h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I have been thinking about this talking point for a little while now (I am glad that it has been given a good run).

The front page desparately needs a refresh as it does nothing to sell the site in a post web2.0 world (web2.0 may have been a dud commercially but it did wonders for graphic design). If any home page were every to induce panic in the heart of the casual visitor, H2G2's would be it.

Maybe, rather than the editors trying to "mash up" an internet guide, let the researchers should suggest fab links as part of entry writing/peer review and the subs could check them. All the editorial team would have to do is make it all look nice on the front page and make sure any music/images are presented appropriately/wonderfully.

For an iPhone/mobile web oriented guide, this could give the site the impetus it needs: orient the guide back around the front page and the DON'T PANIC message allow researchers to see their work hang off it.

Music? Images? Are you talking embedded content? I don't think this is the right site for that kind of thing. Why try to look like someone's blog?

I don't think h2g2 should try to look overly modern, but a minor facelift might be in order. Just a few changes to add a little shine to the surfaces, and perhaps a pinch of javascript to make the existing features work a little better. For instance, how about making the Categorisation system into a single, java-driven page rather than a series of pages?

Alex

I don't know. If the BBC is demanding that H2G2 reference outside content then the site is going to change.

That is fine. If it is going to change, then make it driven by the researcher and subeds, according to the existing core values of the site.

I don't think that the site will ever look like someone's blog. Music and images make sense attached to researched articles in the front page because so many of them are about places and events where music and images are a core part of the researched materials.

I am not suggesting that H2G2 issuing humming noises in the style of Pink Floyed when you it the front page, as much as this might reflect the radio broadcasts and be quite fun.