Mobile-first strategy sets next stage of storytelling

By Mira Catherine B. Gloria
Online Editor

BUSINESSWORLD, the country’s premier business daily, has revamped its Web site (www.bworldonline.com) with a polished new look and a responsive interface to reach a broader audience for its in-depth news coverage.

The newspaper, which is celebrating its 30^th year and is now a member of the Philippine Star Group, has decided to shift its Web presence to a more visually striking direction in response to changing reader behavior driven by the widespread adoption of smartphones and tablet devices.

Conceived with a mobile-first strategy, the new site ensures a seamless reader experience that cuts across multiple platforms: scaled for portrait mode on mobile phones and landscape for tablet devices and laptops.

The overall design of the new Web site revolves around a flexible, modular format, which can be customized in many ways to highlight the most relevant stories, special reports or breaking news.

The Web site’s homepage features an improved visual hierarchy and streamlined navigation. The day’s top stories are displayed in bigger tiles and the navigation menu was minimized, placed on the top left of the page, to put more focus on the content.

The redesigned home page also introduces a filter tool, which allows readers to customize a section called Featured Stories based on their interests.

Articles are presented in various layouts, giving readers new ways to view ����ý’s news and features.

Photo slideshows, in-line video and other multimedia content are embedded in the articles to enhance our reporters’ storytelling.

Another new addition to the site is the “infinite scroll,” which replaces the antiquated “page jump” by allowing readers to discover more content when they reach the end of an article.

The new www.bworldonline.com puts social at its core as social networking sites like Facebook continue to dominate the Web site’s referral traffic. Social media buttons are always present whenever a reader scrolls through the Web site or goes deeper into content.

����ý also recognizes the changing behavior of the mobile Web audience, one where readers are looking for content that is insightful and engaging at the same time. This is why it created dedicated sections for explainer videos and infographics, which showcase alternative formats for presenting relevant issues.

“The new look of the Web site reaffirms ���ܲ����Ա�����´ǰ�����’s commitment to deliver its award-winning business news coverage to a broader audience and across multiple platforms,” Roby Alampay, ����ý’s editor-in-chief, said.

“The redesign is just the beginning,” he added.

“As the reading habits of the Web audience change, the Web site will continue to evolve and we’re excited to see what the future of storytelling looks like.”