10 Must have features in an online news website
Newspapers have gone digital, and digital media has become an essential part of modern society. Every day the number of folks reading e-papers and online news websites are increasing rapidly. In the era of digital news revolution, you need a reliable website to stay ahead in the online news market.
If you are planning to start a news website of your own, you need to have a carefully thought about accurate design and template for your website. Of course, WordPress has made things more comfortable, and you can choose a premium WordPress newspaper theme for your website. However, before selecting a WordPress news theme, you must know all the features to include in your online news portal or news website.
Here are some of the best online news portal designs features and characteristics you must have! Check out
1. Grid-based design
When it comes to design, the overall content layout and structure comes first on our list. Newspaper websites and online news portals are content-rich websites. So, you must arrange your content in a perfectly organized system.
Grid or columns are the most useful types of content arrangement. It is not only the most effective way to manage content online but also the most popular design.
A grid-based layout allows you to break the content into comprehensive blocks. Thus, columns the separate gives a neatly organized, impressive look. This makes the content easy to read through, and the readers can choose the topic of their choice.
You can choose different sized columns for your contents. Remember that the wider the columns, the easier it is to read the text. You must also ensure to keep enough column gaps as it looks ugly if the columns are too crowded.
2. White space maximization
Apart from a neatly organized structure, you must include ample whitespace on your website. White spaces give the impression that your website is straightforward and more readable. A lot of white space enables the reader to focus their attention on the right spots.
Filling up all the white space with your content will make your website least appealing.
3. Headlines
The importance of headlines in news articles is known to everyone. Headlines help readers to differentiate and choose articles for their interest. Of course, the headlines should be catchy and compelling enough to grab the spotlight.
Moreover, since each content is separated in a grid format, headlines entitle each column. Whether it is a small section on a grid or a full-height column, it should have a headline.
Just as headlines, you must never miss giving excerpts for each article. Excerpts are short descriptions of your articles. Excerpts give a little glance into your writing, and a good one is enough to raise readers’ interest.
Whether you have a blog, magazine, online journal or news website; headlines and excerpts are the most critical factors for your website.
4. Categorization
You may post articles and news on diverse topics and from several niches. It may be world news, or information from politics, entertainment, lifestyle or maybe any latest news on COVID 19.
The best way to organize is to create categories for each. Most of the news WordPress themes offer different categories available in the layout itself. You can simply customize it accordingly.
You can use different categories to divide your content, and you can showcase them on the navigation menu bar, sidebar or anywhere you wish to on your website.
5. Easy to navigate Design
Speaking of the navigation menu, the manner and position of navigation menu also play an essential role for your online news website. A news portal must have a simple navigation menu. It should be placed on the apt position where readers can easily navigate through the website.
The most ideal and safe position is placing below the header and above the content. The visitors will not have to figure out where the navigation menu is, and they can quickly scroll through your website.
You can also use the left sidebar for the navigation menu. Both these positions are favourable and eye-catching for the visitors.
6. Colour scheme
Readability another most critical feature in a news portal. Visitors will love your portal if it is readable.
We have seen the traditional newspapers in white or grey paper with black text on it. If you look around the internet, you will find that most online news websites use dark colour text on a white background.
Why do you think it is so? It is because the colour combination is most suitable for the eyes of a reader. The colour –contrast facilitates the readability and hence the ‘Black and White Color Scheme’ is the most popular style for newspaper websites.
You can use different colours other than black, such as blue for headlines, and red for the call to action buttons on your online site.
7. Advertisement spaces
How are you going to make money from your online portal is an essential factor. So what feature can you include in the design? Well, you can integrate advertisement in the right spots of the plan. Several mobile newspapers integrate advertisements in their layout that help website owners to earn some income.
You must avoid excessive ad space, and also take care not to turn users away from your website. The right places for ad banners are sidebar, both left and right, header or footer.
8. Social Media Integration
In today’s world, online news websites cannot even exist without social media integration. If you want to get shared to a broader audience, platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are perfect.
Your website layout must integrate social media in such a manner that readers can easily share your articles or even share tweetable quotes from your content. Everything is a promotion, and your news spread more on social media platforms.
9. The comments section
Today, every online site, whether it’s a blog or news portal, reader engagements Reader comments are critical components. Most of the readers expect to share their opinions, likes and dislikes on the current happenings and news. So why not provide a platform? It will not only make your website lively, but it would also help your readers to raise their voice.
10. Responsive design
Readers today grasp information from different electronic devices like laptops, tablets, and mobile phone. A responsive design helps viewers to access the content on all devices.
A responsive website looks pixel –perfect on all devices irrespective of the size of the screen. A responsive design is something that depends mainly on the WordPress theme you choose. There are several block-based WordPress themes in the market to choose from.
News-Times WordPress news theme is a perfect responsive news theme that allows you to build an excellent online portal. The theme has a standard layout that contains all the must-have features in an online news website. You can check out the demo here.
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So, creating a perfect news portal is indeed is a work of creativity and planning. You have to know the right rules, tools and choose the suitable WordPress theme for building a perfect news website. Also, it would be best if you struck a balance among elements such as content, layout and user interface.
