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Min Digital
MIN DIGITAL Come on Down: Forbes.com Gives Users Their Props
The first thing we noticed about the new, redesigned Forbes.com home page is that the famously clever, irreverent editorial v Part of the Forbes strategy is also for the audience to see not only some of themselves but also more of what each individual wants. The Attache feature is a drop-down window on the far right side of the site that lets a user customize his or her views more deeply into the content. Unlike many personalization schemes, the Attache activates instantly. The user then tweaks its long scroll of possible data, from weather location, sports teams, stocks Watch Lists to story types, Web links and even favorite Forbes.com authors. Personalization always poses a dilemma for traditional publishers. If they let users customize a site radically, then the content provider loses control over editorial voice, authority and perhaps the ad environment. Forbes.com's solution is to maintain the integrity of a traditional home page but add an optional layer of personalization that runs parallel to the page. Users can even detach the Attache from the site itself so it sits on their desktop even when they browse elsewhere. Maidment says that the Attache has hundreds of thousands of subscribers. The audience directed a number of other elements in the Forbes.com redesign. The "Forbes List" franchises remain a key attraction at the site, so a top-line menu item gives visitors direct access to them. And the video player has been revamped with more control features. The revolving carousel of feature stories on the front page is based on good response to an earlier redesign of the Lifestyle section. The new front page is part of a "rolling redesign" strategy that affects different pieces of the Forbes.com network of content at various times. The dramatic, top-to-bottom relaunch of a site may make good press but it doesn't always translate into a good user experience. "We have realized now that it doesn't make a lot of sense to do a big-bang redesign," says Maidment. "Too many things can break."
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 Regional Communications Manager, West,
Grainger Managing Editor,
Hanley Wood LLC Digital Technology Director,
Questex Media Group, Inc.
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oice of the brand now shares the stage with other shout-outs. For instance, prominently featured on the new front page, reader "Vincepage" complains that the "banks aren't ready to lend again unless you're a zero risk customer." Regarding recent happenings at Ford, "plang1" quips that the automaker "has already sold off everything except Volvo, even its oval logo." And a member of the Forbes.com Stock Picking Community is profiled in the center column of the new front page. In fact, on the top half of the page, user voices and user-generated article rankings are unmistakable. Like many publishers, Forbes.com is striving for ways to bring the audience onto the stage, give it a share of voice and, at the same time, maintain its own editorial tone and authority.
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