I've always found different journalists' blogs interesting, seeing what they choose to cover.
In the little-known case of mental_floss magazine (a witty intellectual's dream) writer Ethan Trex, his side project is a blog updated daily with pictures of fans in obscure professional athletes' jerseys, fittingly called Straight Cash Homey Dot Net.
Instead of offering a blog explaining how he comes up with articles, or for posting rumblings that aren't fit for publication yet, Trex decided to do something random that his readers (again, mostly sarcastic intellectuals) might enjoy.
From the amount of comments, I'd say he has a decent following though.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Yahoo's article viewer
When I clicked on an article on the Yahoo! front page titled "Palin fires back at critics," I was expecting a long article. When I saw that it was only one browser page long, I was thinking it was a brief they'd expound upon later.
But the four-line article ended abruptly, so I was confused until I saw the small "Read full article" button on the bottom right. When you click, it expands the article all the way down the page so you can read to the end. Otherwise, the article takes up the first window and links to similar content are right below the truncated article.
I guess this is Yahoo's way of catering to the crowd who only wants to skim the first couple paragraphs of an article and move on.
If it's new (I don't go to Yahoo for news often so they could have added it 3 years ago for all I know), it's an interesting concession to scanners and really not too much of an inconvenience to readers who want the full article. We'll see how it pans out in the visitors' minds.
But the four-line article ended abruptly, so I was confused until I saw the small "Read full article" button on the bottom right. When you click, it expands the article all the way down the page so you can read to the end. Otherwise, the article takes up the first window and links to similar content are right below the truncated article.
I guess this is Yahoo's way of catering to the crowd who only wants to skim the first couple paragraphs of an article and move on.
If it's new (I don't go to Yahoo for news often so they could have added it 3 years ago for all I know), it's an interesting concession to scanners and really not too much of an inconvenience to readers who want the full article. We'll see how it pans out in the visitors' minds.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Amendment articles
With the polls opening in less than a day, most people have in mind who they're going to vote for for president, if they vote at all. But there are other important races and issues to be decided, including six proposed amendments to the state constitution.
The Miami Herald has articles available online about each of the amendments, and Sunday ran a brief summary of each amendment. The six individual articles break down each amendment with voices of opposition and support, where applicable.
There is no multimedia coverage related to the amendments, though the only thing I think would add anything would be a "man on the street"-style video asking civilians what they
think.
The Miami Herald has articles available online about each of the amendments, and Sunday ran a brief summary of each amendment. The six individual articles break down each amendment with voices of opposition and support, where applicable.
There is no multimedia coverage related to the amendments, though the only thing I think would add anything would be a "man on the street"-style video asking civilians what they
think.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
More than your typical crossword
For those who are incredibly bored and looking for a way to lower productivity at work, USAToday.com offers a litany of games in its arcade.
You can find anything from your expected daily crossword or Sudoku to free trials of intricate online games. My favorite I saw is one called "Jammed Again," a mind game testing your ability to escape various maze-like traffic jams.
Now, this isn't online journalism per se, but when you're weary of reading 283rd election article this week, maybe it's a good feature for a site like this one to have.
You can find anything from your expected daily crossword or Sudoku to free trials of intricate online games. My favorite I saw is one called "Jammed Again," a mind game testing your ability to escape various maze-like traffic jams.
Now, this isn't online journalism per se, but when you're weary of reading 283rd election article this week, maybe it's a good feature for a site like this one to have.
USAToday.com photo galleries
The photos in USA Today are noted for being top-quality, so the photo galleries its website offers should match in presentation.
Links to the most recent photo galleries are found on the home page requiring a slight scroll down from the main window view.
Unfortunately, there is no link to a photo gallery section, but the individual galleries, including a daily "The day in pictures" gallery and other often-updated galleries are linked to.
Navigation through the Flash interface is pretty seamless, with left and right buttons alongside each photo's brief description.
There is even a reader-submitted gallery of cars, which includes hand-picked pictures that look like they easily could have been professionally shot.
A separate page with links to all the recent galleries would be useful, especially since links only remain on the home page for a day, but otherwise I enjoy the website's presentation of photos.
Links to the most recent photo galleries are found on the home page requiring a slight scroll down from the main window view.
Unfortunately, there is no link to a photo gallery section, but the individual galleries, including a daily "The day in pictures" gallery and other often-updated galleries are linked to.
Navigation through the Flash interface is pretty seamless, with left and right buttons alongside each photo's brief description.
There is even a reader-submitted gallery of cars, which includes hand-picked pictures that look like they easily could have been professionally shot.
A separate page with links to all the recent galleries would be useful, especially since links only remain on the home page for a day, but otherwise I enjoy the website's presentation of photos.
Guess I won't be going to USAToday.com for my Miami Hurricanes football coverage...
Not that a national publication like USA Today should be all over every major college football team, but the paper's website offers only one broken link to a story on yesterday's Miami-Virginia football game.
This highlights the difficulties of running a massive website like this. Keeping thousands of links active daily is a heady job, and mistakes do happen. But in cases like this, they better be fixed quickly lest the technical issues anger fickle readers into not returning.
USA Today redeems itself a little, however, with an article by Tim Reynolds about the Hurricanes' return to bowl eligibility, which vividly details the final drive in regulation Saturday.
Still, if I was a Canes fan looking through the site's already convoluted list of game recaps from Saturday and saw this non-working link, I probably wouldn't be too relieved to have to dig to find anything else Miami-related.
This highlights the difficulties of running a massive website like this. Keeping thousands of links active daily is a heady job, and mistakes do happen. But in cases like this, they better be fixed quickly lest the technical issues anger fickle readers into not returning.
USA Today redeems itself a little, however, with an article by Tim Reynolds about the Hurricanes' return to bowl eligibility, which vividly details the final drive in regulation Saturday.
Still, if I was a Canes fan looking through the site's already convoluted list of game recaps from Saturday and saw this non-working link, I probably wouldn't be too relieved to have to dig to find anything else Miami-related.
USAToday.com's interactive election coverage
USAToday.com features a small election section nestled under the main story on the home page.
Included are a presidential poll tracker, electoral vote tracker, campaign finance tracker, campaign ad tracker and debate tracker.
Although most of these special features are Flash-driven interfaces similar to what can be found on countless other media websites, two in particluar are worth noting.
The campaign finance tracker lets you see how much each candidate (or party, or independent committee) has raised, and where the money is coming from by state, amount of donation, and occupation sector of donor. There is also an in-depth explanation of accounting rules and donation guidelines at the bottom. This page is pretty interesting and shows everything in a clear interface.
Another nice feature is the campaign ad tracker. It lets you watch the ad if it's a TV spot, and breaks down the content of the ad, including any rebuttals from the other side. It also links to more USA Today coverage of the ad and offers a poll on how accurate and effective readers think the ad is. I like this coverage, alth0ugh it needs to be updated more often as it's missing several from the last month.
Included are a presidential poll tracker, electoral vote tracker, campaign finance tracker, campaign ad tracker and debate tracker.
Although most of these special features are Flash-driven interfaces similar to what can be found on countless other media websites, two in particluar are worth noting.
The campaign finance tracker lets you see how much each candidate (or party, or independent committee) has raised, and where the money is coming from by state, amount of donation, and occupation sector of donor. There is also an in-depth explanation of accounting rules and donation guidelines at the bottom. This page is pretty interesting and shows everything in a clear interface.
Another nice feature is the campaign ad tracker. It lets you watch the ad if it's a TV spot, and breaks down the content of the ad, including any rebuttals from the other side. It also links to more USA Today coverage of the ad and offers a poll on how accurate and effective readers think the ad is. I like this coverage, alth0ugh it needs to be updated more often as it's missing several from the last month.
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