News

The Dominion Post is getting a new website and mobile app

MORGANTOWN — The Dominion Post is excited to let readers know about a new website and mobile app coming this week.

The dominionpost.com will have a new look as soon as Monday, with the mobile app to follow in the coming days.

“We have been working on this new look for several months now and are excited that launch time is so close,” said Managing Editor Pam Queen. “We’ve wanted to clean up the look of the site for some time and devise a mobile app that will allow readers to see everything available on the computer version. This new site will give readers the complete story and the app will let them see photo galleries and videos that were not available on the old app.”

There will be two ways to view the stories — on a website and on an electronic edition.

As the app was still being tweaked, the newspaper’s previous Apple app was mistakenly updated with one that wasn’t ready. Valuable information came from that error, though.

“From the inadvertent early release of a prototype app, we learned that many readers prefer seeing an e-edition, one that looks like a newspaper on the computer screen or smartphone,” Queen said. “So, we decided to make sure that option is included once the correct app is ready to launch.”

There will be menus on the website and the app — which will be available in both iTunes and Play Store — that will allow readers to choose to see the e-edition. Those who choose to look at the website, will see there is more news there than was previously.

“Just about everything published in the newspaper will be uploaded to the website now,” Queen said. “That includes Daily Report, property transfers and obituaries — something we know readers of the website have been looking for.”

Users of the app can also decide if they want to receive push notifications. These will be automatic and will notify smartphone users when certain stories have been added to the site. Those interested mostly in sports can select to only receive notifications for sports stories.

The new site and app are subscription-based and users will be able to choose from several subscription packages soon. But, for the next 30 days, all stories will be free to read and the e-edition will be free to see.

Print subscribers who have the newspaper delivered seven days a week will receive a free subscription to the online version as well.

The new site is set to launch Monday, with the new app to follow as soon as Apple approves it.

Those with an old app will be prompted to update to the new one. Anyone who has trouble doing so should contact The Dominion Post Web Department at helpdesk@dominionpost.com.