Facts On File announced that they have redesigned their four popular online News Services databases to give them a colorful, consistent look and feel—and to make them even more user-friendly and easier to navigate. Facts On File’s parent company, Infobase Publishing Company, acquired assets of Facts On File News Services in August 2007.

The extensive redesign of the four News Services databases—Issues and Controversies, Issues and Controversies in American History, World News Digest, and Today’s Science—includes a new interface, greater functionality, new special features, and more. Users will recognize the familiar and trusted content of these acclaimed databases—but with a reorganization and new design that make these products even more dynamic, powerful, and a better reflection of the enormous depth and breadth of content they contain. The databases continue to be frequently updated.

“Since Facts On File and Facts On File News Services reunited, our editors and online staff have been working hard to introduce new and exciting improvements to the databases,” said Paul Conklin, Facts On File’s Director of Sales. “These redesigns make the databases much more efficient, the wealth of content more accessible than ever, the look much more elegant and user-friendly—all a great boon for students and researchers.”

Among the many new enhancements to Facts On File’s four online News Services databases are:

• Appealing New Interface and Home Pages—Among the most visible changes to the redesigned databases are the attractive, new, streamlined home pages. The thematic indexes, which are customized to each database, are now more easily accessible via the left-hand navigation area. The redesigned Featured Stories section spotlights editorially selected topics, and special features and key content listings are now highlighted in three featured “pod” areas allowing one-click access to specific content and listings.
• Citations and Persistent Record Links—Valuable tools for educators and researchers, new persistent record links are now conveniently displayed at the bottom of every story, and citations have become more prominent.
• Improved Search Features—The keyword search function and additional search options (full-text/title-only search, date-range search, and date-ordered results options) are now available in a consistent location on all screens in all databases. The new Advanced Search, accessible from any screen, allows users to access their Search History, and the Available Databases page now makes it even easier for users to cross-search all the News Services databases to which they subscribe.
• Enhanced Search Results—Search tools have been made even more effective, with improved “relevance” ranking for all search results, results ranked according to relevance by default, and improved page navigation options (previous, next, go to page #, etc.). Search results now display using convenient tabbed categories.
• Improved Navigation—The redesigned Curriculum Tools area (previously called “Resource Center”) allows direct access to the wide range of educator and student resources available within each database.