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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Ex-trainee watch

Good to see Sathnam Sanghera from the Times in the Press Gazette's poll on the UK's Top 50 comment journalists. Sathnam was at the Editorial Centre in Hastings (now part of Press Association Training) in the 90s.
The PG had drawn up a strong list of commentators

Matthew Parris, Simon Jenkins, Quentin Letts, and Polly Toynbee are joined in the top 5 by Jeremy Clarkson,who was voted for by the public but not by any journalist on the panel. Journalists out of step with the readers, who would believe it?

On our list, but not on the PG's are:
The Grey Cardigan (Press Gazette) - compulsory reading for all journalists. Sums up the industry in a way that others fear to tread.
Charles Sale (Daily Mail Sport) - continually breaks stories that would make the back page. Needs a bigger show.
Lucy Kellaway (FT) - does a first class job lampooning the excesses of management-speak.
If there are any other notables missing from the list let us know and we will give them a mention.
PS