BBC Internet Blog - Steve Herrmann

International front page changes

Steve Herrmann Steve Herrmann — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:05:31 +0000

Users of the international edition of the BBC News website will notice some changes to the front page today.

We have increased the number of headlines under each of the section headings in the bottom half of the page, made the popular Business and Technology sections more prominent by adding pictures, and we have increased the number of featured items in the video area.

To read the rest of International front page changes and to leave comments visit the Editors blog.

Changing headlines

Steve Herrmann Steve Herrmann — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:09:24 +0000

From today users of the BBC News website will start to see a slight change in some of our headlines on stories (Editor's note - this blog post was originally published yesterday).

In some cases these will be longer than they are now, to allow us to spell out in more detail what and who the story is about. This is so that people using search engines to look for the story can find it more easily.

That's probably enough detail for anyone who's read this far. But if not, and you'd like to know more about why we are doing this, please read on...

The practice of "search engine optimisation" - making content in such a way that it is easily retrieved via search engines - is an important area for us and for others across the web.

A growing number of users come to stories on the BBC site from places other than our own front page - for example search engines, other sites, personal recommendations, Twitter or RSS feeds.

So our developers have done a bit of work to allow journalists the scope to create two headlines for a story if they want to....

Steve Herrmann is editor of the BBC News website

Read more and comment at the Editors at BBC News

Website problems

Steve Herrmann Steve Herrmann — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:25:31 +0000

Some people will have had trouble accessing the BBC website in the past few hours. We've had a network failure that has resulted in access to the site being slow and at some points inaccessible. Our network provider's engineers are working on restoring normal service as soon as possible. We're sorry for the inconvenience.

Update, 11:07: I'm pleased to say the problems should now be fixed - we're not aware of any remaining issues.
Steve Herrmann is editor of the BBC News website.

To leave comments go to The Editors where this post first appeared.

Updated editorial guidelines

Steve Herrmann Steve Herrmann — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:17:55 +0000

This week, the BBC Trust published updated editorial guidelines for BBC programme makers, producers and journalists.

For the first time, the public is being asked to comment on them in draft form before they are finalised. BBC staff will also be consulted, by our Editorial Policy department, on their attitudes to the new draft.

One of the issues they cover, picked up by the Guardian's James Robinson, is writing for the web.

The new draft, also for the first time, fully integrates the original editorial guidelines and the (formerly separate) ones for Online...

Visit The Editors to read the rest of this entry and to leave a comment.

Changes to international pages (4)

Steve Herrmann Steve Herrmann — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:27:26 +0000

Hello. Here's an update on the recent changes in access to the UK and international front pages of the website which have been the subject of several previous posts (10 June, 15 June and 19 June) and lots of comments and queries.

There are two main things to say:

First, the project team has gone through your feedback over the past week and given replies to specific queries, which are further down this post. They have also compiled a Help page of FAQs which will cover many of the questions you've asked and pull all the answers together in one place.

Read more and comment at The Editors blog at BBC News.

Steve Herrmann is editor, BBC News website

Changes to international pages (3)

Steve Herrmann Steve Herrmann — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:56:35 +0000

It's taken a little while to go through your comments and questions about the way we present content for audiences inside and outside the UK (see previous posts here and here). Our project team has helped me by answering a number of them below.

On the wider issue of being able to choose access to the UK/international front pages, we're continuing to look into possible options to address the concerns that so many of you have expressed.

Regarding the other issues raised, then...

Read more and comment at the Editors at BBC News

Steve Herrmann is editor, BBC News website

Changes to international pages (2)

Steve Herrmann Steve Herrmann — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 10:02:41 +0000

We've read through every one of your messages about the changes we made last week to the BBC site. What's clear is that many of you who've commented would rather we hadn't made them.

Many of you have explained why you liked being able to choose whether you see the UK or international version of the site, wherever you are in the world. The changes mean that's now decided automatically, depending on your IP address - where you are...

Steve Herrmann is editor of the BBC News website.

Changes to international pages

Steve Herrmann Steve Herrmann — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 05:56:59 +0000

Across the BBC website we are making a change to the way we present content for audiences inside and outside the UK.

Up to now, people outside the UK who visited the website could select a UK version and those within the UK could select an international version of the site.

A radio button in the "set location" section at the top of the BBC homepage and on the left hand side of News and Sport pages allowed you to switch between versions.

From now on this won't be the case...

Read more and comment at the Editors blog at BBC News.

Steve Herrmann is editor of the BBC News website

Network problem

Steve Herrmann Steve Herrmann — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:55:35 +0000

People had problems getting onto the BBC News website a little while ago. We think we've tracked it down to a problem with our network and the problem should now be fixed. Let us know if it's not...

Read more and comment at the Editors at BBC News

New mobile site for News

Steve Herrmann Steve Herrmann — Thu, 07 May 2009 10:28:55 +0000

We've just launched a new version of the BBC News website for mobile devices.

It is similar in look and feel to the one it replaces, but shows more headlines at the top level, makes it easier to get to our Sport and Weather mobile sites, has faster publishing speeds, and provides related story links at the end of stories - so for example analysis or on-the-ground reports from our correspondents related to a key story of the day, or a Q&A or background article.

Read more and comment at the Editors blog at BBC News

Steve Herrmann is editor of the BBC News website

News ticker, most shared and most read

Steve Herrmann Steve Herrmann — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 10:54:56 +0000

We're making a change soon to the News website front page "ticker" of latest news headlines.

We've redesigned it to give more prominence to breaking news - as well as to latest headlines and to upcoming scheduled news events. You'll be able to stop or replay the ticker items and click straight through to video, as well as to stories.

Read more and leave comments on the BBC News Editors Blog.

Steve Herrmann is editor of the BBC News website.

Inauguration online

Steve Herrmann Steve Herrmann — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 11:11:18 +0000

My colleague Rory Cellan-Jones has made some interesting observations here about whether the Obama inauguration was best followed (for those of us not actually in Washington DC yesterday) on new media or old, streaming online video or good old TV.

From the traffic figures on the BBC News website yesterday I'd say the most noticeable thing to me was the amount of video consumed by visitors to the site - in particular the number of people simultaneously watching the live stream, which was a new record.

Steve Herrmann is editor of the BBC News website.

Displaying data

Steve Herrmann Steve Herrmann — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 10:44:49 +0000

The team of journalists, developers and designers who produce the graphics, maps, tables and multimedia projects for the News website have been researching and compiling data on homicides of teenagers in the UK over the past year, in order to piece together a detailed picture of what has been happening across the country. They have just published a map, searchable table and graphics showing this information, and team leader Bella Hurrell has written about how it was done and the thinking behind it here.

Steve Herrmann is editor, of the BBC News website

Mumbai, Twitter and live updates

Steve Herrmann Steve Herrmann — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 12:09:55 +0000

There's been discussion of the role played by Twitter in the reporting of the Mumbai attacks and of the way that we made use of it on the BBC News website.

During the crisis, we monitored this microblogging service, along with the material being filed by our own reporters and a wide range of other sources, and referenced or linked to all of these on a "live updates" page as the events unfolded.

Read more and comment at the Editors blog at BBC News.

Steve Herrmann is editor of the BBC News website

News on the go

Steve Herrmann Steve Herrmann — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:23:27 +0000

How do you get your news at different times of the day? When do you want headlines on the radio and when do you sit down and watch a TV bulletin or log on to see what's happening? And, of particular interest to us right now, how do you keep up to date if you're out and about or commuting?

We've been carrying out some audience research to ask people these questions, and we've been specifically asking whether and when they use their mobiles to get news (or sport, or weather or travel). And if they don't, whether they ever would.

Read more and comment here at The Editors at BBC News

Steve Herrmann is Editor, BBC News website