Journal’s Web site gets a makeover

The Anglican Journal’s Web site, anglicanjournal.com, is getting a much-needed makeover. The new Web site, to be launched this month, promises to have a more user-friendly layout. It will be equipped with a more powerful search engine, have a multi-media ability (to incorporate audio and video) and the ability to connect stories, like articles on similar topics or special coverage of events like General Synod.”The existing site is no longer meeting the needs of readers. It’s very good at presenting the newspaper as issues online but that’s not how people read newspapers online,” said Brian Bukowski, web manager. The current site has “no interactivity,” he added. “People search and find a story but there’s no way of connecting stories by theme.” The redesign, the first since the site’s launch in 1998, was made possible by the success of the Journal’s 2005 fundraising appeal. The site includes a new search engine which can also locate information on the main Web site of the Anglican Church of Canada, www.anglican.ca. As the Journal begins its normal summer hiatus – it does not publish a July or August issue – editor Leanne Larmondin encouraged readers to visit the newspaper’s Web site over the summer to keep abreast of the news of the church. “Visit us often,” she said.