Dubai: Gulfnews.com turns another chapter today. On this date, 15 years ago, Gulf News started a mission, to reach out to its readers at any time of the day, on any day of the week, long before the newspaper boy delivered a crisp copy of the day's newspaper at your doorstep. And with that vision, on September 1, 1996, gulfnews.com came alive.
Through several reincarnations, the website has gradually evolved into a user-friendly, online community; where reporters can share stories while readers can, with the same ease, share their instant reactions.
Timeline: The evolution of gulfnews.com
From a site that once featured a single image, gulfnews.com has transformed into a multi-faceted, online platform that has opened several doors to communication for its readers. Starting with the ‘Have your Say' section in May 2006 to daily community reports, polls and readers' pictures, gulfnews.com has slowly made many, long-lasting e-friendships across borders.
Here's tracing the metamorphosis and celebrating the milestones, gulfnews.com has achieved over the last 15 years.
Abdul Hamid Ahmad, Editor-in-Chief, sheds light on what has yet to be achieved. "Gulfnews.com has a long way to go. We need to be breaking news constantly, being a media house that's a basic target that needs to be met. We have to work towards better site navigation and overall user-friendliness to make our readers browsing experience less confusing and more comfortable. Adding on content or multimedia will not work unless we fulfil this basic need, to be more user-friendly, first and foremost.
"People tend to set their browser homepage on a site where they can find the most information in one click; we can name many such sites. It is my hope that as gulfnews.com evolves, one day we will be able to win the homepage slot for most, if not all of our readers."
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Mohammed Almezel, Managing Editor, credits the cumulative Gulf News community on its growing success. "gulfnews.com is constantly searching for innovative ways to connect to our audience while aiming to be the first point of contact for our readers when news breaks. But the website has not evolved overnight; it has taken a lot of planning and constant feedback from our readers. There have been a lot of changes not simply to make the website look better but to enhance our readers overall browsing experience and connect them to their favourite content in a click.
"Over the past six months, it has been a turning point for our website as we gradually expand into social media and other media channels, including the iPad. It's a very competitive sector but we need to be on top of the game in the region, and steadily we can make our way on top globally as well. As we progress, we will continue evolving and unveiling surprises for our online readers, so stay tuned in, there's a lot more planned in the next instalment."
Patrick Masahud, Systems Editor, has been working on the website since its inception.
"It's hard to believe that it has been 15 long years since the day when I uploaded the first edition of gulfnews.ae (now gulfnews.com). Over the years, gulfnews.com has been striving to keep up with the latest designs and technology — from that very basic framework in 1996 to becoming one of the leading portals in the region. I'm proud to have been a part of the past and many more achievements, gulfnews.com will see."
Joseph Marques, Copy Editor, was a part of the Gulf News website launch team. "When we started in 1996, the internet itself was a completely new concept in the region. We used to generate html pages at that time and the process was very basic.
"At the time, several people questioned the purpose of having a website and what we are going to achieve with it. But Gulf News had a mission and a vision. The interactive, multimedia offerings of Gulf News today are the fruits of that initial plan."
Balaram Menon, Senior Web Producer, married into the Gulf News family in 1997. "When I started with Gulf News, I recall gulfnews.com simply as a single, static page that was updated every morning by the GN Library staff between 8-to-10am. We did carry several sections, like UAE, Middle East, Business, Sport and Opinion but each section was only updated with the top 5 stories of the day. There was no breaking news.
"Starting in the last quarter of 2004, we started updating the site more frequently and in 2007, gulfnews.com started live streaming of Radio 1 and 2. Shortly after, we added GNTV as our media channel. And in 2009, Gulf News introduced the concept of ‘Smart Edition' or e-paper. Over 60 per cent of our readers are now based within the region, but our readership is fast spreading across the world."
As gulfnews.com strives to keep its readers informed, while voicing issues of local and global concern, we invite our readers to step in and join the voice of gulfnews.com as we celebrate together 15 long years of knowledge sharing.
