New Times for old Times sake

All credit to the Paid Content website for getting a sneak preview of the new-look Times websites. All industry eyes will be following the fortunes of The Times and other News International titles who are scuttling off behind a paywall in June.

The initial design would appear to be more like a newspaper than previous web incarnations. Presumably with no need to chase passing visitors to boost unique user and 'time spent on site' numbers the imperatives of web design (plenty of teasers, links, two-tiered navigation, related stories etc) it would appear to allow a more printed newspaper-like approach. It's simple. And clean. But will readers be prepared to pay £1 a day or £2 a week?

Compare and contrast - in no more than 100 words please.

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The web/print divide still going strong

One of the biggest opportunities denied to most working newspaper journalists, is to develop new ways to display material on the web.
In our web training courses, we spend time drawing things to imagine how they might display on a web page.
We do it for a number of reasons; it stimulates creative thinking, sparks debate and highlights some of the gaps in expertise that will have to be filled if newspapers are to survive.
A simple example of this different way of thinking comes from The Times map display of their hotel reviews. It's not big or clever, but it works. How many newspaper journalists do you know who could take the original content from the archives, design, build and then publish them in this form? And what does it say about the skills we have in the newsroom?
I had a conversation recently with a news editor about a great bit of web content. I complimented him and his team for a great bit of work. "Nothing to do with me mate," he replied. "Our web editor got it from a local blogger." Nuff said.
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Really useful content

The winter chill has seen some excellent work from local newspaper websites which have understandably seen an uplift in traffic thanks to snowed-in residents trying to get a handle on whether they can get their kids to school/themselves to work or the shops. Both local newspapers and radio come into their own in this kind of situation and full marks to the Argus in Brighton for finding and posting an excellent map showing the location of grit bins.
Whether there was any actual grit in them is another matter. But a fine example of how local newspapers can make themselves useful again.
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New look Express & Star website

Here's the new Wolverhampton Express & Star website. It looks very posh. Will it work though? According to the UK Press Gazette they've teamed up with Trinity Mirror. One to keep an eye on?