Why Are Newspaper Websites So Horrible?
I actually did some freelance website development for a local newspaper website around 15 years ago. I can't speak for larger newspapers, this was my experience with a much smaller one. The biggest challenges I found were:<p>1. Lack of a real technical / engineering department. Having said that, their core business is news and they really just need a functioning website, not a full (and expensive) engineering department.<p>2. They wanted the website to "feel" more like a real newspaper, including things like incorporating custom layout, design and other elements on the website. Explaining the limitations of HTML, CSS and Javascript was a bit ... frustrating for both sides.<p>3. Too many opinions on what the website should look like. Ditto for even small features such as what the photo gallery and subscription pages should look like.<p>4. Too many feature requests, often contradicting each other. It wasn't clear who was in charge of making decisions on website changes.