Hello everyone! Federal News Radio is excited to announce that our website is getting a facelift. And we wanted to give our readers a chance to take it for a test drive before that time. So, here it is! You are currently seeing what an article will look like on our updated website. Be sure to check out our homepage and the Mike Causey section as well.

We’re interested to know what you like and dislike about the design of the new site. But, most importantly, we’re interested in knowing if the site functions well for you. In other words…does it work? Please check out our tutorial below to help us test various aspects of the website. We know that website restrictions and technology at federal agencies make it difficult for some feds to watch video, listen to audio, view photographs, etc. on websites. This was a major consideration for us as we designed each piece of our new site. After all, this website really is about you, our users, and we want you to have the best experience possible each time you come to the site. The site you are about to visit is a work in progress with many tweaks still to come. The bones are here, but we’re still playing with the ligaments that tie everything together. For example, as you work your way around the site, you may encounter pages that are still under construction. Two other very important notes:

1. The stories currently on this site are not up to date. They have been placed on the site for testing purposes only. Please visit our live site in order to see the latest federal news.
2. We will be making updates to this testing site on a daily basis. So, feel free to stop back multiple times between now and our launch date in May to check our progress and offer more suggestions as you think of them.

With that being said, we’d love for you to cruise around the new site. Click on whatever you want. Tell us what works and what doesn’t. Tell us if something looks funny or “off.” Then, before leaving the site, please take our short survey letting us know your thoughts and what you find. (Be sure to check out our new homepage and try out the multimedia items below. We’ll ask you a few specific questions about those in the survey.) Your comments will be used to make updates to the site before we go live next month. Let’s get started!

The New Federal News Radio.com: A Tutorial

Below is the audio player Federal News Radio will use to display all of our interviews from our radio shows. Click the play button. You should hear music followed by a woman’s voice introducing the Ask the CIO radio show. (We’ll ask you whether you can hear this piece of audio in the survey.)

Next, let’s take a look at video. Federal News Radio uses YouTube as the primary repository for our videos. Below, you will find a piece from our 2014 Causey Awards program. Click the play button. (We’ll ask you whether you can view this video in our survey.) https://www.youtube.com/embed/ITrmo39_w6I Federal News Radio embeds many photos within our stories. Below, you should see a “Related Gallery” with a photo of a Coast Guard cutter in the Antarctic. Typically, photos are not blocked by agencies. Please click on the related gallery and scroll through the pictures. Are you able to see each photo? How quickly do the photos load? (We’ll be asking you for the answers to these questions in the survey.) Next, we’d like you to click around our Navigation Bar at the top of the page. When you scroll over each of our main coverage areas (Pay & Benefits, Workforce, Tech, etc.), you should see a dropdown menu of choices divided up into two categories: News and Shows. Feel free to click on these menu items to see a list of articles related to these topics. (We’ll ask you about the usability of this nav bar in the survey.)   At the bottom of this page, you’ll see a section of related stories. These additional articles are included within each story Federal News Radio posts to give our readers more background information on that particular topic. (The related stories on this article are included solely as an example.)

Homepage:

We have redesigned our homepage with usability and simplicity in mind. We know you’re busy and that the time you spend on our site must be maximized. Therefore, our new homepage allows you to easily see the newest and most important news stories of the day. In addition, you can find links to our latest radio interviews; our most shared articles; and our new Expert Insights section, where you can register for our upcoming online chats and webinars with senior leaders in government (continuing professional education credits, or CPEs, offered for webinars). Some of your favorite features, including our photo galleries and the TSP Ticker, are now located in the right-hand column.   We’ve also added some new features like our email alerts widget, where you can sign up for our five different newsletters. We’ll also begin featuring some of our latest video content on our homepage. Take a look and let us know your thoughts!

Mike Causey’s Federal Report

Mike Causey’s daily columns are a must-read for any federal employee interested in pay, benefits and retirement issues. Due to the popularity of Mike’s page and his daily columns on the current site, we decided to keep his page pretty much the same. In addition to his daily columns, you can also check out the latest pay and benefits news, as well as the topics covered on some of our radio shows that cover pay and benefits.

Advertisements    

FederalNewsRadio.com is a commercial entity supported by advertisements. Some of our ads use technology that is blocked by agency computers, and may cause certain parts of our site to appear blank on your desktop computer.  If you notice this type of issue, please note that in your survey comments.

Desktop vs. Tablet vs. Mobile Phone

Some people ask us why we don’t have a mobile app. The simple answer is we don’t need one. The new FederalNewsRadio.com is being built as a responsive website. This means, you will see the same thing on your desktop computer that you do on your smart phone or your tablet when you come to our site, making an app unnecessary. When you’re testing our website, feel free to check out the site on your various devices. We’re interested in hearing your thoughts on how the site looks across all platforms.

Final Notes

We really appreciate your time and feedback! Our goal is to make our website as user-friendly and simple to navigate as possible. We hope you like what you see. But, if not, please tell us that as well. Take Our Survey!

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