The BBC has announced that there will soon be a new design for its News web page. The BBC say the new design is “focused on design and navigation” with an apparent greater focus on various media types and more room on the page for content.
The BBC is stating the new features in the redesigned site as being:
- A fresh, updated design, with more space for the main stories of the day
- Better use of video and images
- Clearer and more prominent labelling and signposting of key stories, whether you are on the front page or a story page
- A better indication of which are the most recent headlines
- Easier ways to share stories with others, for those who wish to
There definitely appears to be a greater focus on images and videos, which is a growing focus of many of the BBC sites. The new video pages will provide a larger video viewing size, higher quality videos and a greater selection from across the BBC and various news stories.
The design also features new ways for readers to share content with the social web with links at the top and bottom of news articles to share the page on Facebook, Twitter and more.
The BBC provides the following summary of the new aspects and features of the site:
New look: More space for the main stories of the day, video and pictures. We have moved the navigation from the left-hand side of the page to the top to give more space for stories and for bigger images and video. We will also be able to indicate on the front page if any of our top three stories have relevant related content.
Clearer labelling: More prominent labelling and highlighting of different types of content so you can pick them out quickly on any page.
Story pages: On story pages, we're placing the day's top stories and features alongside the story so that however you arrive on the site, you can quickly see the main content of the day. Related articles and collected further reading will be placed within and at the bottom of stories; we think in-depth analysis and context will fit better there than in the right-hand column where it has lived to date.
Video: A bigger video player, streaming with better quality. We'll place that at the top of the front page, because video is one of the key elements in what we provide and we want to make sure people don't miss it. On video pages, there will be more options for other video highlights, arranged by section as well as by popularity, so that those who want to watch more video won't have to look far to find it.
Latest: The most recently published stories will be flagged on the front page with a "New" badge.
Sharing: Links that allow users more quickly and simply to share stories with friends on social networks including Facebook and Twitter.
You can see more images of the new design on the BBC website.
The redesigned site, which the BBC claim is the biggest design overhaul since 2003, is expected to start being rolled out as soon as next week and will go live in North America as well as the UK. Alongside the new design the BBC have also rebuilt their content production system to make it quicker and easier for news articles to be written and published. The BBC are keen to know what users think of the design when it rolls out and they will be monitoring the hashtag "#bbcnewssite" on twitter to read people’s opinions.
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