The Nation.com, the online publication of the left-leaning magazine The Nation, recently relaunched on the Drupal content management system. The new site features a clean three-column layout and a multimedia bar about halfway down the page. The design does a nice job guiding readers through the site, provides community elements such as “most read” and “most commented,” and effectively segregates subscription and advertising information from the news. You can check out the new design at The Nation.com.
Steve Smith, in this article on minonline.com, says some of the site is designed specifically to tap into the publication’s second largest source of revenue, subscribers who also donate money to keep the operation going.
“… some aspects of the new site are designed to drive that second large revenue stream. TheNation.com hosts along with its many donors up to 50 live discussion groups around the country. The new design will bring some of the community energy online into discussion areas. There will also eventually be an area of the site just for donors.”
Smith also notes that only half of the magazine’s content is available for free online. You have to pay to get the full issue. The Drupal-driven site also will provide for “flexibility in adding content and responding to breaking news” while at the same time allowing the magazine to segregate its free offerings from its full offerings.
Peter Rothberg, the Nation’s Associate Publisher for Special Projects and the author of the “Act Now” blog, says in this article that the selection of open source Drupal was in part “a political statement.”
“‘Open source’ software code is published and made freely available to the public, enabling anyone to copy, modify and redistribute it without paying or earning royalties or fees. It’s like a song that a musician can sample or remix for free. This creates a community of global web programmers who can share and improve the platform. The idea is rooted in community: One person creates, another person improves, and the knowledge is widely shared. If he understood open source, Glenn Beck might well denounce it as a socialist practice. Open source as a concept goes beyond software. Its political analogy, ‘open politics,’ reflects core values which The Nation has long advocated: government that is transparent, open and rooted in the public interest.”
Interesting idea, that. Of course, while Drupal is freely available, more than one Drupal user has had to spend money getting someone to explain exactly how to set it up. Still, we also like the idea of open source and the reality of a dedicated community of Web programmers who are working hard to make the next version of Drupal even better.
To find out more about the new site, you can view this video:
How to gather information, assess it, and present it in a way readers will understand and appreciate