The NewsTimes.com you see today probably looks a bit different than the one you saw yesterday.
Make that a lot different.
The site you see today is the work of countless hours of work, both locally here in Connecticut and across Hearst Corporation.
There are so many new features that you might not notice them all at first. So we’ve put together a nice list of the big ones:
• A new, cleaner look. Our old site was, in a word, cluttered. We think you’ll love our new look. We’ve shed a lot of the excess to get back to the core mission of the site: To provide our readers with everything they need to know about their world, from Danbury and beyond.
• No more anonymous comments. We heard you. While we obviously encourage discussion, anonymous comments rarely add anything meaningful. On our new site, users are required to provide an e-mail address when they register. Once we verify its authenticity, readers are encouraged to leave comments on stories, photos, videos and blog posts.
• A robust look at our archives. Free of charge. On our old site, if you wanted any article older than going back two weeks, you had to pay a fee. Now, we’ve opened up our archives going back a full five years, free of charge. Want to follow our articles on the arrest and trial of James Galante? Just search for his name. Click on a person’s name to read everything we’ve written about them. Five years of Danbury history, on the house.
• An easier way to purchase reprinted photos. See a picture we’ve taken of you or a loved one that you just have to own a copy of? Just click the “Buy This Photo” link below the picture. It’s that easy.
• Way better search. Search isn’t just limited to articles anymore. Now, a search for, say, “Burke” will return all of our articles about Robert Burke, but also all of our pictures, videos and blog posts about the first selectman as well.
• Better multimedia. More slideshows. More videos. Our users click through our slideshows by the thousands every day, and our new site will give them bigger and better slideshows to explore.
Keep in mind that the site is still in “beta” mode, so you may see some weirdness here and there. If you do, please send us some feedback so we can take a look at it.
So click around! Explore the new site. I think you’re going to find it’s vastly better than our old one.
Glad to see the ability to comment has been restored. I think it could have been done earlier to enable discussion during the elections. Registering commentors is a good idea.
Comment by Sharpshooter — November 15th, 2009 @ 4:21 pm
The new look and feel of the website is much better than the old!! Thank you for that.
Is there any chance that there could be some incorporation of traffic news? I realize that this area is not supported by TrafficLand and there are no cameras on I-84 E & W bound after Exit 9, but here’s an example of great traffic info: http://www.pilotonline.com ; look at the link under the weather information labeled, “Traffic Cameras & VDOT Alerts” — sure wish this area had this! Hopefully this area of CT will get into the present sooner than later!
Looking forward to better news and searches!
Comment by OnlyTemporary — November 15th, 2009 @ 5:30 pm
Also glad to see that the ability to comment to stories is back. I’m sure those of us who do comment thought it was torture the last few months without it.
I’m already liking this improved website, much cleaner and better than the older one. Thanks and kudos.
Comment by Smalltowngirl — November 15th, 2009 @ 7:02 pm
Initial response: What a great improvement!
Comment by MorningReader — November 16th, 2009 @ 7:28 am
Wow! What a huge improvement!
Comment by LiveFree — November 16th, 2009 @ 7:52 am
Is The Spectrum section gone? Kind of liked checking that on Fridays. Otherwise site looks great
Comment by onlyme — November 16th, 2009 @ 9:04 am
Thanks for the feedback.
The Spectrum is very much not gone. You can still reach it at http://www.newstimes.com/spectrum, just like before. We’re working on getting newmilfordspectrum.com to redirect to there, too, but it isn’t ready yet.
In the coming months, the Spectrum is slated to get its own site. Stay tuned!
Comment by Keith Whamond — November 16th, 2009 @ 9:13 am
I second the request for traffic updates via Twitter or some other way, that was very helpful when you had it before. New site looks great!
Comment by Catfur — November 16th, 2009 @ 9:55 am
Significant accomplishments in the layout makes it far easier to read in the new format. Hope the quality of prose in the articles will also improve. Glad to hear too that anonymous postings and rants will be banned to reduce thoughtless responses that didn’t add any content to articles.
Comment by Kenneth Kopsco — November 16th, 2009 @ 3:50 pm
In a word Pure Sweetness….well two words..job well done, worth the wait.
Comment by Ray Kroc — November 16th, 2009 @ 4:57 pm
ANYTHING would have been an improvement to that clunky former NT website. This one looks and acts vastly better so far. Lets see that Spectrum link ASAP. Keep up the good work.
Comment by Fenner Brownell — November 16th, 2009 @ 6:09 pm
glad its back…
Comment by hestermagpie — November 16th, 2009 @ 6:26 pm
A spiffy new web site is fine, but I hope that equal or greater emphasis gets placed on the content.
The coolest web site means nothing if the content continues to be at best weak, and at worst, biased.
Two examples:
Weak content – an event is announced, but no website link to learn more details. Or an article about a major new change to an important intersection – how about a link to a map of the area?
This site is STILL not web 1.0, much less web @.0.
Bias – biased reporting, and selective lack of reporting, an key local politcal issues. Coverage of the recent elaction campaigns and results are a shameful example.
For me, I look upon the cosmetic and functional changes to this website as a great deal of effort and money seriously misplaced.
I look forward to seeing improvements across the board, NewsTimes and Hearst.
Thanks for providing this forum for us readers.
Comment by Sonatina — November 16th, 2009 @ 6:58 pm
Great work guys. The new site is clean, uncluttered, and fast to load. Just keep it simple like this and it will be a pleasure to visit several times per day.
One of my biggest problems with living in Danbury is that we’ve lost all our sources of up-to-the-minute local news and information. The News-Times staff has been pared down to the point that the daily print paper is merely an advertising flyer. WLAD has become a platform for syndicated political hacks; their news reporters simply read from the print version of the News-Times. Television stations just lump us in with the rest of Fairfield County, like we’re a suburb of Stamford or Hartford.
With this “reboot” of your site, please remember that a community the size of Danbury NEEDS a real, live source of news 24-7, if not for our safety then just to satisfy our nosiness.
I wish you all the best in finally bringing the News-Times into the internet age.
Comment by joe.still.not.the. plumber — November 16th, 2009 @ 10:31 pm
Thanks for bringing the comment boards back–with registration. I kind of miss sparring with some of our more outrageous posters, but they were getting WAY out of control in that they were using the discussion boards to harass people who could not defend themselves.
I like the links to local bloggers, but it seems like they do more writing about LOCAL issues than the News-Times. May the new website bring in more income so you can hire more LOCAL reporters.
Comment by Motherboard — November 18th, 2009 @ 9:50 am
All I can say is WOW !
When I came on-line to check out the news my eyeballs popped out.
You folks sent out a mass email to those of us who write blogs here for CT/Hearst Newspapers the other day about the upcoming new website but I never expected this.
Kudos to all for the hard work involved and thanks for the new home of “Focus On The Rainbow”.
Lyndon Evans
Focus On The Rainbow
Comment by Lyndon Evans — November 18th, 2009 @ 12:27 pm