We’re a month into the soft launch of our new website over at MVLSun.com, and we’re just starting to get to a handle on some of the bells and whistles that were difficult or impossible to do on the old site.
The big benefit is this new site will be a complement to the print version of the Sun. And vice versa.
There’s one immutable fact about the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Sun — the number of pages in each issue has to be divisible by four. Most weeks, it is 16 pages.
We’ve always had a limit on the number of photos we could run in the paper. We used to have a limit on the number of photos we could post at mvlsun.com.
Not any more.
Take Mount Vernon and Lisbon’s graduation ceremonies, for example. Both Nathan Countryman and Margaret Stevens took a school to cover and photograph. Our print got some of the photos from each ceremony, but many more of them ended up online for each story.
Same with the Goats to the Rescue, Chocolate Stroll and Memorial Day. The stories of those events were fleshed out online in pictures.
There’s other benefits as well.
Sun subscribers get access to the work of reporters in seven of our sister publications covering the Eastern Iowa communities of Anamosa, Mount Vernon, Solon, North Liberty, Marion and some outlying areas.
Our Facebook page has a lot more links that show content coming from our website. When we post new episodes of Good Morning Mount Vernon-Lisbon or recordings of city council meetings, those links to multimedia go up.
We’re able to share PDFs more easily as well.
We’ve been able to post breaking news, for example, when the Marchathon was canceled due to weather. And there’ll be times when a story is published only online because of how it fits in our production schedule.
All of this is included in an annual subscription. You will need to set up an account, but if you are a subscriber, there is no additional cost. And, as long as you remember your password and have internet, you can access the Sun from anywhere.
The website is still a work in progress. We’re getting used to new rhythms of a no-longer weekly publication. New avenues for video or audio. New ways to interact with readers.
If you’re interested in subscribing, contact 1-800-562-1825 or 319-895-6216.
New features on website allow for more flexibility, focus of paper
June 24, 2021