Page 111 - 4188

109

presence among their rivals (Cao & Li, 2006; Krumsvik, 2006). Today it
is hard to find a newspaper in North America that does not have an
online version. Additionally, an increasing number of newspapers are
created online and have no print version available. Furthermore, a small

number of newspapers have shifted from having both print and online
versions to online-only (Li, 2006).
As a result, the status of online newspapers is much advanced than

their early days. Online versions offer faster access and more updates
compared to their print counterparts (Li, 2006). They make use of
various technologies such as audio, animation, graphics and video, and
increasingly offer interactive elements. For example, several newspapers

covered the Eurocup in June 2008 with a minute-by-minute account of
the games, enriched by photographs, animation, audio and videos and
offered the readers the chance to add their comments during and after

the games.
The Position of E-newspapers today
Redefining the design

The history of e-newspapers has not only been short, but has been
influenced by accelerated technological development. As a result,
today’s e-newspapers make use of many modern technologies which

give them an advantage over the print medium. Nevertheless, their
design mimics print medium (Lowrey, 1999; Bockowski, 2004;
Krumsvik, 2006). However, the elements behind the traditional design
of print newspapers do not always make sense in the virtual world.

Lowrey (1999) summarizes the main factors of print design as
headline size, dominant imagery, story placement and story length.
Using these elements, the designer tells the reader how to read the paper,

as these factors give clues to the reader about the importance of the
news, as well as where to start and where to end reading (Lowrey,
1999). Online newspapers have been following this linear style,
although it is being replaced gradually by a more interactive style, where

not only the editor and the designer, but also the reader defines the
relevance, importance and even the length of the news (Lowrey, 1999).
One example of this shift of control to the reader is the case of

hyperstories, where the length, the borders and the focus of the news
story is determined by the reader through hyperlinks. Lowrey (1999)
summarizes this tendency of control shift from editors to readers as the

changing role of newspaper editors from a “gatekeeper” to “pathfinder”,