Washington D.C., Jul 27, 2010 / 06:59 am
The website InsideCatholic.com has launched a new version of its site, featuring an attractive design and greater integration of social networking features. Social networking helps make readers “partners in evangelization,” the site said, adding that the revision is intended to reflect “digital literacy.”
InsideCatholic.com editor Deal Hudson told CNA that the new version of the website is only the first of many ongoing revisions intended to make the site “a comprehensive media apostolate.”
The new design also kept in mind the importance of aesthetic concerns.
“The beauty of good design, we think, should always be part of how Catholics present themselves on the Internet,” Hudson said.
He described the new InsideCatholic site as “fully fitted” with social media interfaces and with improved functionality and attractiveness in its columns, articles and blog and video posts.
“The direction of the Internet is increasingly trending toward interaction and interface, while the amount of information available has become nearly overwhelming,” Hudson said in an article announcing the changes. “Social media allows users to select their favorite content and spread it exponentially in any direction they choose. This makes every reader a potential partner.”
Hudson's design team also operated with the idea that social networking is “integral” to how Catholic websites invite their visitors to become “partners in evangelization.” The site redesign, according to Hudson, aspired to represent “digital literacy” by providing accurate, well-presented content and also a space for people to interact “with intelligence and cordiality.”
“I'm sure that one day, we'll all look back at the first versions of our site in much the same way I remember the rabbit ears on the family TV. Technology is always moving, and Catholics need to keep up,” Hudson wrote in his announcement article.
InsideCatholic.com is the successor to the publication Crisis Magazine.