For the (Denver) Rocky Mountain News, the blizzards that blanketed the Mile High City last winter produced something more than a bumper crop of snow babies.

The paper took some of the interactive features it posted on its Web site during the massive December/January storms as a core foundation underpinning a complete redesign of its site, which debuted Nov. 15.

 

To that end, the new look includes more than just multimedia apps; it also includes sections where readers can upload and share stories with others, mobile alerts and other attractions, said Mike Noe, the News’ interactive editor.

The deployment of interactive features is a direct result of the spike in traffic and participation rockymountainnews.com received from snowed-in Denver residents, he said.

“During the blizzard we started throwing up applications where people could take a picture of how much snow was in their backyard and throw it on the site,” he said.

“People went crazy with that and started looking through all the slide shows we had on the snow.”

Aesthetically, the site shed its former blue hues, instead embracing a white background sporting gray and black shaded navigation bars.

The design envelopes such new features as mobile alerts and shortcuts that make it easier for readers to share stories through such networking sites as Del.icio.us, digg, Newsvine and others.

But rockymountainnews.com still retains some of the old look, Noe said, citing the large photograph that anchors the home page and feature story listings that scroll below the initial display.

“We stayed with a consistent horizontal navigation across the Web site, giving us more opportunity to maintain consistency across the board so that users don’t get lost trying to figure out where they want to go,” said Noe.

More content

The News based the Web site on Ellington, the same content management software used by other E.W. Scripps newspapers.

The paper was the last of the group’s dailies to make the shift to Ellington, a change of pace from what occurred when the News rolled out its former Vignette Corp.-based CMS, Noe said.

“We were the first paper to roll out into the old CMS and that was pretty painful for a paper of our size,” he said. “Given all the bugs and mistakes we experienced in 2000, we decided to be the last property to go onto Ellington so we can let the others work their way through the kinks in the system.”

Among Ellington’s greatest benefits is its ability to support user-generated content, including such features as user-generated commenting and photo submission.

“Our hope is that we will have even more tools to allow the user to interact with the site,” he said.

The app will also give News editors an unimpeded conduit through which they can post stories online.

“The section editors will be taking over their sections on the Web site,” Noe said, adding that the software enables users to post content without writing a lot of code.

“I’m excited about it because it’ll feel like I’ve gained 100 new producers in the newsroom who can update, maintain and manage its look. Plus, we’ll be able to improve individual sections,” he said.

More multimedia

The beefed-up Web site also sets the stage for News reporters to file video and images with their stories. Writers are now equipped with more sophisticated cell phones that can transmit both photos and video, Noe said.

“We are still working on the workflow to get the video into the site, but we do have the ability to post,” he said, citing footage reporters posted during the Colorado Rockies’ playoff run.

The site can also support higher-quality videos, Noe said. Case in point: An early December special report covering Colorado’s energy development.

The series included high-def video that was posted online; some of the frames from the video were also used in the print edition of the paper, Noe said.

“The idea is that we have these reporters out in the field that can record audio and video and get it back to us as quickly as possible to post on the site,” he said.