It’s obviously still a work in progress, but check out this high school web site. That’s right, high school.
I don’t know whether to say, “this is your competition,” or “it’s a good sign for our industry that a high school news site would so closely mimic a lot of newspaper.com conventions.” It might also provide a barometer for what high school students expect in a news site.
Note the point and shoot video and the blog-like presentation. Note, too, that they are explicitly not trying to be the print edition in pixels (though it looks like they plan to offer a PDF version of the print product).
Holy cow Howard, that site is nice! Thanks for finding that.
[…] Howard Owens has some interesting thoughts, including this: I don’t know whether to say, “this is your competition,†or “it’s a good sign for our industry that a high school news site would so closely mimic a lot of newspaper.com conventions.†It might also provide a barometer for what high school students expect in a news site. […]
[…] Howard Owens of Gatehouse Media recently pointed to a small-town high school — Wayland High in Wayland, Massachusetts — that is doing things with their school newspaper’s website that more big-city papers should do, including smart use of video, blog-style format and great design. […]
It sounds good, I love the simplicity. Your posts are easy as a pie and really attractive at the same time.