NPR Website Gets a Clean, Simple Facelift

NPR is embarking on its first major homepage redesign since 2009, introducing a cleaner, simpler layout on Wednesday the organization believes will increase reader engagement and better suit its storytelling style.

The previous homepage of NPR.org was box-like and overwhelming in the way that most news websites are — with lots of links (more than 100, in fact). This created a "paradox of choice" for readers, as NPR explained in a video overview shared with Mashable.

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The new, responsively designed site is much simpler and, in my opinion, more engaging. At the top of the screen, visitors can play their local NPR station's livestream or already-aired programs while browsing the page's headlines (see screenshot below). It is a way to "inject a lot more of the national/local feel that's been so important for public radio all these years," Zach Brand, vice president of digital media at NPR, and Scott Montgomery, NPR's managing editor of digital news, observed in a phone interview with Mashable on Tuesday. Read more...