New Look Canberra Times (SMH template) site!

Fairfax lost more than $400million during the most recent audit. The Canberra Times lost 6.6% of its circulation and advertising revenue is way down. Cost cutting has become necessary, especially since Fairfax has dropped the ball regarding putting their online content behind a paywall. So merging the CT site with the rest of Fairfax is a logical progression and might keep Fairfax out of receivership for a few more months.

Sadly, the Fairfax papers show no sign of abandoning their hard left editorial policy and better reflecting the current public opinion so this is probably the last gasp from a terminally ill media empire.

dtc said :

Well, I actually like it. Then again, I am used to the SMH site and thought the old CT site was terrible contentwise, so spent most of my newspaper time on SMH. The CT sitw now seems to give most of the SMH content plus local news, so works for me. Sure it may not be Canberra centric, but the Canberra news is hardly ever worth more than 4 or 5 articles per day anyway.

It is a bit crowded, but not impossible and there are often articles that never appear in print scattered around.

+1. I’m used to that format I guess. I find it easy to navigate and it’s an improvement on the other site, which was rats***.

Well, I actually like it. Then again, I am used to the SMH site and thought the old CT site was terrible contentwise, so spent most of my newspaper time on SMH. The CT sitw now seems to give most of the SMH content plus local news, so works for me. Sure it may not be Canberra centric, but the Canberra news is hardly ever worth more than 4 or 5 articles per day anyway.

It is a bit crowded, but not impossible and there are often articles that never appear in print scattered around.

If Rioters are anything to go by, I suspect an inundation of ads is the way of the future, judging by how many tightarses complain about ads but won’t support content by paying for subscriptions.

no comment … for now

markus_k said :

I’ve always hated the Sydney Morning Herald website.

Bah.

The SMH has the best-designed news site in the world.

Wow. I guess the Canberra Times is now completely irrelevant.

Apart from @davpope’s great cartoons.
What a visual mess. Trying to squeeze an entire newspaper onto one web page?
So the page just goes on and on. It’s bigger than a broadsheet!

Well at least I don’t have to make a custom style sheet for CT.

ad filled POS of a website. It hurts my eyes

miz said :

Yuk, I hate it – I don’t think I will be looking at it anymore as it is not local. Also can’t find the letters to the editor, which was always the most interesting bit!

Hmmm. The SMH version of the Text site has it, right at the bottom, in “columns”. But all the CT has, so far, is the editorial under that heading.

Dare I suggest writing a letter to ask them?! (runs away quickly).

There’s a secret little site appended to most Fairfax newspaper sites, where you just get the stories without the flashy blinky ads and rubbish. You just get the main url and stick /text/ after it. Seems to work for the CT:
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/text/

it’s a mixture of CT stories and other Fairfax stuff, but I just did a side by side comparo with today’s SMH version, and it’s quite different. If you scroll down past the sport, there’s the opinion articles, too.

Yuk, I hate it – I don’t think I will be looking at it anymore as it is not local. Also can’t find the letters to the editor, which was always the most interesting bit!

Yep. Another cluttered news paper site, nothing new.
Rather than inventing, it remains the same as the others. More traffic for RiotACT? Save the date in Google Analytics!

Staying on topic, one of the more user friendly news sites I have seen recently seen is CNN http://edition.cnn.com/

Crap.

markus_k said :

I was wondering why the Canberra Times website appeared to have been hijacked by the Sydney Morning Herald. This is unfortunate, as I’ve always hated the Sydney Morning Herald website.
The page layout is now a cluttered mess (just like the SMH), and 90% of today’s content is just SMH articles re-badged under the Canberra Times moniker.

Same as The Age, Brisbane Times, WA today…..

They may as well just do an ‘ABC’ and have one website with the option to choose your local content.

I was wondering why the Canberra Times website appeared to have been hijacked by the Sydney Morning Herald. This is unfortunate, as I’ve always hated the Sydney Morning Herald website.
The page layout is now a cluttered mess (just like the SMH), and 90% of today’s content is just SMH articles re-badged under the Canberra Times moniker.

I used to really like the CT website’s detailed coverage of the Raiders and Brumbies, but both sections now just link to the SMH’s standard Union and League pages, which are of course Sydney-centric.

Given the CT website is now not even the CT website, I can’t see any real reason to actually visit it anymore.

I don’t know whether I’m just unable to find it, but it appears as if there is no longer a section for local sport. Very disappointing if true.