Journalists and
Web Design
Abdullatif Ahmed
Omar
ACJI/05607/2013S
Mr. Derdus Mosoti
September 2016
Abstract
This paper discusses the need for
journalists to acquired web design skills. It looks at the emerging issues in
journalism focusing on online publications and new websites in Kenya.
What is Web
Design?
Web
design is defined using similar terms by different online sources. According to
Network Solutions, describes web design as a process of conceptualizing, planning, and building a
collection of electronic files that determine the layout, colors, text styles,
structure, graphics, images, and use of interactive features that deliver pages
to your site visitors.
About Tech, another online
authority on websites, describes web design as the
planning and creation of websites. It goes further to explain that it includes
the information architecture, user interface, site structure, navigation, layout, colors, fonts, and imagery. All of these are combined with the principles of design to create a website that meets the goals of the owner
and designer.
From the two definitions it is clear that web
design is all about your websites content, how it looks and how it works.
Why do journalist need web design skills?
It is evident that due to technological
advancement everything now is moving digital and journalism is in the fore
front. The traditional pen to paper type of journalism is gradually fading away
as most articles are written, customized and circulated online. This therefore
qualifies web design skills as a vital tool for a modern day watch dog.
In Kenya today, there are numerous news
websites serving the ever growing online consumers. Both the mainstream media
and the alternative media have invested in online platforms with the likes of
the Standard Group and Nation Media Group having interactive websites that give
real time updates of news contrary to the traditional newspapers or scheduled
television news. Moreover, the likes of Kenya News, Ghafla and Mpasho are
solely surviving on online publications. Even though they majorly focuses on
yellow journalism they are good examples of how vital online publication are; a
real game changer.
Journalists with web design skills satisfy
their readers. A professional website meets the need of the visitor by quickly
telling them what they want to know, where to go, how to navigate there with
confusing them. With so much news websites online readers tend to become
impatient. As much as the content is expected to hold the attention of the
readers, the website itself is expected to make the work of the reader easy. The
Daily Nation website is an example of this. On the top bar, visitors are
quickly directed the stories they want to read. There is new stories, business,
counties, sports, blogs & opinions, life and style, videos and a search box
and the end, take your pick.
Furthermore, journalists require web design
skills to attract search engines. As pointed earlier, the competition very
stiff. Every journalist wants to attract traffic towards their new site. It doesn’t
matter how attractive you website is or how appealing your content is it will
all be for nothing if it won’t show up on the search engines. Web design skills
will enable a journalist to code the website in a way that the search engines
can read.
Web design skills will also help avoid
technical glitches on the website. After readers have flocked your website to
read news you are expected to attract them back all the time. However technical
glitches such as slow loading time, broken links, dropped images all turn
readers away. A journalist with wed design skills will help prevent this. According
to the latest Alexa ranking, standardmedia.co.ke is the most popular news
website in Kenya. You can imagine the traffic it attracts and yet there a no
technical glitches on the site.
What do journalists need to know about web design?
As much as web design skills should be basic
to a modern day journalist, most of the technical aspect of it is not relevant
to the practice.
Skills like determining
the layout, colors, text styles, structure, graphics and images may prove handy
to a journalist. All these play a major role in attracting and retaining and
online reader. Pages full or gray i.e. endless blocks of paragraphs without
images, videos or illustrations may discourage the reader. Black and white also
scare the readers away. That is why Standard Digital have adopted a bluish
theme with lots of images.
Journalist are also expected
to know how to add interactive features in the news website. Interactive features
are one of the major differences between online publications and print media. In
online, the readers can comment and give immediate feedback. These is key in
communication.
The medium is the message is
a phrased coined by Marshall McLuhan. McLuhan proposes that a medium itself,
not the content it carries, should be the focus of study. He said that a medium
affects the society in which it plays a role not only by the content delivered over the medium, but also by the
characteristics of the medium itself. In this regard, the news website is as
much persuasive as the content.
References
Alexa. Top sites in Kenya. http://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries/KE
McLuhan,
M. (1987). Understanding media: The extensions of man. Ark Paperback.
Daily Nation http://www.nation.co.ke/
Network
Solutions. http://www.networksolutions.com/education/what-is-a-web-site-design/
Standard Digital http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/
