Community news sites get a fancy new look

It’s likely that the Richmond Internets were filled with a resounding “AWHAHHHHH?” this morning as its users made their customary visits to their community news sites. Today marks the official launch of the RVANews Network epic redesign.

March 7, 2011; 12:00 PM • by RVANews staff

It’s likely that the Richmond Internets were filled with a resounding “AWHAHHHHH?” this morning as its users made their customary visits to community news sites favorites like Church Hill People’s News, Hills and Heights, and Oregon Hill (among others). Why the confusion? Well, things are looking a little different in those parts. That’s right: today marks the official launch of the RVANews Network epic redesign.

Some of you might be saying, “What is the RVANews Network?” Let us take a minute to explain…

When you read RVANews or one of the community news sites* we feature down there on the bottom left of the homepage (down…keep going…to the left…you’re other left…there!), you’re reading a site that’s part of the — you guess it! — RVANews Network. It’s pretty simple: when the RVANews staff isn’t busy working their sweet bippies off bringing you fantastic original content, they’re taking care of the business end of these 10 community news sites you know, trust, and love — that means hosting, general upkeep (beyond the day-to-day posting), and advertising.

The fact that some of you might not have even realized that all of these sites are connected was a main motivator behind this redesign (other than the desire to improve the overall user experience). We’re hoping the redesign will make the RVANews Network brand more cohesive, better highlighting this joint, multi-site effort to provide comprehensive coverage of issues important Richmonders and their beloved neighborhoods.

When it came to redesigning these community news sites, the main goal was to visually relate them to each other and RVANews. We’ve incorporated a standardized layout and logo, but many of the features of each site are left up to its publisher — think colors, widgets, and so on. As Ross The Publisher puts it, “Even though the bones of the sites are the same — the “skeletons”, if you will — each site will have customizable elements to make them their own.”

But enough of us yammering on. Click on the links below to scope out the goods:

If you’ve got congratulations, criticism, or hate-filled vitriol we’d love to hear from you!

*A couple of the sites we aggregate in our community news section are not part of the RVANews Network. Those folks are just nice enough to share their feed to better enable us to create a one-stop shop for all of your Richmond news.

  • error

    Report an error

March 7, 2011 12:00 PM 8

There are 8 reader comments. Read them.