One of the biggest challenges after you decide to start an online news website is
zeroing in on the right template for your online newspaper. As a news publisher
you need to focus on the points below which will help you make an informed decision.
1. Dynamic Template: Typically an online newspaper has scores of pages and it's quite obvious that you need a dynamic template to work successfully as unlike static templates it will enable you to upload or update any piece of news article instantly with a few clicks. You should have access to powerful layout builder tools which allows the flexibility to rearrange different sections of the site. In addition you should have complete control over the Appearance feature so you can easily change colors, fonts, etc.
2. Layout Type: It's a challenging task to finalize a layout when there are so many options available, you should stick to the one which is simple yet flexible enough to accommodate all your homepage content. Some basic news layouts are like 2-column, 3-column and 4-coulmn, you should also ensure that these layouts are customizable to fit in all your requirements.
3. Responsive Design: With the evolving technology you can't afford to stay behind and should ensure that your news website follows the web standards for seamless integration with various devices and browsers. Readership base is very important and your site will suffer if you don't make sure whether your site follows these guidelines or not.
4. Avoiding Heavy Flash: Using too much flash is never a good idea on a news website as it often results in browser crashes and quite considerable load times. Ad's like popups, sticky or peeler ads should also be avoided specially when they are not enhanced for browsers and are simply there for a visual point of view.
5. Easy to Navigate: The navigational tabs on any website typically blend in with the rest of the design and your newspaper CMS should be capable enough to allow you the flexibility to place various navigation tabs be it in horizontal or vertical alignment anywhere on the site.
6. Reader Friendly: To encourage more visitors and retain the loyal readership base it's important that you have reader friendly pages which are simple, clear and easy to navigate and read. You can also take use of the various bookmarking and sharing tools to further populate your articles on various networks.
7. Heavy Images: As a news publisher you will be uploading hundreds of images in a week along with other file types. You should select an online newspaper software which compresses and at the same time enhances these images for various web browsers automatically, this will ensure that your images don't pixelate and your sites return with very fast loading times.
8. Larger Ad Spaces: Advertisements are very important for any online newspaper templates as not only does it take care of the running costs but also provides you with an opportunity to make a living out of it. The Ad spaces on your site should be large, clear and precise. There should be no confusion in this regard and the online newspaper creator should also allow various widget/html/java scripts so you are able to take full advantage of any vacant space on your news site and at the same time keep your site loaded with the content of your choice.
9. Browser Compatibility: As discussed before it's necessary that your site works on all the various browsers as you never know what your visitors are using to access the sites, the device can be on Apple, Windows, Android or other platforms and with the ever growing use of smart phones and tabs it goes without saying that your readers should be comfortable reading your news sites across all devices and platforms.
10. News Slider: One of the new trends visible in today's dailies is the news slider box to display latest stories in rotating or tabular fashion. This not only looks attractive and modern but also provides the flexibility for a publisher to include latest stories in a limited space. Some other notable features are the most recent and most read articles which keep the audience engaged with the latest happenings.
While you consider the above factors also keep in mind that you should start with a turnkey newspaper template and with the help of the newspaper publishing software it can be easily customized to fit in your requirements. This will not only save you thousands of dollars but also considerable time as designing a news template from scratch involves a lot of money and time with no guaranteed results.