Greensboro N-R redesign will boost reader engagement

The Greensboro (N.C.) News-Record, which has been trying to be a standard bearer for interactivity among mainstream news media, makes some improvements in a beta site redesign unveiled Tuesday.

How does it do at inviting readers to the conversation? Several features that ask the reader to be active -- submit a calendar item, post a letter to the editor, participate in the message board -- receive more prominent treatment in the beta than they do on the old site.

That's because the design of the beta is based on separate home page cells, each with its own tabs that allow the visitor to toggle between different elements.

For instance, the Letters section is displayed in a cell with a tab for the Forums (called the Message boards on the old site). This design enables the N-R to display more information while taking up less home page real estate. The Letters element lists headlines for the most recent submissions, a positive change from the old site. Letters and editorials are among the items most likely to generate reader response, and making them more noticeable on the home page will encourage more online discussion. Readers then can click on the other tab in this cell to toggle to the Forums, which are the old Message boards for now but will be, according to the beta site, "new and improved" when finished. Different sections of the message board are listed, another improvement over the old site which displayed only the "Message boards" link.

The site's blogs are in the lower-right element on the home page, sharing a cell with Columnists and Editorial. Given the blogs' potential for engaging the readers, I don't like seeing them downplayed. Move 'em up!

The Snapshot element features a staff-produced photo gallery. This would be a great place to ask readers to submit their own photos.

The print-email-comment icons displayed on the lead story are great. Tells me right away that my input is desired and that I can easily share this article with others.

The YourNews citizen journalism section, which is prominent on the current site, is AWOL on the beta. I'm guessing that's one reason it's a beta. Because that element is so crucial to making a statement to readers about how their input is valued, I can't say thumbs-up or thumbs-down til I see how the final version incorporates it.

Aesthetically, I like the increased use of tabs and a shorter page that doesn't require lots of scrolling. But the color scheme doesn't guide me the way I'd expect. And while the current site could be criticized for being text-heavy, the beta seems graphics-heavy. However, I think that has more to do with the layout than the actual number of graphics.