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Building a Better Site for Healthcare Professionals
We are launching theheart.org 2.0, leveraging the latest in online community technologies to take theheart.org to the next level. We have always been an innovator, and over the nine years since its launch theheart.org has become the most trusted source for cardiology news, commentary and continuing medical education on the web. This new version of theheart.org is a complete rethinking of how information is presented, allowing our members to personalize and prioritize content so they can access and comment on that information wherever and whenever they want.
But, what hasn’t changed is the quality and depth of the news coverage and content offering.
What is changing?Here are a few of the highlights we are proud to present in Phase One of the roll-out:
- The layout - theheart.org 2.0 layout will be a dramatic departure. Though it will still focus on breaking news it will also be more visual, more dynamic and allow members easier access to the rich content on theheart.org.
- Clinical conditions and communities of practice - we’ll be implementing personalizable homepages for major clinical conditions to make it easier for members to find all the content associated with the conditions that interest them. We’re also creating communities of practice where professionals can find information and exchange views specific to their practice. The first of these is the Fellows Corner launching with the initial release of theheart.org 2.0.
- Discussion and commentary - soon members will be able to attach comments and instantly create a discussion thread to almost any piece of content. This is a feature members have been requesting, and will help generate more discussion around important issues. Another new feature we will be adding is the ability to attach video comments.
- Thought Leader and Peer blogs - new to the site is a cutting edge video blogging system that will allow thought leaders to create their own minisites within theheart.org and comment on the news, other commentary or external content in real time. That means commentary and analysis that is even more timely and pertinent. Many of our members are already familiar with Dr Eric Topol’s popular blog “Topolog”.
- Even more exclusive content - theheart.org 2.0 will feature even more exclusive editorial series and new content developed through academic partnerships with leading institutions.
Coming for a roll-out this fall This fall we’ll be adding even more new functionality to the site. Here are a few of the new features: RSS feeds - Podcasts - THO for mobile. - Taking theheart.org 2.0 to the next level
The next 6 months will be an exciting time for theheart.org as we are going to take it to the next level. We hope you’ll visit often and let us know what you think. You can leave a comment or email us at comments@theheart.org.
CommentsCommentaires
New site looks super overall and is very user friendly; love the easy 1-click access to many of the content areas: CME, Eductation, Discussion/Opinions and Features.
BUT, I am concerned that the "cornerstone" of the site, the heartwire news stories, has gotten overly condensed; especially when much of that condensation yields room for "Info from Industry" and advertisements-a frankly dissappointing (verging on nauseating) allocation of space. And many of the other link-out sections could be made a bit smaller without compromising access/visibility.
How about linking out to the industry info and getting back to the up-front presentation of the broader spectrum of current news stories.
While we can "personalize" for our area of interest, the most valuable feature of the site for me has been to help keep up with disciplines beyond our focused interest, where we may not otherwise keep up quite as closely. Kind of like delivering only the Sports section of the newspaper and making me take an action to get the front page, metro, business, and/or entertainment sections.
Thanks for the chance to comment.
It is always hard to improve something that everybody likes. The key attraction of THO to the very busy cardiologist consists of two components: 1) to get AT ONE GLANCE all relevant new info in regards to cardiovascular medicine
and 2) to get this info in a package, which contains the important facts together with a balanced discussion .
THO mastered both and that’s why the site is so popular. All relevant info is right there when you open the site and the writers of THO are doing an outstanding job putting the reports together.
While I am confident that the writers will continue to excel, the new beta site is losing on the first component. The home page is much busier and the key info (all relevant new info in regards to cardiovascular medicine) is more difficult to retrieve. While one can organize the info similar to the current site, it requires extra steps and it then still is not as clear as the current site. While some of this may be related to familiarity, the most important aspect, again, is info AT A GLANCE – without much navigation.
All other new features, including the blogs/discussion forum, sub-specialty sites etc are great, however they appeal only to those who have time to navigate the site, which, again, is the MINORITY of cardiologists. Trainees, researchers etc however will find these features useful.
Lastly, I agree with the previous comments in regards to the concerns of commercial bias. Industry information should be banned from the home page and should go on a different, clearly marked page for industry.
THO has become an excellent source for CV info and I am confident it will remain the leader in this genre. With all these great ideas one just has to be careful not to forget one’s strengths.
Can someone explain the rationale for the new look? As a faithful user of the site I have always enjoyed the prominence of heartwire, the "just about right" length of the story capsules, and the ability to quickly catch up without much mousework if I'd missed a few days. It seems the new site diminishes the emphasis on the news and increases the prominence of satellites etc. Did regular users ask for this? Did advertisers ask for this? Did staff ask for it? I understand the need for change in response to problems or the need not to get stale or old. Somehow this looks like it is going in the wrong direction. What did your pilots or focus groups tell you about the new look? What do other regular users think - should there be a poll? Should there be a choice to select THO new or THO "classic" - after all, even Coke went back when new Coke didn't work!
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Since 1999, when we launched theheart.org, the web has changed in ways that no one could have imagined. Over 10 years, web technologies have matured, become more standardized, and more accessible. We evolved from a dial-up environment (remember the 56k modem?) to a broadband, high-speed world, meaning that it is now possible to effectively deliver rich content, like streaming video. With this evolution in technology comes an expectation amongst web users that their experience of the net should involve multimedia components, blogs, “sharing”, and collaborative tools.
While evaluating our development plan back in 2007, it became obvious that the design and supporting technology of theheart.org were incompatible with our plans for the future and that in order to make the most of new technologies and to stay at the leading edge of cardiology news, we would need to chart a new course.
Keeping the news center stage has been the guiding principle of our redesign; we have always realized the importance of our news service to our readership and there is no possible compromise on this subject. From the initial plans for the new site, we shared our thoughts with doctors like you, we talked to web specialists in different areas, and we also reviewed the practices of leading news organizations such as The New York Times, The Globe and Mail, and The Guardian. We feel that we have been faithful to our guiding principle and that we have strived to make the news more prominent than ever. By reorganizing the content into clinical conditions we have sought to give the news a longer life beyond the home page and by implementing RSS feeds we aim to extend the reach of our news even further. Our goal is to broaden the reach of our news service and to adapt the site to the needs of a diverse population of healthcare professionals that now numbers over 115,000 individuals. Through feedback we have received and the discussions we have had with physicians throughout this process, we feel that we have chosen the right course and, yes!, as with all transitions of this nature we are aiming to make the outcome even better! We value your feedback and hope that you will continue to share your thoughts with us so that we can remain the leading source of high quality cardiology news and information. Thank you!