JapanToday - Relaunched
March 25 2008, 7:39am
JapanToday.com relaunched today, which represents my most recent client project. The client and I are very happy with the outcome and what it represents - a much more scalable, maintainable product that is a huge step forward in terms of the underlying technology and visual organisation of information on the site and is a great start on many future improvements / additions to come.
I was quite apprehensive about taking on JT as I know that it has a very loyal and vocal userbase. I really hope that the majority of them enjoy the new design and I’m sure that any major problems or complaints will be mutually worked out. As a first step in brushing up the service though, I think we’ve done a great job.
Redesigns are always a sensitive thing, however. Japan Today is now some 7 years old and the design and software architecture hadn’t changed much over that period. Revamps like this always run the risk of surprising or confusing existing users, but if they don’t happen, sites stagnate and fail to adapt and attract new audiences.
Here’s a screenshot of the new site:
Predictably, the feedback on the new JT site from existing users is a mix of people who like it and people who don’t. What is often difficult to understand from our perspective as an individual reader / user is that whilst a site like the old JT was welcoming and easy to use if we had invested time and loyalty in learning how it works, the same cannot be said for new readers. Information-dense sites like the old JT website are great if you’re a long-time user, but new users get turned away quickly, put off by the chaotic flow of information and the sheer density of things to click. Redesigns are therefore always a delicate balance of prioritising / deprioritising features and redesigning under the philosophy that clarity is something that everyone can appreciate, both existing and new users.
Old and new site side-by-side:
So here’s some info about the new site and what it entailed:
A complete overhaul of the back-end to ensure that the new site is both better prepared to scale and is easier for the IT and production team to maintain and add new features to. The site is now a beautifully neat, MVC-based application built in my framework of choice, Code Igniter. Unlike the old site there is no proprietary file structure and the logic is nicely separated from the view side templates. It’s a huge step forward in terms of maintainability. Also, our initial tests are reporting the new site uses as much as 50% less server resources. This translates to better reliability for the users, and a far, far greater scope for increased site functionality / features in the future.
A renewed design featuring a more organised, editorial approach to the content. The new design means users benefit from a more pronounced visual hierarchy - the editorial team can give a greater emphasis to top content as they see fit, with two large “Top Stories” on the front page and a clearer distinction between top stories and regular stories in any given category (middle column on home page). There is still a generous amount of space dedicated to user-determined top stories, with a list on the right of the home page and on each category page of the news items getting the highest amounts of user activity.
Some nice little AJAX / javascript touches like the adding of comments and the tabbed content panel on the home page.
Migration. This was quite a difficult one, mainly because of the highly proprietary nature of the old site. We opted for an archive-and-switch style migration, with an import of all user data so that existing users can get back in no problem - as long as they have a valid email address. The entire old site is online at the archive location archive.japantoday.com and all old bookmarks to old articles / discussions will be automatically forwarded to the corresponding archive page.
Congrats to the team - that was me building and designing the app and site, and GPlusMedia’s Sebastien and Mark handling the server setup, user migration and fixing my SQL here and there (heh). Thanks also to JT Senior Editor Chris for his opinions on new features / layout and how calmly and easily he adapted to a completely new CMS system!
otsukare everyone.
