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Inside the new VeloNews.com homepage

by Steve Frothingham

• November 23, 2009
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The wall above Steve's desk. Note the two 'dream page' mock-ups.

One afternoon last winter, VeloNews.com editors, web developer Scott Cropper, art director Mike Reisel, and associate art director Heidi Carcella sat down to sketch out a “dream homepage.”

With the results from two recent reader surveys in hand, along with an email archive of reader requests, compliments and complaints, they brainstormed a new homepage design.

It had to meet all the editorial department’s navigation and usability desires, while still pleasing the art department’s aesthetic sensibilities and the web development department’s technical requirements.

They came up with a sketch that Reisel fine-tuned and printed, and Web editor Steve Frothingham thumb-tacked to the wall above his desk. It remained there throughout the whole busy spring and summer, next to a “thought cloud” of feedback from the reader survey.

Once the crazy summer bike racing season was over and Cropper started working on the new site full time (actually, a bit more than merely “full time”), the first iterations, for technical reasons, did not look much like the dream on Frothingham’s wall.

But then an odd thing happened. The new homepage evolved, in a somewhat democratic fashion involving the entire staff. Piece by piece, change by change, the new homepage started to look more and more like the dream sketch.

And as we get ready to launch, the two look almost identical.

Another odd thing happened. It seemed every time one of us made a suggestion, Cropper was one step ahead. Most of our brilliant ideas got a two-word response from Scott: “Hit refresh.”

So what does all this mean for me?

The new homepage launches later this month. But you can see it now, in beta format, at velonews.competitor.com.

Please give it a look and let us know what you think, keeping in mind that it’s not quite a finished product. Our editors are posting new stories to both sites, but to the current site (www.velonews.com) first.

We hope you will like how you can:

Enjoy larger pictures: On the homepage, in the articles and in galleries, our photos are roughly two-thirds larger than before. The web editors can’t wait for the grand tour season to give our photographers’ work the big canvas it deserve.

Leave comments: Share your thoughts and start a conversation, at the bottom of each article page.

The thought cloud

Share photos and videos: We’ve revived the long-lost VeloNews Reader Photo Gallery. You can send photos, video links or embed codes to VeloNewsSteve@competitorgroup.com.

See results in one click: You can now go from homepage to race results in one click, thanks to our new scrollable race & results calendar.

Find tech wisdom quickly: We’ve sorted and categorized almost a decade’s worth of Lennard Zinn’s weekly technical columns. We’re still fleshing out the database, but here’s a taste of just some of LZ’s answers to questions about bottom brackets.

Get coached: Our revamped training & fitness department now centers around a panel of experts. Coaches Eddie Monnier, Paul Swift and Katrina Z. Vogel are new resources for VeloNews.com readers. They join long-time nutrition columnist Monique Ryan and frequent contributor coach Frank Overton. The panel will answer reader questions weekly. You can send your questions to coachespanel@competitorgroup.com.

Check the stats: Our new homepage Leaderboard shows who is leading the major national and international race series. Click on the series name to go straight to the full standings. Currently it’s showing the major cyclocross categories, but come road and mountain bike season, there will be tabs for those disciplines as well.

Read more Ted: We are happy to announce that Cervélo’s young American star, Ted King, will be doing a regular column for the site.

Besides the new features, we think the new homepage design is more usable.

News is now separated from the features, columns, and departments, including the tech and product reports; so if you are a news junkie, you know where to look for the latest.

If you are more of a once-a-day viewer, you won’t be frustrated to find your favorite features — or the week’s hottest topic — has scrolled right off the homepage. That’s because now you will always find the features and columns in their permanent homes. And big stories will remain featured in the four-photo “marquee” at the top of the page.

There are some other advantages to the new site that we expect you will appreciate as you dig in. Enjoy, and please let us know what you think.

Email your comments to Steve at VeloNewsSteve@competitorgroup.com.