42244 5 3 econsultancy_xml <p> <a href="http://www.ft.com/home/uk">FT.com</a> has been replaced on the masthead by "Financial Times" which, along with the pink background, brings the site more in line with its print counterpart.</p> <p>The homepage is now laid out in a way that makes it much more readable. There is more blank space in the background, and headlines and section headings are in bigger, more scannable text.</p> <p>The previous homepage now appears more cluttered. It also looks better now that the site has been centred, and the blank space on the right hand side has gone:</p> <p> <img alt="old FT homepage" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3222/3021236519_3874124fe6_o.jpg" /> </p> <p>The navigation, which previously took up the left hand side of the page now lies under the header, with drop down menus helping to reduce the space taken up on the page.</p> <p>This certainly tidies up the page, but drop down menus can be a usability problem, and having to click on the arrow to see the sub sections may be an irritation to some users.</p> <p>This follows the <a href="/blog/2116-why-is-the-indie-s-new-website-strangely-familiar">convention for other recent newspaper website revamps</a>, and does have the benefit of making it easier for the reader to navigate to different category pages from wherever they happen to be on the site.</p> <p>The freed up space gives more room for headlines to be shown, and the FT.com is a lot less cluttered then other news sites as a result.</p> <p>This may be partly due to the site's subscription model. With this income, it doesn't necessarily have to rely on attracting the attention of visitors from search engines, so doesn't have to cram all its content on the homepage.</p> <p>The Financial Times now has around 800,000 registered users, since it <a href="/blog/1797-ft-com-changes-its-subscription-model">altered its subscription model</a> last year. Registered users can access 30 articles a month free of charge.</p> <p>The site has 100,000 subscribers and also claims record traffic thanks to the recent economic woes. The last <a href="http://www.abce.org.uk/cgi-bin/gen5?runprog=abce/abce&amp;noc=y">ABCe figures</a> for March give the site 7.1m users, up nearly 2m year on year.</p> <p> <strong> <img alt="New FT.com" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3233/3023049770_de82cc857a_o.jpg" /> </strong> </p> <p>Some useful boxes on the right hand side provide quick links for the site's readers. The latest market figures, top five in depth categories, and five most popular articles.</p> <p>This is becoming another convention for news sites, and is no bad thing too, as it gives casual or first time visitors something to catch their attention.</p> <p> <strong> <img alt="" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3206/3023050394_9b5fffe58c_o.jpg" /> </strong> </p> <p>While much of the rest of the website is yet to catch up with the new look homepage, the techblogs section has also been revamped, and is looking pretty good too:</p> <p> <img alt="FT Tech blog" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3053/3024091289_372fa5b2d5_o.jpg" /> </p> <p>Though it has broadly followed the conventions of several other recent newspaper website redesigns, more blank space, top navigation etc; it still retains a unique look.</p> <p> <strong>Follow me on Twitter <a href="http://bit.ly/BcZh">here</a>. </strong> </p> <p> <strong>Related articles:</strong> <br /> <a href="/blog/2612-is-community-a-panacea-for-ailing-newspapers">Is "community" a panacea for ailing newspapers?</a> <br /> <a href="/blog/2899-newspapers-the-good-news-and-the-bad-news">Newspapers - the good news and the bad news</a> </p> <FormattedContent xmlns="http://www.e-consultancy.com/schema/formattedContent/"> <Paragraph> <Link URL="http://www.ft.com/home/uk" Window="Self">FT.com</Link> has been replaced on the masthead by "Financial Times" which, along with the pink background, brings the site more in line with its print counterpart.</Paragraph> <Paragraph>The homepage is now laid out in a way that makes it much more readable. There is more blank space in the background, and headlines and section headings are in bigger, more scannable text.</Paragraph> <Paragraph>The previous homepage now appears more cluttered. It also looks better now that the site has been centred, and the blank space on the right hand side has gone:</Paragraph> <Paragraph> <Image AlternateText="old FT homepage" Source="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3222/3021236519_3874124fe6_o.jpg"> </Image> </Paragraph> <Paragraph>The navigation, which previously took up the left hand side of the page now lies under the header, with drop down menus helping to reduce the space taken up on the page.</Paragraph> <Paragraph>This certainly tidies up the page, but drop down menus can be a usability problem, and having to click on the arrow to see the sub sections may be an irritation to some users.</Paragraph> <Paragraph>This follows the <Link URL="/blog/2116-why-is-the-indie-s-new-website-strangely-familiar" Window="Self">convention for other recent newspaper website revamps</Link>, and does have the benefit of making it easier for the reader to navigate to different category pages from wherever they happen to be on the site.</Paragraph> <Paragraph>The freed up space gives more room for headlines to be shown, and the FT.com is a lot less cluttered then other news sites as a result.</Paragraph> <Paragraph>This may be partly due to the site's subscription model. With this income, it doesn't necessarily have to rely on attracting the attention of visitors from search engines, so doesn't have to cram all its content on the homepage.</Paragraph> <Paragraph>The Financial Times now has around 800,000 registered users, since it <Link URL="/blog/1797-ft-com-changes-its-subscription-model" Window="Self">altered its subscription model</Link> last year. Registered users can access 30 articles a month free of charge.</Paragraph> <Paragraph>The site has 100,000 subscribers and also claims record traffic thanks to the recent economic woes. The last <Link URL="http://www.abce.org.uk/cgi-bin/gen5?runprog=abce/abce&amp;noc=y" Window="Self">ABCe figures</Link> for March give the site 7.1m users, up nearly 2m year on year.</Paragraph> <Paragraph> <Emphasis> <Image AlternateText="New FT.com" Source="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3233/3023049770_de82cc857a_o.jpg"> </Image> </Emphasis> </Paragraph> <Paragraph>Some useful boxes on the right hand side provide quick links for the site's readers. The latest market figures, top five in depth categories, and five most popular articles.</Paragraph> <Paragraph>This is becoming another convention for news sites, and is no bad thing too, as it gives casual or first time visitors something to catch their attention.</Paragraph> <Paragraph> <Emphasis> <Image Source="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3206/3023050394_9b5fffe58c_o.jpg"> </Image> </Emphasis> </Paragraph> <Paragraph>While much of the rest of the website is yet to catch up with the new look homepage, the techblogs section has also been revamped, and is looking pretty good too:</Paragraph> <Paragraph> <Image AlternateText="FT Tech blog" Source="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3053/3024091289_372fa5b2d5_o.jpg"> </Image> </Paragraph> <Paragraph>Though it has broadly followed the conventions of several other recent newspaper website redesigns, more blank space, top navigation etc; it still retains a unique look.</Paragraph> <Paragraph> <Emphasis>Follow me on Twitter <Link URL="http://bit.ly/BcZh" Window="Self">here</Link>. </Emphasis> </Paragraph> <Paragraph> <Emphasis>Related articles:</Emphasis> <LineBreak /> <Link URL="/blog/2612-is-community-a-panacea-for-ailing-newspapers" Window="Self">Is "community" a panacea for ailing newspapers?</Link> <LineBreak /> <Link URL="/blog/2899-newspapers-the-good-news-and-the-bad-news" Window="Self">Newspapers - the good news and the bad news</Link> </Paragraph> </FormattedContent> 2008-11-11T11:41:00+00:00 5 1 econsultancy_xml <p> <strong>The Financial Times began rolling out changes to its website earlier this week, with a new look and very pink homepage being the first major update.  </strong> </p> <p> <img alt="Redesigned FT.com homepage" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3224/3023049246_994f54823e_o.jpg" /></p> <p>This is the first stage of an ongoing redesign process and so far it looks like a big improvement. I've taken a closer look at the changes...</p> <FormattedContent xmlns="http://www.e-consultancy.com/schema/formattedContent/"> <Paragraph> <Emphasis>The Financial Times began rolling out changes to its website earlier this week, with a new look and very pink homepage being the first major update.  </Emphasis> </Paragraph> <Paragraph> <Image AlternateText="Redesigned FT.com homepage" Source="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3224/3023049246_994f54823e_o.jpg"></Image></Paragraph> <Paragraph>This is the first stage of an ongoing redesign process and so far it looks like a big improvement. I've taken a closer look at the changes...</Paragraph> </FormattedContent> false 2959 <p>Econsultancy has a wide range of documents to help you with designing websites from start to finish. Check out our <strong><a href="http://econsultancy.com/reports/effective-web-design-best-practice-guide">Effective Web Design Guide</a></strong> and our <strong><a href="http://econsultancy.com/reports/template-files-for-web-projects">Web Project Management Template Files</a></strong> for more information.</p> <p>Econsultancy has a wide range of documents to help you with designing websites from start to finish. Check out our <strong><a href="http://econsultancy.com/reports/effective-web-design-best-practice-guide">Effective Web Design Guide</a></strong> and our <strong><a href="http://econsultancy.com/reports/template-files-for-web-projects">Web Project Management Template Files</a></strong> for more information.</p> 366693 Site review: FT.com revamp false 2008-11-13T08:45:00+00:00 site-review-ft-com-revamp 2009-04-29T12:47:45+01:00 2009-10-13T09:52:31+01:00 781