How The Harvard Crimson Website Is Organized

Updated

The Harvard Crimson (thecrimson.com) is organized around a horizontal navigation bar that splits the paper into News, Opinion, Arts, Blog, Magazine, Multimedia, and Sports, with the homepage below it showing the latest stories from each section, each tagged with a byline and date. Use the nav bar to jump to a section; use the homepage when you want to see what is newest across the whole paper.

The main sections

The site's own navigation lists these channels:

Section What you find there
News Campus and Cambridge reporting, including metro and University news
Opinion Columns and op-eds
Arts Arts and culture coverage
Blog Shorter, blog-style posts
Magazine The Crimson's magazine content
Multimedia Non-text formats such as video and audio
Sports Athletics coverage

The homepage presents these as a single row of links, so the fastest way to reach a section is to click its name in that bar rather than scrolling.

How the homepage is laid out

Below the navigation, the homepage is a feed of recent articles. Each item follows the same pattern: a headline, a byline in the form "By [Author Name]," and, for many stories, a short excerpt. The page also carries a dateline — for example, "Sunday, October 25 — Volume CLIII" — identifying the issue.

A representative snapshot of the front page shows the mix of coverage:

  • Sports: "Stephanie Yakoff Commits To Michigan As A Graduate Transfer" — a story on the first Harvard women's tennis player to win a match in the singles main draw of the NCAA Individual Championships, who confirmed her transfer to the University of Michigan.
  • News (local): "Cambridge Sees Historically High Science and Math MCAS Scores, But Racial and Socioeconomic Gaps Remain" — reporting on district test results presented to Cambridge Public Schools.
  • News (city): "City Council Renews Push to Make Route 1 Bus Fare-Free."
  • News (University): "Harvard's Institute of Politics Ends Off-Campus Retreats, Plans Staff-Led Trainings."
  • News (campus life): "Harvard Students Put Expanded Claude Access to Use in Classes, Personal Projects."

Opinion pieces are surfaced separately under an "Opinion" heading with a "VIEW ALL" link, so the homepage mixes straight news with a preview of commentary.

Finding a specific story

  1. Decide which section the story belongs to (sports, news, opinion, arts, etc.).
  2. Click that section in the top navigation bar.
  3. Scan headlines for the topic; the byline and date confirm you have the right piece.

If you only remember the subject and not the section, start from the homepage feed, since the most recent items from every channel appear there.

Beyond reading: other entry points

The navigation and page footer also expose non-editorial functions:

  • Newsletter — a subscription link (thecrimson.com/subscribe/) for email updates.
  • Print Delivery — information for receiving the printed paper.
  • Donate — a giving入口 for supporting the publication.
  • Programs and Tips — links for Crimson programs and for sending news tips.
  • Advertisement — the advertising entry point.

These sit alongside the editorial sections rather than inside them, so treat them as service links rather than content channels.

A quick way to think about it

The site is a section-first newspaper layout: one nav bar for channels, one homepage feed for recency, and a footer strip for subscriptions, delivery, donations, and tips. If you want a specific beat, go through the nav; if you want to browse, read down the homepage.