By Matt Weir

At the end of this quarter, The Daily Northwestern changes. A new editor in chief, Abe Rakov, will lead the paper, and most, if not all, positions will turn over. And with that said, Ryan Reeh, the one-man online division for The Daily, will step down as the online editor. The new site re-design, which premiered Feb. 2, is a huge improvement over the previous site, and is a testament to the effort he has put into the paper.

The Daily, in the past, has been hampered by an outdated and frequently non-functional online product.

The site, during the late ’90s and early ’00s, does not look bad, especially when compared to other sites of the era. I would even argue that the oldest site is more readable than the design that was just replaced.

Once the Daily switched to College Publisher for its content management system needs, the site began to look overtly confusing and awkward.

The move to College Publisher occurred in spring 2006, and the subsequent redesign – the one we had until earlier this month – frustrated the team that worked on it. Reeh is the only member of that team that still works in the online division the paper.

In my Feb. 6 column, “With Daily’s Size, A Few Work More,” I wrote about his late-night work ethic. So I will not rehash that here. But suffice to say, he has kept a sub-par site running since that time, now single-handedly.

And after many false starts – Reeh has been talking about the imminent redesign since the beginning of the quarter – The Daily now looks good on the Web. It’s more purple than ever before, and it’s also more readable, interactive, and useful.

The “Archive” option on the left-side toolbar allows readers to search The Daily by issue, an excellent feature for anyone who uses the site to catch up with a day they missed.

The new “Classified” section, not available in older site designs, is also welcome. It organizes job opportunities, items for sale, etc. and is worth a look, even if it isn’t Craigslist. (Thanks to The Daily’s business department for maintaining that new feature.)

Also, the “Calendar” section could be a much-needed option other than the cluttered Plan-It Purple. The problem is: The Daily hasn’t posted anything on the calendar yet. Someone needs to do it.

And that’s the big key. Reeh is leaving, and so far there is no replacement for Rakov’s first quarter in charge. The “Podcast” section available on the toolbar of the new site, for instance, may never be used.

“I couldn’t do podcasts as a one-man desk,” Reeh told me. And he’s right. There needs to be a team to do something that ambitious.

But more ambition is needed. To connect to readers more conversationally, I think The Daily could use some blog-like content. The DM blog (dailynorthwestern.blogspot.com) was actually a great way to cover the event. And though an Evanston Arts blog once sputtered, I think there’s ample reason to try again. Also, a well-moderated message board on the site could boost discussion on the Forum page.

As Reeh reminded me, these are all time-consuming things to do. And with a staff of one – soon to be zero – it’s hard enough for the site to keep up with the paper, much less supplement it in meaningful ways.

But at least the redesign is the best one yet. And congrats to Reeh for that. It should be treated only as a starting point, but something tells me the paper will never be able to muster the staff muscle to go anywhere with it. The paper will hopefully find another Reeh to at least keep pace, but I think The Daily is going to find it hard to make any sort of progress in its online product unless a team of dedicated individuals steps up.

Public Editor Matt Weir serves as the readers’ representatives. His thoughts and conclusions are his own. He can be reached at [email protected].