Visitors to The Tico Times’Web site, ticotimes.net, are in for a pleasant surprise today – our 11-year-old site has been refreshed, revamped, redesigned and officially launched this week.
The Tico Times joined the ranks of major newspapers around the world in venturing onto the Internet in 1995.
Since then, a growing number of readers have visited us online to read weekly highlights from the print edition and online Daily News exclusive to the web at ticotimes.net/daily.htm
So far this year, the site has received an average of 143,000 unique visitors and 480,280 page views per month.
However, the fast tides of technology continue to change, and it was time for a redesign. The idea was to make the site more attractive and easy to navigate and offer readers more features exclusive to the online edition.
The Tico Times 50th anniversary this year provided the perfect occasion, explained General Manager Abby Daniell.
“Thanks to the feedback of online readers and as part of The Tico Times 50th anniversary, we are proud to launch our new Web site including a new design and features,” Daniell said.
The new site incorporates elements of our redesigned print edition launched Jan. 27 in celebration of our anniversary, including a new masthead, linear graphics and vibrant color. The graphic designer behind these changes, María Fe Alpízar of the graphic design firm MRM Soluciones Gráficas, engineered the overhaul of the Web site.
Systems Administrator Edwin Cardenas, Online Editor Amanda Roberson and Daniell were also part of the Web redesign team.
The site has a new Letters to the Editor page with a selection of letters from each week’s print edition.
Additionally, the pages were reorganized to create a crisp, clean look. Navigation bars at the top, bottom and left side of each page make for userfriendly clicking, and a forest-green characteristic of Costa Rica illuminates the Home page and several secondary pages. The Tico Times’ sister paper The Nica Times’ page sports the blue of the Nicaraguan flag, while the Weekend section is a lively red.
A “shopping cart” feature allows users to subscribe online to The Tico Times print edition, pdf edition or Daily News e-mail edition, which now has more daily news, photos, a link to our Calendar section and a weekly column. Users can also purchase electronic archive copies of articles or complete editions, our guidebook Exploring Costa Rica and The Tico Times Restaurant Guide.
More new features including interactive reader forums and multimedia elements are in the works, so stay tuned for more to come.
