The Clarendon Enterprise proudly unveiled its new website this week and encouraged readers to go online and get involved.
ClarendonLive.com will replace ClarendonOnline.com, which has served the newspaper since 2000.
“The old site served its purpose, but it was time for a change,” said publisher Roger Estlack. “The new site is more interactive, it is more convenient for our readers, and it will be updated more frequently.”
ClarendonLive will allow readers to post comments on stories, submit story ideas and photos, and place classifieds and announcements online. In addition, visitors to the site can still search more than nine years worth of archives that were transferred from the old website.
“We want ClarendonLive.com to become the spot everyone goes to for information about Clarendon and Donley County,” Estlack said. “We also want to see people get involved on the site and hope that it generates civil discussion on local topics.”
Readers can also sign up to get e-mail alerts when the site is updated, and a link is available to follow the Enterprise on Facebook.
Enterprise staff members have been working since December to get ClarendonLive ready, and the new site will still be fine tuned in the coming days and weeks.
“This has truly been a team effort,” the publisher said. “Contributing Editor Ashlee Estlack has put a lot of ideas and guidance into the site, and Julie Shields did a tremendous job learning the new interface and transferring content from the old site.
“Anndria Newhouse also provided great support and suggestions. We’ve also had a team of volunteers looking at the sight for about a week now.”
Much of the credit for the new site goes to Dr. Randy Reddick, who chairs the Journalism Department at Texas Tech University.
“Dr. Reddick taught me publication design, and he has graciously taken us under his wing in the development of ClarendonLive,” Estlack said. “He has done a lot of work behind the scenes, spent a day with our staff, and was on the telephone for many hours with us over the last few weeks. We truly appreciate all his efforts on this.”
The Enterprise has a long tradition of reporting local events. The paper has been through many changes since its establishment as The Clarendon News in 1878. It was one of the early community papers to begin a digital edition with Enterprise-D in 2005, and ClarendonLive.com will continue that spirit of innovation.
“We will always have a newspaper, but increasingly readers will want more local news on the web,” Estlack said. “That’s the purpose of ClarendonLive – to keep our readers informed and connected to our community.”
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