RTE unveils its major site revamp


13 Oct 2010

RTE has launched a major redesign of its website, focusing on its homepage and its news and business sections.

RTE said it aims to bring “a fresher, more modern and more adaptable approach” to presenting content.

It has been more than three and a half years since its last redesign and with this new one they want to help make it easier for users to find relevant content and to discover new sections.

Home

The homepage aims to allow users to keep in touch with what’s happening in Ireland and the world, to improve the look and feel of the site and to highlight new sections.

The page has a news section for the latest updates on stories from news, sport, entertainment and business. It has a section to show what’s on RTE’s radio and TV stations at present.

It includes a Life and Style section, with features on many lifestyle interests and its page also has an ‘Explore RTE’ area, providing a site map for content.

The homepage is a lot more graphical than before, however, it seems a little bit busy, with a lot happening on the one page.

News and Business

RTE news pages

The other part of the site fuses the previous news and business pages. It combines all forms of information on a subject, such as text, images, video and audio on the story page.

RTE also includes a new slide-out video option and an embedded audio player on relevant stories.

Greater visual prominence has been given to major news stories and events, such as the upcoming Budget.

The news also gives regular updates in between scheduled broadcasts and transmits two hours of Morning Ireland live from a webcam from the RTE radio studio.

RTE News Now, along with live news coverage, offers sports and business updates and current affairs shows such as Prime Time and Leader’s Questions.

The news site appears to look a lot more professional than the older version. It appears to be more inline with international news sites, such as the BBC, and is much less cluttered than the homepage.