The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette is revamping its online presence at ArkansasOnline.com, from the current version shown above on the left to the new format shown on the right.
Teams at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette are revamping the website, and they want you to take a peek and respond.
The paper, which has emphasized digital presentation as it has pulled back print circulation in some reaches of the state, is beta-testing its remade ArkansasOnline.com site. It has promoted the test site in emails to readers and on social media.
“We’re getting ready to flip the switch on a completely redesigned site,” Senior Online Editor Gavin Lesnick posted on Twitter. “Get a sneak peek here before it launches.”
PREVIEW: We’re getting ready to flip the switch on a completely redesigned #ArkDG website. Get a sneak peek here before it launches, and let us know what you think » https://t.co/K6e32EK7u6 pic.twitter.com/2XNfrNbDRk
— Gavin Lesnick (@glesnick) July 31, 2018
The test site features a dominant lead story and photograph, with illustrated headlines and summaries of stories below, in contrast to the current site’s dense list of headlines.
A quick test drive just over a week ago found an upper-left button that brings up links to all the sections of the paper, but a row of six links directly under the nameplate seemed oddly random. “Today’s Paper” and “Latest Stories” were natural choices, but others, like “California Fires” and “Cryptoquote,” were puzzling.
General Manager Lynn Hamilton said his people had been working for several months to improve site design and performance. “The beta test is a way to gauge user acceptance and work out problems before launching,” he said.
The length of the test will depend on responses. “Probably just a couple weeks,” Hamilton said 10 days ago. “Maybe longer, though, if revisions are needed on the site. We’re doing everything we can think of to enhance our digital offerings.”
The paper’s digital edition, which some northeast Arkansas subscribers are experiencing on iPads distributed by the Democrat-Gazette when it halted print delivery there this year, has caught eyes with its color photography, enhanced by video capability that no print product, of course, can match.
Imagine the exact front page that print readers see, except the July 4 fireworks are exploding in a video burst, or a house fire is raging to life. That edition, we should note, is for subscribers only.
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