A well designed homepage showcases the stories a site/publication wants to feature, or wants readers to encounter first. It also promotes reader engagement, allows branding from the print publication across a website and much more. Knowledge of the tools that allow users to update or redesign the site prevents design from becoming stale after a few years.
SNO’s Site Excellence badge is primarily tied to the homepage design and is mostly a checklist of guidelines. Below are some guiding principles the committee keeps in mind with those guidelines, with an explanation of why we think they ensure solid homepage design. Relevant support articles are linked for those who use SNO Sites to host their publication.
A graphic header
Graphic headers allow staffs that still publish print issues to display their nameplate from their newspaper/magazine on the website as well, allowing the publication to carry the branding across all mediums where the staff is producing content. Pro tip: Make sure to update the graphic header across all device views (desktop, tablet and mobile). Along the same lines, make sure to have a custom favicon uploaded to the site.
Be mindful of the space
Make sure to use the homepage space intentionally – avoid big blocks of blank space. Either adjust the widget settings or add additional widgets to fill any empty spaces.
On the flip side, make sure that the site is only displaying widgets or content on the homepage which will be updated regularly. Some sites have too many widgets for categories or content that they only update annually, so viewers may encounter old content and think the site has not been updated in almost a year. Additionally, make sure that the content displayed on the homepage is journalistically solid (e.g. stories, original photos, etc.) or encourages reader interaction (e.g. polls, forms, etc.), instead of just filling the space with content (e.g. random fact of the day).
The goal should be to have a balanced homepage that highlights the staff’s journalism and guides visitors through the web content.
Consistent design
Ensure that all of the category widgets look consistent, using the same style and design settings – especially for widgets that are sitting on top of one another or are next to one another where those differences are going to be very obvious to the reader. Also, similar to print, make sure the site is using complimentary colors and a limited number of fonts.
Control the showcase and avoid duplicates
Have a widget near the top of the homepage that displays stories from a category created solely to curate the content that gets displayed there. This gives the staff control over what stories readers will see when they land on the homepage, similar to choosing what stories go above the fold, on the cover or warrant teasers in the most prominent place on the print publication. In the category widgets (e.g. news, sports, etc.) make sure stories are categorized in such a way that they only appear one time with the exception of that showcase area at the top of the page. For example, if a story straddles the line between sports and features, select one of those categories so the same piece is not displayed in the sports and feature widget. This allows the homepage to display more of the staff’s work.
Keep it fresh and accurate
After the staff publishes the first batch of content for the year, make a goal that all of the content displayed on the homepage for the duration of the school year is never more than three months old. This keeps readers coming back to see what’s new. Sites should ideally aim for some new content every week or two, depending on the size of the staff.
One of the few non-homepage things that SNO’s reviewers check is that all of the content linked in the navigation menus is up to date and accurate – sites can do this on their own by clicking through each button on the menu and making sure all of the information or stories on those pages is correct for the current school year. Additionally, when auditing the navigation menu, have a list of everything readers should be able to access from the homepage, and confirm that content is accessible.
Make sure the staff page gets updated at the beginning of each term so that new staff members feel welcomed and regular readers can see who is new. If the staff is no longer using a particular social media for the new school year make sure to remove any icons that direct to that account.
Be mindful of copyright
One thing our reviewers regularly note in feedback is the unauthorized or incorrectly attributed use of copyrighted material. SNO has a support article on how to avoid copyright infringement, which contains a link to a video interview with Mike Hiestand from the Student Press Law Center, where he outlines what can or cannot be used, and how to best attribute it to avoid common pitfalls.
Making sure that publication staffs are not using copyrighted material is not just an issue for meeting design best practices, it is a legal issue that can result in trouble for staffs that fail to do so. Advisers who are unfamiliar with copyright law should definitely take some time to familiarize themselves with the basics. Pro tip: Whenever possible, the best option is to create original graphics and photos.
Know the tools
The most involved task required to earn the SNO Site Excellence badge is redesigning the homepage as a design draft using the FLEX Pro design tools. This year SNO’s reviewers will require replicating a specific site as a design draft to demonstrate proficiency with their design tools, instead of creating a redesign of their own site as a draft, like in previous years.
Similar to a print edition, it’s best to redesign at least every few years to keep things looking fresh. For sites that aren’t using SNO, it would still be a good idea for web editors to familiarize themselves with the design capabilities of their theme and redesign as much as possible every few years.
These are the general things SNO’s reviewers have in mind when they look through the submissions for the Site Excellence badge. Hopefully advisers can convey these principles to their staffs and conduct an internal critique of their current site to make sure it is aligned with these best practices.
Written By: Kyle Phillips
