If you’re among the many regular visitors to our website, you probably already know: Clicking on www.vnews.com now brings you to a home page that looks very different from the one you have been familiar with.
The Valley News website has undergone a makeover — one that we believe will better serve our readers by improving how we deliver news digitally.
The most striking change is the design. The more modular, contemporary look reflects a recognition that reading news on a desktop, smartphone or tablet is a different experience from reading a newspaper.
The website no longer seeks to digitally replicate our print edition. Readers will find everything that’s offered in the newspaper, but the content is organized differently, and the navigational structure eventually will take full advantage of digital capabilities by suggesting links to related stories, photos and, in some cases, archival material, video or related source documents.
Websites aren’t supposed to just look different; they are different in their ability to deliver news faster and through various media. Under the direction of Web Editor Maggie Cassidy, the Valley News website has already begun to offer more breaking news, video, slideshows and web-oriented features.
Our new site will allow us to move further in that direction, particularly in posting fresh content more frequently.
It’s safe to say that few recent changes in the digital world have been more significant than the mass migration to smartphones as the go-to device for connecting to the Internet. In that regard, we believe our new website represents a huge improvement by translating into a dynamic, easy-to-use mobile format when readers visit www.vnews.com on their smartphones. The website, however, is designed to work well regardless of what device you choose to use to connect to www.vnews.com — desktops, laptops, smartphones or tablets. And for readers who prefer a digital representation of the printed page, we still offer an e-edition, both on the website and via our app.
Please check it out, and remember: What you see now is not necessarily what you’ll get in the future as we add new features and the website evolves, as it surely will. Predicting what will happen in the digital world is a notoriously difficult exercise. Our decisions will be guided by the same considerations as for the print edition: How can we best serve our readers by delivering the right mix of local, national, international, sports and cultural news — along with our advertising content, of course.