4:41 PM Wed, Oct 11, 2006 | Permalink
Frank Mungeam
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by Frank Mungeam
Internet Site Manager, kgw.com
We're excited about the new features included in Thursday's 6:30 p.m. re-launch of kgw.com.
What hasn't changed is our commitment to be the leader in coverage of breaking news, led by the best staff of web writers at any local TV station - the very attributes that earned kgw.com the Edward R. Murrow Award for best TV news web site in the northwest region.
What has changed is a new focus on letting our visitors choose their news, and control their experience on our site.
You'll still find the top headlines of the day, as selected by our news team. But now visitors can also view a list of the day's most-read stories, reflecting which stories are most popular among our readers. In addition, we have a new section in NEWS called NEWS NEAR YOU. Here, you can choose a neighborhood like SW Portland or one of our major cities like Vancouver, Salem or Bend - and get news stories, weather and traffic specific to that area. These three options let you choose your news.
We've also added features that let you customize kgw.com for your preferences. You can choose to have "Headlines" displayed on the home page, or "Weather." A third option, "My kgw.com" allows you to create a home page that collects ALL your favorite web sites on a single page.
Along with our news content, we also recognize that we all need a little fun in our day. We've added two great new features to our Entertainment & Lifestyle section. New kgw.com entertainment reporter Drew Carney takes us "Out & About" every day to fun events in the Metro area in his web-exclusive videos. You can also join us for an "8 Break", our daily escape into the world of strange news and amazing videos.
Finally, we've tripled the amount of video available on our home page. We've also made it easier to choose your preferred video, with three separate categories: "News" video, most "Popular" video, and "Raw" video, where we'll feature extended and uncut scene video and interviews.
All these changes are designed to provide you with more news, and more choices in news. We hope you'll take a few minutes to use the Navigation tabs at the top of our home page to explore these new features.
Frank Mungeam
Nice site, Frank. Congratulations!
--We're glad you like it, Carol!
Frank M
I don't like the new format. I've found lots of pages that "don't work", "don't load", or deny me access.
--Terry, we have had our share of glitches as we 'unpack the boxes in our new house.' We regret the broken pages and have been working hard to find and fix them. -Frank
The amount of advertising now is outrageous! Reminds me of AOL. I'm switching to another local news website that cares more about providing information than generating advertising revenue.
--Terry, FYI there's only one more add on the home page than before...but we now have FIVE times more News video content. As the multiple winner of the Edward R Murrow Award for best TV station website in the Northwest (including Seattle), kgw.com has a proud tradition of the best local news reporting in Portland. Advertising is part of every free medium but at kgw.com our focus is on our content, which I'm proud to say hasn't changed. -- Frank
Not crazy about the new web site look.
Excellent job covering the City of Vancouver Police officer accused of DUI.
-- M, thanks for your comments on our coverage. We know the new look is a change for folks. As you've noted, we've still got the same great team of web writers and reporters, and in the long run we hope that our new look will become your favorite - again.
Frank
The new website look is irritating and you've lost the 12-hour weather forecast, which was extremely helpful. I think it's a step backward.
--Hi Linda. Don't give up yet - the 12-hour weather forecast is still there! It's just a little lower on the weather page. Check it out: http://www.kgw.com/weather
We actually moved items around on the weather page so that the most popular, clicked-on elements (radar, satellite, 5-day forecast) would be above the fold. Plus, we now have an imbedded video player on the page so you can watch the latest weather forecast anytime!
--Frank Mungeam
I like the way your new website looks, but it seems to run much slower--both when first entering the site and when moving from page to page.
There are links to a forum that don't work. Is this something that is being worked on?
-- Michael: Thanks for the note. We are aware of the broken link and are working on it. --Frank
I'm sorry, but I liked your previous website much better--easier to navigate, had a more pleasing look, more user-friendly all around. Now, there are portions of the page that remain gray, some links don't open when I click on them, etc.
--Suzanne, we hope you'llgive the new look another look. We received lots of feedback that the 25 navigation links on the old site was way too busy, and we thought that made sense. In time, we hope folks will find that our 8 navigation links up top are more clear and intuitive.
And we're very sorry about some of the broken links. We have more than a thousand site pages and not all converted properly, it's taken time to find and fix them. --Frank Mungeam
the new website design is more of a frustrating experience than anything else. Page loads up slow; graphics/photos/background overlaps the text preventing you from even reading the article; it's way too busy; and it's basically becoming a big hassle to just check out the news online. One day when I tried to e-mail technical support about my complaints regarding the website, the webpage automatically refreshed itself before I was finished, so everything I typed in disappeared!!! I then tried to do it again, but this time it forced me to sign in before I could even write that message!!! I basically gave up after that point!!! I think the new design should have gone through a more rigorous test, before replacing the old, because I feel like a beta tester for the new design, so now have moved on. KGW used to be my number news source until you guys implemented the registration requirement and now this new broken design. It may look nice and all, but not very functional for a news website.
- Mel, I understand your frustrations! There's no question we had technical difficulties during the first few months of our launch, and that was a disservice to our loyal users who count on us for news.
Since February, we've made a series of upgrades that include cleansing all superfluous graphics from the home page, re-coding to significantly enhance page loading time, and just last week, a new Video Player that displays video in a larger screen with email and link features as well.
We appreciate the patience and understanding of our users and remain committed to providing excellence local online news coverage, and also to continuing to add enhancements to our web site.
Frank Mungeam
Internet Site Manager