Sympatico.ca has unveiled a new look for the homepage of its English and French-language portals.
In a release, Michele Ferrari, Sympatico.ca’s portal content and operations director, said that the site’s homepage had become “over-stuffed” as it developed over the past 15 years.
The objective, she said, was to make the site’s landing page “more airy and easily understood” without reducing content.
Image sizes were increased and the amount of text reduced, while homepage content has now been grouped around four key themes: news, entertainment, sports and lifestyle. A new photo gallery feature enables users to see the news in pictures, and the site offers visual shortcuts to everything from popular news and weather to exclusive features.
This week’s re-launch is the culmination of discussions and strategic planning that began last February, with input from focus groups along with insight gathered from international web trends, Sympatico said.
The company worked with Pheromone, a Montreal agency that has done web work with clients including Cogeco, Via Rail and Cirque de Soleil, to implement the update.
Sympatico.ca called the new homepage the first step in “many other enhancements” planned for the next year.
“Sympatico.ca is a key part of everyday life for millions of Canadians and for us it is important that these changes take effect slowly and methodically so we maintain our relationship with, and the commitment of, our engaged readers,” said Ferrari.
