  Ray1936 Member Username: Ray1936 Post Number: 2776 Registered: 01-2005 |
Any comments about the new setup for The Free Press' web site? I think it's pretty clean, easy to navigate. Much better than the old page. | ||
Rhymeswithrawk Member Username: Rhymeswithrawk Post Number: 1137 Registered: 11-2005 |
https://www.atdetroit.net/forum/mes sages/5/128732.html?1203382183 | ||
Ray1936 Member Username: Ray1936 Post Number: 2777 Registered: 01-2005 |
Thanks, rawk....looked for a thread and blew it. | ||
Brightpavilions Member Username: Brightpavilions Post Number: 7 Registered: 05-2005 |
Are they going to re-design it ever year? It is an improvement I suppose. Navigation resembles the News redesign. Though the design of either of the dailies leaves much to be desired. Print and web. | ||
Drankin21 Member Username: Drankin21 Post Number: 183 Registered: 12-2003 |
I like it a lot | ||
Dhugger Member Username: Dhugger Post Number: 403 Registered: 03-2005 |
Works for me. I get some moderate local coverage and I don't have to leave the house, waste the paper, or pay for it. | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 5327 Registered: 10-2004 |
I hated the older Freep's layout, which was probably why I hit the DetNews first--unless there was something I specifically wanted in the Freep. The Recommendation option for their stories and comments is a nice feature too. Perhaps, that might cut down the large amount of "Me, too" comments and cut down my time and effort. | ||
Fishtoes2000 Member Username: Fishtoes2000 Post Number: 422 Registered: 06-2005 |
Here's a Detroit News page someone forget to finish. It's embarrassing getting caught with your Lorem ipsum showing. http://www.detnews.com/apps/pb cs.dll/section?Category=SPORTS 06 | ||
Ltorivia485 Member Username: Ltorivia485 Post Number: 2983 Registered: 08-2004 |
I find the new Freep beta version to be somewhat cluttered. I like the more spacious and clean look. | ||
Vetalalumni Member Username: Vetalalumni Post Number: 957 Registered: 05-2007 |
Fishtoes2000, interesting discovery. SPORTS06 (and SPORTS02 etc...) look like testing and development, whereas SPORTS is for public consumption. SPORTS06 inadvertantly pushed to production? | ||
Fishtoes2000 Member Username: Fishtoes2000 Post Number: 423 Registered: 06-2005 |
What did I win? ;) SPORTS06 is/was their outdoor sports page. I had it bookmarked. I took a quick look and don't see it in the menu any longer. However, it still gets stories assigned to it. I think it's just a big oversight. You shouldn't let your old URLs waste away, especially those with a decent Google Page Rank. | ||
Vetalalumni Member Username: Vetalalumni Post Number: 958 Registered: 05-2007 |
Possibly SPORTS06 was not deleted from production after deprecation. These housekeeping issues are not rare if left to manual intervention. Automated tools can be periodically tasked to discover and remove such pages. On the other hand, generated pages (shtml etc...) will continue being (re)generated until removed from the generating algorithms (and content tables). Redirection and database-driven techniques can help avoid problems. Bottom line - the onus is on the software developer(s) to fully understand the design of the system. | ||
Fishtoes2000 Member Username: Fishtoes2000 Post Number: 424 Registered: 06-2005 |
Google knows of three such pages on the Detroit News site (http://tinyurl.com/23sdts) but none on the Freep. Sorry all for the tangent and the lack of a nerd alert (as my girlfriend would call it.)  | ||
Renfirst Member Username: Renfirst Post Number: 185 Registered: 12-2006 |
The newspaper business model is in dire need of a change... it's somewhat odd to me that a company would give its product away, and actually work to make it more appealing... | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 5333 Registered: 10-2004 |
It the advertisers who pay the freight. The circulation costs sometimes cost more than the charge for buying the paper. The Capital Times in Madison was said to be the first daily US paper to go strictly online in a few weeks. It'll just be a free Internet issue. Its motto is "Wisconsin's Progressive Newspaper." It's a socialist rag that lost out--even while located in the People's Republic of Madison. | ||
Charlottepaul Member Username: Charlottepaul Post Number: 2335 Registered: 10-2006 |
I almost feel as if I am reading Latin (WTF!?): http://www.detnews.com/apps/pb cs.dll/article?AID=/20071003/T EST/710030460/1042/LIFESTYLE05 | ||
Jimaz Member Username: Jimaz Post Number: 4629 Registered: 12-2005 |
Lorem ipsum | ||
Charlottepaul Member Username: Charlottepaul Post Number: 2341 Registered: 10-2006 |
LOL. Thanks! Guess one learns something new everyday... | ||
Jimaz Member Username: Jimaz Post Number: 4634 Registered: 12-2005 |
Charlottepaul, you're very welcome. I only knew that because my father was a printer. Printers learn all kinds of obscure things because they have to read so much of what they print. The etaoin_shrdlu link on that page is interesting too. | ||
Oldredfordette Member Username: Oldredfordette Post Number: 3967 Registered: 02-2004 |
Where was your father a printer, Jimaz? I found a whole flat of old company logos, in lead in a frame last week at RO farmers market but it was too expensive. | ||
Oldredfordette Member Username: Oldredfordette Post Number: 3968 Registered: 02-2004 |
The newspaper itself has almost always been a loss leader.You're the product, after all. The News will probably be online only soon (or the Free Press, not a ton of difference any more) as soon as they can get around that pesky JOA. | ||
Jimaz Member Username: Jimaz Post Number: 4636 Registered: 12-2005 |
Oldredfordette, he owned his own home-based printshop but it was no small operation. I think he just called it "Jim Moore" (his name). The press was in our unheated garage for a while then in the basement so we could operate through the winter. Memories include the smell of linseed oil and gasoline and the sound of the ink disk ratchet clanking with each impression. He taught us the trade. He bequeathed to me the last line of type he ever set: "There's no fun like work." I carefully preserved it, as presented, still in the stick. The business actually became too successful and he had trouble turning away customers. But that's another story. (Message edited by Jimaz on February 24, 2008) | ||
Pffft Member Username: Pffft Post Number: 1462 Registered: 12-2003 |
The printing presses are in place and running, so printing just one paper instead of two is not going to save enough money to be a viable option. Plus there's a divide, Freep subscribers who won't subscribe to the News, News subscribers who won't pony up for the Freep. Those subscribers would just go away. There's no economic reason to run one paper online only. | ||
Oldredfordette Member Username: Oldredfordette Post Number: 3970 Registered: 02-2004 |
I honestly don't want to beat a dead horse here, but did you notice they took the word newspapers out of the company name? They print as many non-newspaper items as they print dailies. I wish it was going to be different but I don't think so. | ||
Pffft Member Username: Pffft Post Number: 1463 Registered: 12-2003 |
The morons who decide those things (taking 'newspapers' out of the company name for the business agent for the News and Free Press)probably thought it sounded "21st century," not tied to the old presses. They've pretty much been wrong on everything so far. Another factor in print's survival is that they've discovered advertisers don't want a web-only product, they insist on a package of print ads along with the web ones, so customers can sit and gaze at their ads for days. | ||
Oldredfordette Member Username: Oldredfordette Post Number: 3972 Registered: 02-2004 |
Have you counted the ads in the paper lately? | ||
Pffft Member Username: Pffft Post Number: 1464 Registered: 12-2003 |
Which is exactly why they want to give the advertisers what they want. The "web only" rumor surfaces every six months. If the economics made sense to print only one paper, they'd do it, but there's no advantage to doing that. | ||
Oldredfordette Member Username: Oldredfordette Post Number: 3975 Registered: 02-2004 |
The JOA stops it. |
