Star Online further streamlined for optimum usage

New look: A screen grab showing The Star Online's current look.

PETALING JAYA: The Star Online is at it again!

Following on from a dramatic revamp on July 1 last year, the nation’s leading news portal has just undergone a facelift.

Based on user feedback, the site has been further streamlined for optimum usage, said The Star Online editor Philip Golingai.

“The Star Online is a growing virtual community, with over 392,000 Twitter followers and 338,000 Facebook likes. We are constantly seeking new platforms with which to engage our readers,” said Golingai.

The Star Online receives four million unique visitors from all over the world monthly and recently edged out tough competition to bag the Asian-level awards at The Spark Awards and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA).

The winning formula relies on a blend of stories from its parent newspaper, breaking news and edgy exclusive content.

“We believe in enhancing stories with informative graphics, compelling video and a range of social media-friendly tools like Storify and Instagram,” said Golingai.

“To keep things fresh, we revamped our roster of columnists to bring in forward-thinking opinion shapers from both sides of the political fence, as well as specialists in fields as varied as law, the arts, sports and the environment,” he added.

The new look is proving a hit with long-time readers.

Napsiah Wan Salleh expressed her preference for the new look, saying: “All news and info are on the same page with main news titles very visible on the left.”

This was echoed by Daniel Poobalan, who said: “The navigation menu is much better than the previous one.”

On Twitter, Faizal Faiz (@ffhasani) said the fresh look was like the new print version.

Timothy Tiah (@timothytiah) simply tweeted, “I like it.”

Star Head of Products (Digital) Serm Teck Choon, who oversees the technical changes at the site, said:

“We are constantly making an effort to improve. We wanted to present more content for users and effected some changes to the homepage and the story pages.