» 2009: Year of the Beta :: Web Notes

Jan132009

2009: Year of the Beta

Filed under Editorial, Geek Speak, Site Updates, Transparency, Uncategorized by damon kiesow at 12:52 am

Well OK, online pretty much every year is a ‘beta test’ but for the Telegraph 2009 will be especially so.

We have a number of major projects on the horizon - including a complete replacement of both our print and Web content management systems. That transition, which is planned for late summer, will require us to rebuild every Web site we own (including nashuatelegraph.com, nh.com, cabinet.com, nhbr.com, telegraphneighbors.com, feastnh.com, encorebuzz.com and more.)

Because of the huge amount of work involved - most sites will probably not see major design changes immediately, but they should see improved performance, better usability and a slew of new features.

Some of the pieces of that transition have already started. Last week we turned off our old email & cell phone notification system (previously at alerts.nashuatelegraph.com) as we consolidate vendors in preparation for the new system installs. This does mean we are currently not offering email and text alerts, but we plan to offer this service again in the near future.

As part of the rebuilding process we launched beta.nashuatelegraph.com today. This site (which is fairly sparse at the moment) will be a testing ground for new tools and toys for which we are seeking feedback. Right now you can see examples of two pages using Twitter and Flickr that include features we might want to include in the new sites this Fall. The third page currently live is an extension of our current video player which includes a list of archived multimedia on the side.

Flickr is a new project for us - this week we launched a Nashua Telegraph group that we hope to use to gather and promote good local photography. Please add us as a contact and join the group and drop some photos into the pool.

Twitter is an ‘old’ project - meaning we have been running with it for over a year now. But in the past month we have expanded our involvement with several new accounts:

@nashuatelegraph (the original - breaking news)
@telegraphedit (Nick Pappas - opinion pages)
@graphfeatures (Deidre Ashe - food and more)
@telegraphencore (Donna Roberson - local entertainment)
@telegraphpats (Patriots news and updates)
@telegraphsox (Red Sox news and updates)

We are always looking for new ways to be involved in the local community, both online and off so please drop us a note or leave a comment below if you see other interesting projects or technologies we should be testing out.

Tags: flickr, newspaper, redesign, sms, twitter