Media: Cosmetic changes coming to PJStar.com

The announcement came today. The Journal Star’s new Website will “go live” at about 8 p.m. Tuesday:

The new Web site should generally run faster than the current site. It features a brighter, cleaner look along with a new logo. It should also be easier for users to navigate. Depending on your Internet service provider, it could take up to 24 hours for the new format to be fully viewed on home computers.

…

“It has served us well, but, over time, it has grown rather cluttered. Because of that clutter, it can occasionally be difficult to navigate,” said Journal Star Managing Editor John Plevka. “We recognize that change can be jarring, but we believe at the end of the day, the new pjstar.com will serve our users more effectively and more efficiently.”

No word on whether there will be additional content, although they say the new site will have every thing the old one does. My biggest complaint about the current site hasn’t been the design or slow load times (well, occasionally). It’s been that they toss any article more than two weeks old behind a firewall they call their paid archives. In other words, you have to give the Journal Star money for OLD newspaper articles. A smarter business model is to require a nominal fee for access to the articles people want to read. Why not? People pay for a single copy right now.

Print is dead, it just hasn’t fallen down yet. Take my advice, PJS, and start making the transition to online only news.

Heh. This post will give Subway Conductor something new to carp about.