Welcome to the new DukeChronicle.com!

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you, on behalf of The Chronicle, to the new DukeChronicle.com! (Depending on where in the world you are, it might take up to a day for this site to appear at the DukeChronicle.com URL.)

In the last two years, we have launched our blog network, interacted with hundreds of you on Twitter and filmed dozens of campus events. But you may not have known that behind the scenes, we’ve been hard at work on the biggest project of them all. You’re looking at it now.

We began talking about revamping this Web site in early 2008. That was mid-way through our 103rd volume. Now, as Volume 105 is entering its second month of the Fall semester, we’re excited to unveil what we’ve been working on for so long.

This new Web site was built entirely by students for you, the reader. Through hundreds of design versions, many discussions with our trusted Board of Directors, several online surveys, and some good old-fashioned in-person research, we’ve come to understand what you expect from a top-quality news Web site. We think you’ll be pleased with what we have built. Please take a moment to learn about what you'll be able to do with our new Web site:

Read and browse with ease

It is no secret that our old Web site was difficult to browse, often offended the eye and had several small deficiencies that added up to big annoyances. Here, you can read an article in its entirety with just one click. You can browse in peace without bumping into an advertisement every other second. You can search for articles—dating all the way back to the mid-1990s—with ease.

You can also subscribe to RSS feeds for specific sections, like Sports or Towerview, and bookmark them for quick access to their uniquely formatted pages. Our goal was to make your news-reading experience top-notch. We hope we've delivered. Be sure to send in your feedback, whether it's positive or negative.

Discover photography you’ve been missing

The staff photographers fill our servers with gigabytes of photos each year, but you have never seen most of them. Natural space constraints in the print edition and strict Web templates left us with few options. You’ll see, though, that we’ve given those photographers due credit and exposure. Browse through our photo slideshows, enjoy much larger photographs across the site and, coming soon, buy a photo for yourself or for a friend.

Dig deeper with new multimedia offerings

Our newest department, Multimedia, has already gotten off to a great start. Its staff has produced videos in stunning high definition about everything from the Duke Political Union to the popular new campus group Purple. Our weekly arts and entertainment section, recess, has been shooting video of the best live music the Triangle has to offer. And don’t miss our sports columnists and editors analyzing Duke’s latest sports match-ups.

I think you’ll discover that this Web site can do a lot more than the previous one. Please be patient over the next few weeks as we squash any bugs that surface and fix any other irregularities you report.

We’re always working hard to bring you the best coverage of Duke, Durham and North Carolina. And that means making sure that whether you’re in your dorm room or Tanzania, you’ll be able to use our Web site to stay informed.

Thanks for reading The Chronicle online. We hope you enjoy yourself while you begin to explore our new home on the Web.

Sincerely,

Alex Klein, Trinity '11

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I must absolutely take a bit more space to thank some amazing people for their dedication to this challenging undertaking. Thanks, first and foremost, to Dean Chen, our lead developer, who coded this Web site himself, often changing course completely at my or others’ request. This Web site would simply not exist without him. Sean Moroney, last year’s online editor, found and brought together the folks in the Online Department who now proudly present this Web site to you.

The last three editors of our newspaper—David Graham, Chelsea Allison and Will Robinson—have been wholly supportive and have provided valuable advice and guidance for the duration of this project. Also vitally important throughout this process were Jonathan Angier, Chrissy Beck, Ben Cohen, Karen Hauptman, David Ingram, Lawson Kurtz, Richard Rubin and Zachary Tracer. There were dozens—no, hundreds—more who at one point shared their thoughts or lent their expertise to our efforts, and to them, and those preceding, I owe my deepest gratitude.

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