How The Verge's New Homepage Design Splits News Two Ways

The Verge has redesigned its homepage to separate editor-picked stories from a live feed of the latest articles. The new layout uses two columns — one for curated highlights, one for breaking news — instead of mixing them together in a single stream.

Most news sites blend everything into one feed, letting algorithms or editors decide what appears first. The Verge is trying something different. The Verge describes the approach as designed "to evolve over time," meaning this is a starting point, not the final version.

What Each Column Does

The left column shows stories that The Verge's editors think matter most — the pieces worth reading and topic collections that provide context. The right column is a reverse chronological feed: everything published, newest first, with no editorial pinning or manual reordering.

This split reflects how different readers use a homepage. Some visitors want editorial judgment — they ask "what should I care about today?" Others want to know what just happened. The new design serves both at once, rather than forcing one reading pattern on everyone.

The homepage is intentionally shorter than before, giving the team room to add features without overwhelming the page.

Coming Features and Transparency

The team plans to add dark mode support and let users customize their homepage experience. The Verge is also launching a dedicated product updates page to tell users what's being built next — a transparency practice borrowed from software companies but rare among media outlets.

This approach suggests confidence that readers will accept gradual changes if they understand what's coming.

Where This Came From

This redesign builds on work that started in September 2022, when The Verge introduced Storystream — think of it as a Twitter-like feed where Verge journalists share commentary alongside links to their reporting and external stories. That feature pulls in posts from TikTok and Reddit, reflecting The Verge's strategy to pull together and explain content from across social media.

Since then, The Verge has refined the design and moved its technical infrastructure to WordPress — a choice that prioritizes speed of feature rollout over building custom systems in-house.

New Reader Features

The Verge recently launched user following, which lets readers track specific journalists and topic areas. When you follow a reporter or topic, you get a personalized feed on your homepage and a daily email digest of relevant stories.

This converts casual visitors into registered users with customized content, which helps the publication build direct relationships with readers instead of relying entirely on search engines and social media to drive traffic.

Why the Architecture Matters

Analysis: The two-column approach shows sophisticated thinking about reader behavior. Different people visit homepages with different goals in the same day. Rather than forcing everyone through the same path, the design acknowledges that one reader might want curation one moment and breaking news the next. Both options sit on the same page.

This matters beyond The Verge. The design could influence how other news sites balance breaking coverage with deeper editorial judgment. It's also a response to social platforms like Twitter and Instagram, which have trained readers to expect content tailored to their preferences rather than a standard front page for everyone.

Newsletter Strategy Expansion

Alongside the homepage changes, The Verge is growing its newsletter business. A new daily flagship newsletter is launching, along with subscriber-only options that will join existing paid newsletters Command Line (by Alex Heath) and Notepad (by Tom Warren).

The strategy converts homepage traffic into direct subscriber relationships — reducing dependence on search engines and social media, which can change their algorithms without notice.

Technical Infrastructure

Worth flagging: The move to WordPress from a custom platform reflects a broader industry shift. News organizations are consolidating around proven platforms rather than maintaining expensive, proprietary systems. This frees engineering resources to focus on features readers actually use rather than maintaining backend infrastructure.

It's a pragmatic choice that acknowledges WordPress can do the job well, and the real competitive advantage lies in editorial quality and user experience, not in owning the publishing system itself.

What This Means for Mobile and Performance

The shorter homepage could improve page load speed and mobile responsiveness — increasingly important as more readers browse on phones rather than computers. By offering multiple pathways within one page load, the design may reduce the number of visitors who land and immediately leave.

The planned customization options take this further. Instead of everyone seeing the same homepage, readers will be able to adjust their experience — choosing whether they prefer curation, live updates, or some blend of both, and whether to use dark mode or light.

In this author's view: The iterative launch approach — deliberately minimal, with a public roadmap — borrows confidence from how software companies develop products. It suggests The Verge trusts readers to accept gradual change if they understand the direction. That's different from how media outlets typically redesign, which is usually a complete overhaul launched all at once.