An online newspaper its newsroom lays out on its own
Block Notes – Appunti di Contemporaneità is an Italian newspaper registered with the Court of Rome and edited by Alessio Ramaccioni: Italian and foreign politics, columns such as Living in America and AntiTesi, articles, videos and podcasts.
I designed the paper from drafts the editor approved and built it as a custom WordPress theme, so the newsroom publishes and lays out the front page without asking anyone. It has been live since 26 October 2026.
The problem
A newly registered independent newspaper needed a site that reads like a daily paper, not a blog, and that a small newsroom could run on its own: add columns, publish videos and podcasts, decide what goes on the front page.
My role
Layout and hierarchy from the drafts to the final version, a WordPress theme written from scratch without page builders, the structure of sections and columns, legal pages prepared with the editor, checks on phone and desktop, and the launch.
From drafts to a live newspaper
Front page, article, column
Designed in HTML and approved by the editor before a line of WordPress.
Only the templates a paper needs
The drafts become a custom WordPress theme: front page, article, section, column, search.
Independent from day one
Columns, sections, bylines and the front page are managed from the dashboard, no code involved.
From the newsroom’s questions
Once the first articles were in: more pieces in the centre, two per column on the right, a front page laid out with a checkbox.
26 October 2026
Legal pages, checks on phone and desktop, then the launch.
The editor decides the front page
In a newspaper hierarchy is an editorial choice, not the order of publication. I used a feature WordPress already has, “Stick to the top”: the last pinned article becomes the lead, the others take the pieces below it, and any free slot fills itself with the latest published.
No plugin and no new screens to learn: the editor lays out the front page with a checkbox. On the phone the order stays the paper’s order, the lead and the pieces first, then the latest articles.
Columns and sections the newsroom adds itself
Sections (Italia, Europa, Mondo and the rest) are WordPress categories; columns are a separate classification, each with its own description and author. The menu builds itself: sections in the order the editor gave, columns in a dropdown.
A new column appears in the menu, on the Columns page and on the front page as soon as it has an article. Since launch the newsroom has already added one, L’Istantanea, without asking me anything.
Video and podcasts without a cookie banner
Many pieces are YouTube videos or Spreaker episodes. Instead of the embedded player the page shows the cover and a button: the player loads only when you press play, and YouTube videos in privacy-enhanced mode.
Until the reader presses play the page contacts no outside service and sets no cookies: no banner on arrival, lighter pages, and a cookie policy that says exactly that.
What is live today
The newspaper
The front page, the sections and the articles, updated every day by the newsroom.
Open Block NotesThe columns
Living in America, L’Istantanea, La Perla Nera and AntiTesi, with videos and podcasts.
See the columnsThe cookie policy
Technical cookies only, written around what the site actually does.
Read the cookie policy (Italian)
Just launched: no readership numbers yet, so the proof is the newspaper itself.