Skip navigation

CNBC Two-Way Street

RSS FEED

» Help

Current DateTime: 08:35:34 08 Nov 2009
LinksList Documentid: 30001682
powered by digg
The Jockeying Behind Home Page Designs
Published: Tuesday, 30 Jun 2009 | 11:24 AM ET
Text Size
By: Allen Wastler
Managing Editor, CNBC.com

more from Allen Wastler

Allen Wastler
Managing Editor, CNBC.com

It's rare that I feel sorry for a competitor. But sometimes I do. Redesigning a home page, as a couple of other business news sites have done lately, is one such instance. It is probably one of the more arduous and difficult tasks in the Internet news business.

There are many different constituents for a big, honkin' news site. Everyone wants something different. No one will be happy.

Now you'd think it'd just be a case of editorial folks, newsies and feature types, arguing about how to display their range of articles over the page. You'd be wrong.

The graphics folks will want to add lots of pictures. It is, after all, what they live for. And pictures do have a sprucing effect.

The tech mavens will want to display their flashiest stuff ... gee-whiz gizmos and data manipulators. (These will be the same folks who complain about page-load times later).

The ad guys have a say. They do, after all, generate the stuff of paychecks. And they typically want lots of ad space, usually above the (digital) fold and way, way big. Depending on how they get their commission, they'll typically want little buttons and sponsorships scattered throughout the page as well.

The marketing department will weigh in too ... especially if your Web site is tied to some other institution ... like a network or a publication. They'll want space to push what's going on there as well. And like the ad guys, they'll want it high and big.

Don't forget your BizDev (business development) crew. They are the dealmakers ... and those deals can end up being pretty important for a site's operations. They'll want those deals featured prominently as well. That helps them make more deals.

So there's a lot of jockeying going on. All business-news web sites go through it from time to time. In the end you hope the result is what's right for the reader.

What I find interesting is that as we all go through our respective redesigns, we seem to be edging nearer to one another in presentation ... a sort of three-column, middle feature center, bottom buckets kind of approach. So either we're all stealing ideas from one another or the jockeying is taking us all to the same place.


Questions? Comments? We want to hear from you:
Name:
Email Address
(not displayed):
City and State:
Your question or comment:

© 2009 CNBC, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Topics:Internet
Add This share icon
Text Size
  • digg share
ADD COMMENTS
Remaining characters


Current DateTime: 02:34:52 08 Nov 2009
LinksList Documentid: 29778428

Current DateTime: 02:34:52 08 Nov 2009
LinksList Documentid: 29779196

Current DateTime: 02:34:52 08 Nov 2009
LinksList Documentid: 29779199

Current DateTime: 02:34:52 08 Nov 2009
LinksList Documentid: 29779198
  Data is a real-time snapshot  *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes
Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis

© 2009 CNBC, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.
A Division of NBC Universal
Thomson ReutersThomson Reuters