Technically speaking

Our thinking on the product we publish

[October 28, 2008]  Lincoln Daily News is not hosted on the most technically advanced website in the world. We don't employ the glitz and razzle-dazzle that some other websites use to get your attention or entice you to click. In fact, LDN might be considered a bit prehistoric with regard to the use of some of the high-brow automated Web design features that might make less work for our staff to bring you news six days a week.

Instead, LDN is hand-tooled every day and is a completely different publication every time we post. All our writers work hard to make sure that they are reporting the facts as they can be known and work hard to leave their own opinions out of their stories. We choose every article with caution and put in each news article by hand. We place each ad respectfully, with individual judgment and care. We diligently edit all our documents and scan our final product carefully to make sure that every link, every word, every ad and every section is the best that we can present.

We do all this for you!

Our main concern is that on a daily basis LDN is informative, educational, entertaining and relevant.

Many readers come to Lincoln Daily News for the first time and remark that our front page looks "busy." There are so many ads, pictures, links, words and buttons that until you get accustomed to our front-page layout, you might get a little lost and be a little intimidated.

The front page of Lincoln Daily News is designed to help make sense of all the things that are going on in Logan County, Ill.: people, governments, businesses and organizations offering goods and services that come alive to you in this one place.

While the front page of Lincoln Daily News is loading, you will notice that all the content for our front page comes from us. Unlike other Internet newspapers, there aren't features, links, ads or pop-ups from other foreign Internet sites to distract you, divert you or steal your information to sell you stuff you don't want. It's just all pure LDN and Logan County. Oh, and we never gather your personal information with tracking cookies or other invasive Internet techniques, so you always remain safe and anonymous as you browse LDN. Several area publications have as many as five cookies in their websites.

LDN is hosted on our own server in our own office rather than at some inexpensive website operation with pop-ups and annoying ads. Every issue, from the very start of LDN eight-plus years ago, is available in our archives for you to read and search.

Unlike the ads in a printed newspaper, most of the ads in LDN are linked to websites or information pages to tell you more about their goods and services. Hovering your mouse over an ad will give you an indication if there is a link. If the arrow changes into a hand, it tells you that the advertisement has more to offer. Clicking on these linked ads might take you to that merchant's website, e-mail address or a full-sized ad to give you more information.

We organize some of the ads for you when they contain coupons, menus and fliers. Those lists are in the yellow box on the right-hand side of the Other News section. Click on the down-arrow to expand the list, scroll down, and click on the one you want to see.

We put a lot of pictures in every issue of LDN, and most of the pictures will expand to larger images when you click on them. If you right-click on any image, you can choose to copy it to your clipboard or save it on your computer for your use.

As technicians, one of our main concerns is that each page loads quickly. If the page doesn't load in a snappy fashion, you, the readers are more likely to bail out before the page has finished loading. We design all our news pages so that they will load in a reasonable amount of time, even on the slowest dial-up Internet connection, and will POP on your screen if you have a broadband connection. In fact, the more often you read LDN, the faster our pages will load on your computer because most of our common features will be saved in your browser's cache.

Our built-in forms allow you to send condolences to the grieving families of the deceased, compile a press release of something new or interesting in your business, submit an event for your organization, send a letter to our editor, and even send in the text of your classified ad.

LDN uses Flash, Flip and even a little PHP to bring you special features and special sections such as our yearly Farm Safety Tips. We're not afraid of the high technology of the Internet, but instead reserve the use of special techniques for where and when they are appropriate and helpful.

We hope the result of our technical efforts is that every issue of LDN brings you community news and information that is readable in a format that is fresh and clean. From our family to yours, it is what we try to do every single issue.

Thanks.

[LDN]