Top 10 Best Newspaper Websites August 14, 2007
As a follow-up to our research on newspaper websites that we published recently, we decided to break out a list of the best examples of “good” newspaper websites. Steve, Todd and I collaborated on the following list, judging sites not only on their web features but also on the design, aesthetics and general usability of the site [Note: this list only covers the top 100 US newspapers in terms of circulation, which is what our study looked at. We're sure that we missed some great smaller papers.].
(1) New York Times: We love the general feeling of the NYT site, which is pleasing to the eye and easy to navigate. The site is loaded with great features, and the website is rumored to be dropping its annoying pay wall, TimesSelect, in the coming months.
(2) Washington Post: Not only do we like the design and the navigability of the Post’s website, but we really love its database applications, which provide interesting tidbits of information difficult to find elsewhere. The Post’s website has been a huge success, and is one of the best examples of newspapers creating an online product that is significantly different from its print product.
(3) USA Today: Social networking. Social networking. Social networking. Did I mention that this site has the most robust social networking features out of any of the newspaper websites we researched? Oh yeah. And this site has social networking.
(4) Houston Chronicle: We like the non-newspaperish feeling that this homepage exudes. It’s significantly different from any other newspaper site. Chron.com offers its users interactive features such as comments and blogs, has a great RSS system made available right on the homepage, and looks good while doing it.
(5) Denver Post: The homepage of this site isn’t much to write home about, but registering with the site automatically gives you your own blog and your own photo gallery for uploading and sharing photos. When you add in some interesting political features, including a voter’s guide and a poll for picking candidates and combine that with alternative content views, internal and external bookmarking features, as well as links from stories to relevant materials, you’ve got all the ingredients necessary to build a great website.
(6) Knoxville News Sentinel: I’m not sure a newspaper website could look any better than this one. When we talk about de-cluttering sites and making them look “clean”, this is what we mean.
(7) Fresno Bee: Great homepage, interesting CrimeMap feature, and overall just a solid site with lots of technology and an easy-to-use format.
(8) Austin American Statesman: We really like the unique layout and coloring of this site’s homepage. We’re also giving this site points for allowing anyone to blog and for linking to many of the site’s blogs directly from the homepage.
(9) Tennessean: The blog-like feel of this site’s homepage helped it make our list. We also like the strong presence of multimedia on the homepage.
(10) San Jose Mercury News: On this homepage, we like the simple layout of the article headlines and descriptions. I also like the inclusion of the box with blog headlines, user photos, forum titles, and podcasts toward the top of the homepage. The site loads a bit slowly and is a little light on the features, but it does have all the core elements of a good site.
What are your favorite newspaper websites? Share them below in the comments or on the Bivings Report Wiki.
Update: We edited the info about the Times dropping Times Select for clarification. It was reported on August 7th that they would be dropping it. They did not drop Times Select on August 7th.
Trackbacks/Pings
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Comments
The Post has great features but I really don’t like the way it looks. Same with USA Today.
The New York Times, Houston Chronicle and Austin American Stateman are the best looking, in my opinion.
Chicago and Los Angeles papers really should be much better given the size of those markets.
One thing that bugs me about the WaPo is the lack of new content during the day. I feel that although this site has good features, it’s a bit static.
This is a good roundup of exemplary news site web design. However, IMHO, web design is counting for less and less on any site (especially news sites). What’s become more important is distribution via feeds and mobile, how easy it is for search engines to index content and people to find it, and the prominence and usability of engagement functions (such as comments).
Online media has progressed to a point where, especially for news, it’s really not about your site any more — it’s about effective distribution and engagement, and learning to adjust your business model and publishing strategy to roll with that trend.
I just wrote about a related theme today on Poynter’s E-Media Tidbits:
http://poynter.org/column.asp?.....aid=128519
Thanks,
- Amy Gahran
Amy - you should check out our newspaper report. We look at the tools newspapers are using to engage readers. This post is definitely more design-focused and anecdotal.
http://www.bivingsreport.com/2.....portunity/
Thanks, Todd. I’ve linkblogged that research on Contentious.com and I’ll look it over.
Did you cover distribution via feeds/mobile as well? That is, getting news orgs out of the mistaken mindset that it’s all about bringing people to their site?
- Amy Gahran
Amy - the study looked at both mobile and use of feeds.
Regarding feeds, lots of newspapers publish stuff via RSS, but always only partial information. The focus is on using the technology as a way of driving people back to to their site.
I would put the Wall Street Journal in the top ten. In print paper order, easy to navigate, great graphics.
This local site just came out, http://www.mydesert.com. See what you think.
If you’re looking for a web site that still feels like a newspaper, it’s hard to do any better than the Seattle Times. I also like the Arizona Republic, simply because they throw lots of headlines on the home page.
JSonline, The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel is an awesome site. Surprised it isn’t in the top 10.
Very cool stuff here. The Lawrence (KS) Journal-World has an excellent site, in my opinion. What are your thoughts on worst designs? My two favorite papers, the Chicago Tribune and Kansas City Star, do not do their Web presence any service. The Trib’s redesign is beneath the quality of the paper, and you have to scroll 3/4 of the way down the Star’s site to find today’s news.
It’s interesting that all ten of the best newspaper websites are from the U.S. Does this reflect the quality of U.S. newspaper websites over British ones or a confusion over the meaning of ‘best’?
I’m amazed for example that the Guardian isn’t in there.
Gazzer - good point. I’ll edit the post. These are best US websites. The list would look dramatically different if we included non-US papers.
I’m really surprised to not see the newly redesigned International Herald Tribune on this list: http://www.iht.com
It’s really clean and easy to read, the navigation “cloud” is interesting. I love how easy Search is to get to, and the video box on the right is cool. Plus, who doesn’t love big photos and big headlines on the article pages?
Check out the daily magazine site, OnMilwaukee.com: http://onmilwaukee.com/
Nice list with a few sites I hadn’t heard of among the usual heavy-hitters (NYT, WaPo).
If you’re going to look at international ones, the Guardian (guardian.co.uk) is probably one of the nicest-looking news websites I’ve ever seen. Goes to show what a strong grid and big fonts will do for appearances.
I second Alex’s nom of the Lawrence Journal-World (www2.ljworld.com). They have a very clean design and whoever did their weather icons in the header deserves a medal.
The Fresno Bee is our life-line here in the San Joaquin Valley…we were delighted to learn that it is one of the nation’s top 10. Kudos to The Fresno Bee for its overall, interesting, and informative content.
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David - August 16th, 2007 at 1:56 pm
Instead of “Top 10 Best newspaper websites,” would a more accurate title not be “Top 10 newspaper websites for newspapers above 100,000 in circlation”?
It seems an oddly print-centric and self-limiting aspect of the study to limit beforehand the web sites looked at to those whose print counterparts exceed 100,000 circulation.
David - ideally our study would look at a wider selection of papers but unfortunately we don’t have unlimited resources. We had to draw a line somewhere, and, since our goal was see how newspapers are adapting to the web, we decided to do so based on print circulation.
I am of course partial, but I sure like http://www.fredericknewspost.com/ A small Maryland paper.
Would love to see an evaluation on top 10 best broadcast news sites.
I agrre with one fo the comments in this post http://www2.ljworld.com/ is a great little site. It has it all and does it so well! They had the clean white design of the big ones before the big ones.
I really like the spannish site http://www.elpais.es, great grids, great font work and great video and photo integration to the news.
I think that the nyt is overcrowded with info.
It’s funny that you praised the Denver Post’s website about the same time I ripped it:
http://andybosselman.blogspot......local.html
Media companies have a daunting task to keep up with so many formats. It’s nice to see the energy print publishers are putting in to their websites. Design is subjective so it’s hard to say which sites are absolutely perfect. Personally, I’m glad each site has it’s own personality. It lets us pick the sites that fit us best.
Scott–we previously did a shorter but similar review of TV websites. You can find it on The Bivings Report here:
http://www.bivingsreport.com/2.....f-the-web/
We’re pleased because we were able to get Jay Small (knoxnews) to design our site, to be released to the public mid-September.
But neither Bivington nor Howard Owen, nor any other commenter has said anything about revenue, or even the best balance between reader-and-eye-friendly design and revenue. Aside from the New York Times article about Schibstedt in Norway, does anyone know of the list of the top ten newspaper web sites in terms of contributions to the bottom line?
Sorry, I have to disagree about putting NYT at the top. It’s spaghetti navigation at its worst. They do great things, but their front page is a beast.
well well well i agree in most of a discussion.But desing is important too.
http://www.websites.design.com.au/
I find it a good local news site with the option to view a electronic version of the paper if you are a print subscriber. It would be nice to only get the electronic version only but hopefully that will come soon.
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a apple - March 20th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
You must see the newly designed Indystar.com, just released this week. as a user, a very innovative look at how to package news & info in a time-crunched world.
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Ali SEVIMLI - March 21st, 2008 at 6:12 pm
Turkiye’nin de kaliteli haber siteleri mevcuttur.