Ranger staff builds new website from ground up

Illustrator Alexandra Nelipa builds the redesigned Ranger Online from scratch in WordPress July 3.

Print edition will be published on Mondays beginning Sept. 15.

Welcome to the rollout of The Ranger Online redesign, a work in progress that will offer easier access to news and information on San Antonio College and the Alamo Colleges.

The Ranger Online and a weekly print edition during spring and fall semesters are a laboratory project of students in the journalism program at this college.

The new website is being built from the ground up using WordPress web software and hosting by GoDaddy, a global firm that manages 57 million web domains.

A site created in house gives The Ranger staff greater flexibility, more learning opportunities and the ability to offer online ads targeted to readers.

The Ranger Online had been hosted by College Media Network, which offered a content management platform to hundreds of college newspapers in exchange for excusive online advertising rights.

In May, Uloop Inc. acquired College Media Network, and The Ranger staff opted not to make the transition. Instead, the staff accepted the challenge of creating a site from scratch even though journalism classes are not in session in the summer.

Illustrator Alexandra Nelipa, a communication design graduate seeking an additional associate degree in education, spearheaded the design under the direction of journalism Professor Edmund Lo. Production manager Mandy Derfler, a journalism graduate seeking additional associate degrees in communication design and photography, is in charge of transferring some 28,000 archives from the previous site.

The Ranger Online is updated frequently in fall and spring and as news warrants throughout the summer.

The print edition of The Ranger will be distributed free on Mondays beginning Sept. 15 in at least 36 locations on campus and in student centers at Northeast Lakeview, Northwest Vista, St. Philip’s and Palo Alto colleges.

Look for new, taller newstands with shelves allowing newspapers to remain available for two weeks.

The Ranger has returned to a Monday publication date because of a shift in the scheduling of classes at this college to a Monday-Wednesday and Tuesday-Thursday arrangement.

For information in advertising on The Ranger Online or the print edition, see the ad rate card on this site, email sac-ranger@alamo.edu or call 210-486-1765.