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| Print Edition of The Straits Times |
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| Online Version of the Straits Times at http://www.straitstimes.com/ |
Comparing the print and online edition of the same publication allows us to observe the differences between both platforms.
The print edition of the flagship papers, The Straits Times, is printed in a broadsheet style and the layout of the online edition adopts a similar design concept with some modifications to suit the internet medium. The print edition has more consistent readers while the online edition has more erratic readers. Internet readers may be directed to the online edition by search engines and there is a need to capture their attention fast.
Emphasis on Top Story/ Stories
The print edition employs a more straightforward approach in its design and the publication displays one prominent top story with the use of an eye-catching photograph in the middle of the page. This layout ‘makes significant use of the Centre, placing one element in the middle and the other elements around it’ (Kress & van Leeuwen 1998, p.196). This gives emphasis to one story. In the online edition, the viewers are introduced to numerous top stories that are flashed in turns.
Unlike the simplicity in the print edition that directly displays each story behind their respective headlines, the online edition only states the headlines and their leads. Readers get to read the full story only upon clicking. This results in the online edition presenting itself with a more complex layout and attention is spread out among a number of top stories.
The print edition of the flagship papers, The Straits Times, is printed in a broadsheet style and the layout of the online edition adopts a similar design concept with some modifications to suit the internet medium. The print edition has more consistent readers while the online edition has more erratic readers. Internet readers may be directed to the online edition by search engines and there is a need to capture their attention fast.
Emphasis on Top Story/ Stories
The print edition employs a more straightforward approach in its design and the publication displays one prominent top story with the use of an eye-catching photograph in the middle of the page. This layout ‘makes significant use of the Centre, placing one element in the middle and the other elements around it’ (Kress & van Leeuwen 1998, p.196). This gives emphasis to one story. In the online edition, the viewers are introduced to numerous top stories that are flashed in turns.
Unlike the simplicity in the print edition that directly displays each story behind their respective headlines, the online edition only states the headlines and their leads. Readers get to read the full story only upon clicking. This results in the online edition presenting itself with a more complex layout and attention is spread out among a number of top stories.
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| Video Options, Popular Stories and Relevant links unique to the Online Medium |
Interactivity and Advertisements
There are no doubts that internet edition dominates the print edition in interactivity. Video options, tracking of the popular stories and relevant links are unique components that provide a more wholesome reading experience to internet users. Readers can even view the comments made by other users about the story.
Advertisements are of economic importance to newspapers. They are usually ‘prepared first, for the good reason that many of them have to be proofed for viewing by the advertiser or agent.’(Woolf, p.87) In the print edition, the advertisements remain within their allocated areas. However, interactivity of the online medium proves to be quite a nuisance to the average users at times. In the online edition, advertisements sometimes appears as animations or pop-ups and proves to be distracting.
References
Kress, G, van Leeuwen, Theo 1998, ‘Front pages: (the critical) analysis of newspaper layout’, in Bell A & Garrett (eds), Approaches to media discourse, Blackwell, Oxford, pp.186-219
Woolf, G 2002,Publication Production Using Pagemaker: A Guide to Using Adobe Pagemaker 7, Worsley Press, Hastings