The Houston Herald launched a newly designed website late last week with new features — the most significant upgrade since signing on digitally in 2000 and one of the first newspapers in Missouri to introduce the new technology used.
The new site, launched after months of development that began in the fourth quarter of 2014, is much more visual in nature, showcasing photography and video with reporting, while improving site performance in the process. Most important, the overall news experience is streamlined and consistent across every device, wherever you may be. It uses what is called “responsive design.” The new design gives readers a good experience across desktop and tablet devices, as well as phones.
The content you want is easier to find, too — from the latest news and popular sections to scanning the newest videos and photos. In June, there were a total of 285,157 page views of photographs alone.
Readers also receive free text alerts when news occurs.
ABOUT THE WEBSITE
•The main goals of the houstonherald.com redesign are to improve site performance by loading much faster, to create a more visual reading experience.
Additionally, to diversify the offerings and to create a website that works seamlessly across different devices and screen sizes. An increasing amount of web traffic comes from mobile devices. In June, the Herald’s website had 1.05 million page views.
•Newspaper columns and online news exclusives for digital subscribers appear on the front page of the website.
•To subscribe to the website, visit houstonherald.com/subscribe. You will also find prompts to subscribe near the top right corner of the home page.
•On desktop computers and tablets, the site navigation appears horizontally across every page. Hover over the main section names to expose the deeper sub navigation. For example, hover over “Records” from the main navigation to view the subsections “death notices” and “obituaries.” Mobile readers will find the navigation by tapping the three lines in the top right corner. Tap the name to navigate there.
•Each article includes a toolbar near the top and bottom of the story that allows readers to perform a number of actions, including saving articles to read later. Select the heart icon from this toolbar to save an article. You can return to the dashboard under your log-in name later to access these saved articles on any device. You must be logged in to use this feature. You also can share on Facebook, Twitter and by email.
•To comment on an article at the end of the text, you must be logged in to your houstonherald.com account or be registered through the supported social network, Facebook. All commenters must have a public profile and use their real name.
•More prominence is given to community activities on the homepage. A calendar allows anyone to submit information at houstonherald.com/event.
•Every print ad published in the newspaper also is contained in a feature called “Flyerboard.”
•The “submit tab” allows anyone to send news and announcements, subscribe to the free daily newsletter, place a classified ad or change their subscription address.
Many of the popular features — such as the ability to tap into the Herald archives that include every page printed since 1949 — remain. The Herald is the only weekly newspaper in the state to offer the service.