as well, but with adequate letter spacing.
I agree with Peter, I find it too difficult to read, I hope they change it soon!