Research by its ECOlab research laboratory preceded the launch of a new website for El Colombiano which gives form to its innovative concept.

In-depth research was aimed at establishing the visual and conceptual needs sought by its audience, while also giving its users the chance to participate more in the digital dynamic.

Over a period of almost two years, the prestigious Colombian newspaper has designed a journalistic project that has concluded with the creation of an "intelligent, entertaining, enriched and visual" website, designed for the consumption and reading of journalistic information online.

The publisher says results have been welcomed not just by readers but also by advertisers and journalists who, through the Protecmedia's ITER Web CMS, have been able to speed up its work and carry it out in a convergent manner for all output channels.

New journalistic formats include backgrounds, section notes and associated infographics or videos with their own audio, allowing readers to understand news items in more depth. The newspaper has also organised the contents better and improved their hierarchy to create the emotion of a 'news product', which is offered in 'layers' according to the degree of interest and the time available.

In addition to the traditional comments section, El Colombiano has also increased readers' participation with new options, for example by allowing them to complete different news items with their own contributions, supervised by the newsroom, and to offer linguistic

Technology manager Jaime Jaramillo says the choice of a platform that would facilitate the work of journalists to enable them to have more time to provide the added value that was sought was a key factor. "We looked at the international systems used by large newspapers that could enrich editorial content," he says. "The platform implemented puts us among the best news portals in the world."

Digital Macro Editor Diego Agudelo says the new tool has made it possible to "optimise and enrich the newsroom's work," thus responding to "what users want and the market trends in digital contents."

See the new El Colombiano at www.elcolombiano.com