Cape Town - Today marks an exciting new start for IOL – the launch of our brand-new website built for you, our reader.
Many months of research, sifting through datasets, canvassing input from our team members, conducting audience surveys, consulting all levels of our business, employing the services of UX (user-experience) specialists have led us to this moment.
It is an IOL built for our audience, with improved performance, easier navigation, new content verticals and more functionality for our readers.
You may find your favourite content sections have moved to verticals where they fit more naturally, and you will also find new content sections for you to enjoy.
Among these are new Weather and Traffic verticals to help you navigate your day more easily, a new market indicator widget for you to track the latest economic and financial data, and a brand-new Good News section, because who doesn’t need a little pick-me-up every now and then?
There’s a brand-new IOL TV vertical, where you’ll find all our videos and podcasts, and you can expect even more from us in the way of live video and appointment-driven vlogcasts and podcasts on demand.
You’ll find more refined recommendation tools, so you can see what other readers like you enjoy reading, and you’ll be able to access your favourite authors’ content more easily from within our articles.
We’re also inviting you to register on our site and join our family – it’s free, and there are no credit card details required.
As a registered member of our IOL family, you’ll be able to listen to all our articles, so you can enjoy our content without missing a beat in your day. Over the next few months, we’ll be adding even more features for our registered users.
IOL is your platform, and we will, through our content and campaigns, be making this South Africa’s most inclusive platform. One of the ways we’re doing this is through our new letters content section, where your letters to the editor can be published. Reach out to us by emailing [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you.
You’ll soon see much more from us that puts you, our reader, first.
New IOL is a contract between our readers and our journalists. It is reader first, mobile first and is unashamed about its inclusivity agenda. IOL is our people, it serves our readers, it serves South Africa.
Over the coming months, you will see further improvements to the site, all designed to improve your experience and bring South African voices onto the platform.
Please let us know what more we can do to ensure that we live our brand promise of an inclusive site that celebrates diversity and drives transformation.
IOL