Although the question of design and functionality of our respective news organization websites was raised to my Online Journalism class as early as March 4, I quickly decided that this was a question I wanted to save.

I have been examining the New York Times Online all semester now, and while researching the varying elements of this website, I also learned quite a bit about its general usability.

In short, with each factor I researched, I was slowly learning the answer to this very question.

The first time I visited the website in this capacity, I was examining its use of video. I immediately noticed the way a seemingly endless amount of content was effectively organized into a manageable hierarchy.

When I examined the blogging aspect of the publication, I noted how organized and easily accessible content was made to be.

Organization was something I recognized consistently. When examining the site’s use of photography, I was impressed by the unique way this element was used in a storytelling capacity. Whether readers are looking for poignant documentation of the day, the week, the year, or even the decade, content is organized in a way that they can always get what they want.

While examining the site’s unique web features, I learned of several new ways they have been sharing the news, such as TimesPeople and Times Skimmer. These, in addition to other applications like TimesReader and NYT Editor’s Choice, which I discovered while examining the use of distribution channels, illustrate one of this publication’s greatest assets. This lies in the variety of ways content can be consumed. Because of this, there is no one design for this publication. Rather, users are free to choose whichever one they like.

This was continually reinforced, each time I visited the publication’s website, whether I was doing research for the rest of my blogging, or simply catching up on the news.

My conclusion? There is a reason the New York Times is so successful.

“All the News that’s Fit to Print.” That’s what they promise.

And they deliver. In any way we want.