Technically speaking
Our thinking on the product we
publish
Send a link to a friend
[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.
[to top of second column]
|
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]
Click here to respond to the editor about this
article.
|