Information magazines are one of the vital fashionable web site codecs on the market. There are various WordPress themes devoted to the style. And with the entire political tales which have been on the forefront of our lives in 2016, naturally we picked a information web site to dissect for our “Websites We Love” function.
This month, our targets are set on The Atlantic. It’s an absolute staple on the earth of print journalism, having revealed its first issue in 1857. On-line, it’s a prime vacation spot for politics, world information and tradition.
We’ll overview a number of the greatest features of The Atlantic’s web site and what makes it a favourite. Then, we’ll share some assets that you should use to implement related design and performance into your personal WordPress-powered web site.
Why we find it irresistible
The very first thing you discover when visiting The Atlantic is that it’s all about information. There aren't any shameless design gimmicks neither is the house web page overrun with adverts. It’s all about showcasing the depth of the out there content material organized in a easy, visually-appealing method.
First up is a big newsworthy picture that serves because the container for the featured story. Relying upon your display screen dimension, you’ll then see an space with extra massive tales on the suitable or straight beneath the picture. Both method, the white headlines on a black background make for a pleasant distinction. What makes this prime part work is that it’s quite simple and never in the least overbearing.
Beneath the “massive story” part on the prime, you’ll discover categorized listings of articles organized in just a few variations of a grid structure. Generally it consists of 4 columns of featured photos, with headlines and creator info beneath. Others will sport two bigger columns and nonetheless others will show as two columns of featured photos/headlines with a vertical article itemizing in the suitable column.
It is a good technique of conserving issues attention-grabbing. Your mind will keep a bit extra engaged with what you’re taking a look at.
One of many extra distinctive options of the homepage is the tiny, easy-to-miss navigation menu. Initially, it’s a hamburger-style menu that's tucked simply beneath the brand. As you scroll down, a sticky prime utility bar seems – however the menu remains to be in a hamburger.
Usually, this is likely to be trigger for concern and possibly a bit of bewilderment. On this case, nonetheless, it truly suits the purpose of the positioning. The house web page has a lot information and is already damaged down by class. In that method, the navigation nearly turns into a secondary concern as customers will most certainly scroll down by the plethora of articles anyway. The navigation doesn’t scream out its presence. However the multi-column mega menu that shows when you work together with the button may be very clear and simple to make use of. In all, it reinforces the news-first philosophy of the design.
Simplicity additionally carries by to particular person articles. A big featured picture is adopted by some meta-data, social sharing and a single, slender column of textual content. Advertisements are often interspersed, and there's a small sidebar consisting of a video and creator data in direction of the tip of the article. Past that could be a itemizing of fashionable tales with navigation to load additional collections. This retains with the theme of customers persevering with to scroll fairly than use the navigation.
Challenge Belongings
Now that we all know a bit extra about what makes The Atlantic’s web site tick, let’s have a look at some WordPress themes, plugins and different digital belongings that may show you how to construct a web site with related goodies.
Themes
Cuckoo
Cuckoo’s prime part that includes giant, photo-based tales together with a textual content itemizing of further headlines beneath offers a really related vibe to The Atlantic. You’ll additionally discover that this theme makes use of a hamburger-style navigation and grid submit itemizing. Functionally talking, Cuckoo is constructed to imitate viral information websites reminiscent of BuzzFeed. However the look gives many features of what we love about our topic web site.
Gridlove
For those who’re in search of a categorized submit itemizing just like what The Atlantic options, Gridlove will show you how to obtain it. The theme permits you to construct content material areas through a drag-and-drop interface that includes teams of posts matching a particular standards (all sports activities information, for instance). From there, you possibly can select a grid structure that permits you to spotlight particular posts (like an commercial) and customise all of it to match your wants. There's a whole lot of flexibility right here to make totally different class listings distinctive. Particular person posts can be custom-made to match The Atlantic’s dead-simple look with associated posts beneath.
Sophie
One of many cool features of chosen categorized submit listings in The Atlantic is a structure with particular person featured posts on the left and a column with a vertical textual content itemizing of headlines to the suitable. Sophie implements its personal model of this structure in fairly a pretty method. It’s very helpful for classes which have a whole lot of content material. Any such structure cuts down on scrolling and once more makes the class stand out from others on the house web page. Offering customers with info in an attention-grabbing method will assist to carry their consideration as they browse your web site.
Plugins
WordPress Mega Menu
Mega menus are an effective way to pack a whole lot of very important navigation into neatly organized rows and columns. It’s one thing The Atlantic makes use of to nice impact and one thing WordPress Mega Menu will convey to your personal web site. You possibly can transcend commonplace textual content hyperlinks with the power so as to add media like types, video and maps to encourage consumer engagement.
Ajax Search Professional
A strong, quick search engine is a must have function for any information web site. With the variety of articles The Atlantic has on-line, the search performance is a lifeline to previous archives. Ajax Search Pro is a plugin you should use to vastly enhance upon the default WordPress search. The “stay” search can present outcomes to your total web site – together with custom post types.
LiveCom
Throughout particular occasions (like U.S. election night time protection), stay running a blog is utilized by The Atlantic to maintain customers up to date on the very newest developments. Utilizing LiveCom, you possibly can broadcast your ideas as occasions unfold. Embed photos, video, tweets and set issues as much as autopost your content material to your social media accounts.
Design Parts
As a news-oriented web site, most of what you’ll see on The Atlantic are employees and wire service images from the folks and occasions that form our world. So, until you’re subscribing to considered one of these companies, you’re in all probability going to take issues in a little bit of a distinct path.
A mixture of your personal images and high-quality inventory photographs will be fairly efficient. Take, for instance, a number of the nice photos discovered on PhotoDune:
Eiffel Tower
United States Capitol
Downing Street Sign
Make It Your Personal
Whether or not your focus is on a distinct segment subject or a broad swath of topics, there are some wonderful classes to be realized from The Atlantic’s web site. For one, content material is the rationale persons are coming to your web site. It's of utmost significance to guarantee that your content material is entrance and middle.
In case your web site has a large number of classes and content material varieties, clearly outlined navigation is a should. And, don’t neglect to make previous archives simply accessible by search and different means.
Take these classes and apply them as you see match. You may simply discover that your viewers will develop due to your nice content material and well-organized web site construction.
See extra from this sequence: Sites We Love: 99u
