Widgets for a local newspaper: weather, buses and other things people check every day
Weather and bus times are among the most checked things every day. Here is how we think about widgets for a local newspaper so they are useful and stay out of the way.
Some pages are visited for a news story, others out of habit. A local newspaper gains a lot when it manages the second kind, and it doesn't take a big investigation to get there. Sometimes it's enough to quickly answer a question people ask every day. Will it rain this afternoon? When does the bus come?
At Polarys we have built weather and city bus widgets for castello24.com, the newspaper in Castelló, and we have also integrated the TVCS (Televisió de Castelló) schedule into its website. This is what we keep in mind when we design pieces like these.
One widget, one question
The rule that helps us most: each widget answers a single question, and does it at a glance. If readers have to tap three times or scroll through a huge table, it is no longer a widget, it is another page. The answer comes first; the detail, if needed, comes after.
Weather: the basics, done well
It looks like the easiest one, and it is where lack of care shows most. It works when you can see the current conditions and the forecast for the next few hours straight away, with clear icons and the town properly identified. A local paper has the advantage of talking about its city, not a generic provincial forecast.
The bus: the tool people come back to every morning
A city transport widget is the kind people bookmark. What matters is that readers find their line and their stop without hunting around, and that it is obvious what kind of information they are looking at. If the data is timetables and not real-time arrivals, say so plainly. Promising more than you know is the fastest way to lose a reader's trust.
Other ideas with the same pattern
There are other things local readers check often that fit the same mould: the pharmacies on duty today, the word of the day, a short puzzle for the coffee break. They work for the same reason: small, useful and quick to check every day.
What to take care of
- The data source. Know where the data comes from, who maintains it and what happens if it stops arriving. Out-of-date data is worse than no widget. Showing the time of the last update helps.
- What shows when something fails. A clear message (“we can't show the timetables right now”) is far better than a blank space or an error.
- Weight. A widget shouldn't slow the page down. If the newspaper loads slower because of a cloud icon, readers notice.
- Mobile first. Most people check the weather or the bus on their phone, standing up and in a hurry. Design for that.
- Living with the rest of the site. It shouldn't cover the news or compete with advertising, and it should keep the newspaper's style.
- Someone to maintain it. Sources change and bus lines are modified. A widget with no owner ends up broken.
One more thing: don't ask for personal data unless you need it. Nobody should have to sign up to find out what the weather will be like.
How it fits with a local TV channel
When the newspaper and the local TV channel share a website, as with the TVCS schedule on castello24.com, widgets give the page a reason to be visited every day, not just when there is big news. Someone who comes in to check the bus may end up seeing what is on local TV.
If you run a local newspaper, TV channel or public administration and want to know which widgets would make sense on your site, get in touch and we'll talk it through.
