Thank you for your patience yesterday whilst we did the necessary work to our server in order to bring you the new and improved News OnTheWight Website.
This is a guide for using the mobile version of the site. There’s also a desktop/tablet guide.
It’s been way too long since we last upgraded the design of the site, so the new layout may feel very different to some of you, but we hope you like the uncluttered design that we’ve chosen.
There was a lot to contend with yesterday and we haven’t quite got the new comments system working just yet – but we hope to have it sorted in the next few days.
There are several new features to the site, so we’ll highlight some of those below to help you navigate through the refreshed design.
Home Page
Firstly, you’ll notice a brand new header at the top of the site. The black bar with logo on the right hand side (clicking on this will always take you back to the home page).
We appreciate that some people do not like reading on a screen with a white background, so there’s now an option to switch between light view (sun icon) and dark view (moon icon).
You can toggle between the two just by clicking on the icons in the header bar.
There’s also now a quick and easy way to login to your account (click on the person icon). If you haven’t logged in for a while why not take this opportunity to login in now. Your login details are exactly the same as before.
If you’ve forgotten your password, simply click on the Lost Password link at the bottom of the box that will appear on your screen when you click on the icon. You can also create an account from here too.
Click on the ‘burger’ – the three horizontal lines in the top right corner – to view the extended menu options.
Search facility
In the header bar you can also search the site for content. Just click on the magnifying glass to bring up the search screen (all white apart from the area in the middle of the page where you type what you’re looking for).
Either enter what you are looking for, or click on the X in the top right corner to escape that function.
Take me to the top
To help you get back to the top of the page without scrolling simply click on the arrow in the bottom right corner of the page.
Load more
Within each segment of the home page, we’re showing a limited number of articles from that category, whether that’s News, Culture, Community, Letters to the Editor, etc. If you want to see more from that section just click on the LOAD MORE button and hey presto.
New in-article features
For our news articles and features, we’ve switched to a large image at the top of the page with the content sitting in the middle of the page.
At the bottom of the article you’ll also see a carousel of ‘Related’ articles. They’ll have a connection to the article you’re reading by either being in the same subject or location.
Advertising
For the mobile version of the site, we’ve changed the layout so that we no longer have the display ad at the top of the page. Instead we’ve moved display ads into the article: One in the middle and one at the bottom.
In order for News OnTheWight to exist – covering extremely modest salaries, as well as running costs – we rely on advertising revenue, so we hope you’ll understand why we need to include ads on the site.
The ads that are shown on the site are always relevant to Isle of Wight residents or visitors and will never include links to gambling or other such promotions.
The footer
In the footer, you’ll find another chance to navigate the site through various categories, as well as links through to our social media accounts.
Note down your feedback
We’ll be putting a form up on Thursday so you can share your feedback about the new look and feel of the site, any bugs, problems or issues that arise.
There’ll always be some snagging in the first week after a large migration like this, so please bear with us as we work through any glitches.
