Ebony is one of the most respected African-American publication to date, but they have had issues staying relevant on the digital end. Those days are now over with a brand new Web site they relaunched yesterday.

The new redesign for Ebony.com is fresh and vibrant. Compared to the old, boring and hard to to navigate Ebony.com that has been up for years. New additions to the site include Ebony-branded topics like Blacklisted and Discuss, and features news from around the Web like many other sites are doing.

Overall the new site is more welcoming and appeals to different age groups. It has a very youthful edge, but still stays true to the original content they have delivered over the years with a new twist.

What do you think about the new Ebony.com ?

Fashionfair.com, the global cosmetics brand for women of color launched a redesign.  The website now offers an array of new features including new site tabs: What’s New, Makeup, Skincare, Brushes and Accessories.

What’s New features Behind the Collection, The Look Book, Fashion Fair Pro Team and Introducing Sam Fine.

Behind the Collection offers Fashion Fair fans video footage of guest celebrity makeup artist Derek Rutledge as he crafts the makeup looks for the Chocolate Seduction collection.

The Look Book and Fashion Fair Pro Team sections introduces “Step by Step” on-line makeup lessons from the pros on how to get the look, highlighting classic and new products while Sam Fine, new Creative Makeup Director, is introduced to Fashion Fair enthusiasts.

The Makeup, Skincare, Brushes and Accessories sections continue to serve and function as their e-commerce pages.

Check out the new site at www.fashionfair.com

Loop21.com  continues to offer insight, resources and opinions on African American issues. Their content serves to advance the debate towards Black economic progress by focusing on finance, politics and culture. Check out the new site: www.loop21.com

Essence.com has become a daily read in the fashionable, African-American woman’s life, providing content around an array of different topics that cater to their audience. To date Essence.com has 100,000 users and 21 million try-ons for Makeover Magic, its online, interactive beauty platform that allows women to upload their pictures and try different beauty styles directly from Essence.com.

Keeping in mind the fast paced digital world, Essence.com has been working towards a new site for a year and is relaunching today.  The new website showcases numerous new features that will make the reader experience even better than before.

Top of the list are social media upgrades. There are now tools for sharing on each of the articles as well as on the homepage. Going a step further, Essence.com readers are now able to become part of the conversation with a new feature called “Can’t Stop Talking” that allows readers to engage in discussion directly on the site.

Further enhancing the social media experience, Essence.com also launched the “Fierce, Fun and Fabulous Giveaway,” where users are able to win prizes from brands such as Diesel, Coach, and Avon by retweeting Essence.com’s Twitter posts.

According to Emil Wilbekin managing editor of Essence.com, other new features include a blog series with author Demetria L. Lucas, guest editing by Grammy Award winner Kelly Rowland, and two guest contributors, life coach Lisa Nichols and TV producer and author, Susan Fales-Hill.

As an extension to the redesign, Essence.com will have a major presence this year at the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans with the Essense.com Live Stage. With interactive beauty platforms such as Makeover Magic and Hot Hair Tools, the stage will bring the website to life with festival attendees.

While they can’t confirm live streaming from the festival, Essence.com will be utilizing the new site to allow the people who can’t make it to the event feel like they were there.  Visitors can stay updated on Twitter where Essence.com will be tweeting throughout the festival as well as posting pictures and video. In addition, the entire festival including performances and fashion will be filmed and posted on the site for readers to view all the activities from the event.

Users can also expect to see an exciting content sharing partnership with People.com where Essence will pitch stories, have them highlighted on People’s site and then link back to Essence.com.  Both Essence and People are 100 percent owned by Time Warner Inc.

“We are looking to partner with other sites that make sense to Essence including Interactive One, The Loop 21 and Vibe, as well as general markets such as People, InStyle and MSN who look to Essence as an intelligent voice for African-American women,” says Wilbekin.

Ever since AOL purchased  The Huffington Post and basically made Arianna the new editor of…well…everything, she hasn’t wasted anytime. In the few weeks since the merger, AOL’s Black Voices site has already released a beta version. Not one to be outdone, competitor website BET.com has also launched its beta version this week.

I took some time out to compare both the new and old versions of each site, because while their pre-beta versions were fairly similar, their beta versions are substantially different.

A a before and after screenshot of AOL Black Voices below:

The first that I noticed about the new site is the dramatic increase in white space. I could tell that the designer was going for a cleaner look with less ads and more content. There is also an increase in the visibility of their writers. The old site only used linked bylines. The new site displays a headshot along with the articles in the “Voices and Opinion” section and allows users to “follow” them (that’s what the little red plus button is for). In terms of content, everything is almost identical except for the elimination of the “Money” section and “Blogs” section of the site.

Despite the clean look, I found this beta version extremely underwhelming aesthetically. The old site looked like it was designed specifically for BV. The beta site, on the other hand, looks a little “template-y” and I have a feeling that this move was done to make the site look more like more urban gossip websites. From the painfully ordinary looking homepage slideshow (the old one was WAY better) to the horrific grey background, the entire thing just seems like a ploy to fit in. Overall, they should have kept originally slideshow, ads and background and just added the headshots on the homepage.

Unlike Black Voices, which only made a few minor tweaks, BET.com made a significant departure from their original look. A before and after screenshot below:

The new BET.com website is a huge scaleback from its older version. While the old site allows for dominant feature stories, the beta site places equal visual weight on its shows, celebrities, music and news.  Most sections from the old site were eliminated and it looks as though they are shifting their focus away from music gossip and back to information about their programming along with a few pictures.

Although I applaud BET’s decision to seperate itself from trillions of gossip blogs, I am not a fan at all of the new look. There is no visual hierarchy to the site. And having three different slideshows running asynchronously on the page is a bit much. I was also extremely surprised that the center of the page below the logo is an ad, rather than content. The beta version isn’t terrible, but right now it doesn’t have any visual focus which may turn off a lot of readers.

Overall, both sites tried their best, but both beta versions need a substantial amount of work if they plan to keep their audiences.

Over the last few weeks, we’ve posted video on the site showcasing discussions with different people on how the NAACP can maintain its relevancy with the next generation. From President Benjamin Jealous to Color of Change Founder James Rucker it was agreed that new media must be implemented into their organization’s branding strategy. To that end, the NAACP has gone back to the drawing board and revised their new media strategy, starting with a site redesign.

If you’ve ever been to the current version of the NAACP website, you’ll find that while chock full of information, it’s often hard to find, hidden within page upon page. Another drawback was the lack of multimedia. After gaining momentum with its historical timeline website, the NAACP has improved upon this and much more. The redesign has been underway since January and is set to launch this Monday just in time for the National Convention in July. Black Web 2.0 got a sneak peak at the NAACP’s new digital face.

Upon arriving to the homepage, the user is greeted with the familiar blue and yellow color scheme that are the organizations colors. There is a large alert that rotates between pictures. Clicking on a photo takes you to a designated part of the site. The overall appearance is cleaner and less crowded that the old site. The pictures are large and vibrant encouraging users to take a closer look. As a membership-driven organization, it is vital that the ability to join or donate to the NAACP is as accessible as possible. To that end, there are three buttons on the right hand side of the large alert nestled in the Get Involved Block inviting visitors to join, donate, or find a local branch on the organization. The Get Involved Block is displayed prominently on all subsquent pages so the information is always a mouse click away.

Scrolling down on the homepage leads to six blocks that list the most current news for each department. Each block has enough space to live which doesn’t make the eye do unnecessary work. According to Curtis Johnson, Communication Associate for the NAACP, switching out articles, press releases, and blog posts on the back end of the site is very easy. A few clicks of a button and it’s done. Speaking of the back end, the site is running of an OS created by Blue State Digital.

Clicking on one of the tabs in the nav bar located above the rotating large alert, takes you deeper into the site. In the Advocacy tab, users can access news, information about the director of the department, as well as ongoing programs. The resources section is a little bland right now, featuring a list of links, but I was told that we can expect a richer experience as the site rolls out.

As far as interactivity and multimedia there could be more, the parts I saw left me wanting more in a good way. The historical timeline still exists and is a fun piece of edutainment. Another cool feature I was able to preview was an interactive map that displayed NAACP events when my mouse scrolled over the orange markers located on the map. For example, somewhere in Jersey this Saturday a local NAACP branch will be throwing a pancake breakfast. One feature that I’m really interested to see is an upcoming app that will allow NAACP to report police misconduct in their areas. I’m not sure if this will load into the map I saw or be integrated into another upcoming feature, but it’s an interesting premise.

Overall, the site redesign is a huge improvement over the old site. Be sure to check it out when it goes live this Monday.

If you haven’t visited tvoneonline.com recently, it is time for you to revisit the site as it has a new look. The focus is now on News, Videos, Shows and the networks current schedule. When we first look at the shows that TV One the network has the rights to, there is a substantial list. The shows range from the popular Jeffersons, Sanford & Son and A Different World to other shows which are not as popular such as $ingletary $ays,  Full Plate, and Wet Paint. On the Tvoneonline.com website, the maximum time length for a clip from one of their shows is one to two minutes maximum. There is a missed opportunity here where they could broadcast entire episodes of certain shows (especially the TV One original programming) and gain longer user engagement time on their site and possibly even increased visitors.

The video portion of the website has twenty classic videos from shows of the past (The Richard Pryor Show, The Flip Wilson Show are two examples) and present (Lincoln Heights). These videos are no longer than two minutes but do offer some classic bits from some noteworthy African American Shows. A nice touch is the fact that you are allowed to embed any of these clips on your own website or blog, on most sites with video content this type of functionality is a given.  The News section of the website is pretty straightforward with news that is directly related to African American culture. Most of the news is slanted towards celebrities and gossip.

My favorite part of the site is the section that is centered around “Turn up the Heat” with G. Garvin. There are over 75 recipes for a variety of different types of food that were featured in each episode. These recipes range from Baby Back Ribs to Alaskan Halibut to Rice Pudding. This is a good example of using the content owned by TV One on their website to maximize user engagement. For aspiring chefs or just people who are looking for a new way to prepare a meal, this is a gold mine of culinary resources.

The new look by TvOneonline.com is a good start. In the future there should be a focus on making more video content available including more substantial clips of videos. The Washington Watch segment with Roland Martin would be the perfect segment to include the entire show on the TVOneonline.com website. Take a look around the newly redesigned TVOneonline website and share your thoughts.

Disqus and JS-Kit both recently made major updates to their commenting systems, bringing them into the world of realtime. Not only can you see new comments show up immediately, but both also aggregate comments from across the social web. So, what’s the difference between the two? Why would you choose either?

Disqus has actually split into two separate but complimentary services. Disqus Comments and Disqus Profile. Disqus Comments is the popular commenting solution that the company is well known for. If you’re already a Disqus user, you don’t have to do anything special to activate the latest features. Simply change to the new default theme Narcissus. Besides all the standard features your used to, comments update in realtime. Under your real comments, you’ll find the social reactions from people across the social media world who have talked about your post. The reactions are powered by uberVU.com and Backtype.com. According to their blog, the new Disqus also includes:

• New moderation panel. We started from scratch to make it the best way to moderate both large and small volumes of comments. Partially inspired by an email inbox, it was built to cut down on the amount of time spent on moderation.
• Improved automated tools, including a new spam filter and new ways to combat abusive language in comments.
• Other improved moderation tools such as multi-site moderation, multiple moderators, blacklists and whitelists.
• New theme customization options, such as the ability to set default avatar pictures for your site. These features are meant to give you better integration with your site.

Disqus Profile is a way for commentators to control their comments. The new Disqus will actually go out and find comments that may be yours so that you can claim them. Other features include:

• Vanity URLs. You can now access your public profile by going to disqus.com/{your username}
• Enable the option to automatically share your comments on Facebook, Twitter, and other services.
• Full shared control with publishers. You have the ability to edit and delete comments without impacting the site that the comment is on.

Disqus and JS-Kit are different products with different goals. While Disqus seems to be focused on the actual comments and commentators, JS-Kit seems to be more about generating buzz for the actual content creator. We here at Black Web 2.0 have chosen JS-Kit, but which system you choose depends on exactly what you’re trying to do.

What service handles your comments?

Nokware talked last month about Honey Magazine’s latest incarnation as a web-only publication with a substantial $10 million investment behind it. The site recently went live and is currently in beta.

The new Honey Magazine site design shuns the familiar brown and orange of previous site designs and went for an edgier, darker look with various shades of magenta and selected grunge elements used throughout. Honey’s affiliated social networking components are more prominent on this new site, with login information prominently displayed and integrated in a few places. Commenting on any of the articles or blog entries requires you to register for “The Hive”, the new name of the HiveSpot.com integration. There is the ability to “share” articles, create user profiles, and join different content groups as well.

One major oversight I caught while navigating through the site is that none of it can be syndicated. For blogs particularly, I looked for an RSS feed, but none were available. I also couldn’t discern the benefit of “sharing” the content since a) you had to be a registered member of the site, and b) the articles aren’t set up to link to other social networks (Facebook, MySpace, Delicious, etc.). The footer links were all broken when I visited the site, and the right sidebar modules don’t offer a clear demarcation between categories upon first glance (the latest activity module, for example, lets you toggle between groups and blogs, but it’s hard to tell which is the active content tab). Even the link to give feedback, which is only on one page of the site), doesn’t jump out at you immediately, which could confuse users. The front page also mixes plain text with graphical text which makes the site less dynamic and accessible. There’s also no mobile version like I know in the last Honey Magazine post suggested they should have.

Overall the site is a definite visual departure from the tried and true Honey Magazine style. What do you think?

Sister 2 Sister magazine, a black entertainment and celebrity lifestyle magazine that targets black women, recently relaunched its website using the drupal platform. Drupal is a great out of the box open-source solution for building communities and blog networks, that’s if you have a developer that knows how to customize it.

I was excited to see the new site and explore what it had to offer. So let’s start with the good. One of the first things I noticed was the ease of navigation. I didn’t get lost and it was easy to find my way back to the home page. The color scheme — particularly its bright blue background — was unsettleing at first, but it has grown on me. Overall, the design was a departure from the run-of-the-mill, and I was happy to see that they stayed away from many of the Web 2.0 design trends.

The site also features a nice blend of content. They cover a little bit of everything, with a main focus on celebrities. And they have even customized their own video player. Even though I am an advocate of using services like YouTube so that people can find your content via other means, it still makes sense for the site.

Now here’s the stuff that’s not so good. The fist thing I noticed when I visited the site was that the header image needs to be cleaned up. There is a gray area behind it that really takes away from the overall aesthetic of the page. I think that whoever made the image forgot to turn off the background layer in Photoshop when they saved it. Also, the image is rather large, with a bunch of blank space. With the search bar being in there it isn’t big enough for a 728×90 ad unit so I’m not sure what the justification for it is.

Another thing I noticed was the featured content module with its gray sort nav that is displayed at the top of the page with the title overlays on feature images. It isn’t completely stylized and the red button and the text don’t go with the rest of the site theme, at all. Besides it sort of does more than just overlay the photos — it completely covers about half of the photo. It kind of sticks out like a sore thumb, which isn’t good because it isn’t completely functional. When you click on the story links from the side bar, they don’t go anywhere. They just bring the story up to the main module window. That is one click too many to get to the actual story for me.

The next issue was with the Jamie’s Kitchen section of the site that features video. While I enjoyed the videos, they are all on the same page rather than individual pages with their own comment sections. It just isn’t the most user friendly experience, plus, videos on multiple pages = more page views.

There were a few other small things, like the break where the breadcrumbs are and the color choice there making things get lost, and the lack of ad space, but, overall, I think they are off to a good start. They have a few things that need to be fixed, but once those are done, the site has the potential to be a nice supplement to their print offering. They have lots of good multimedia content and an e-commerce offering, though I’m not sure what they’re going to sell as it is empty right now. But I’ll check back regularly to watch their progress.