Organizations involved in creating news sources on the World Wide
Web struggle with
many of the same issues that have challenged
traditional information
presentation formats.
In addition
to the difficulties print media face, placing news online introduces new and
sometimes severe
limitations for both the reader and the producer. These limitations include
inconsistent interfaces
among users, physical comfort issues, and a reduced amount of real estate to
be used for
information. The lessons learned in researching newspaper readership and
story penetration should
be considered when designing for the online format, as should established
structural principles.
This
article looks at online news delivery
within the constructs of traditional
newspaper and interface
design and feedback issues. It concludes with suggestions for better
generation and projection of
news online, using dimensional representation among other organizational
methodologies.
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Newspapers join Web sites of other media outlets, advertisers,
special-interest groups, freelancers
of all forms, students, mail-order companies, cottage industries, television
jingles,
and more information than a evolving culture could possibly use. Yet despite
the potential for
combining strengths of the Web--including the ability to update frequently,
to place sound and video
next to text, and to make connections between stories and other sites--
newspaper sites generally fit
in among the less advanced offerings of the Web. In addition, the ease with
which readers can use a
newspaper's interface is not transferred to the online environment.
"Is the World Wide Web the Fourth
Media, a technology positioned to take
its place with the big
three--print, radio, and television--as a mass-market means of
communications?" asked Internet
World publisher Paul Bonington in his April 1995 column. "It's hard to
create an argument against it.
The Web has all of the social, technical, and economic fundamentals which
could help it achieve this
prominence," Bonington answered. And news on the World Wide Web offers an
opportunity to
take what newspapers have learned about packaging, presentation, and the
mechanics of readership
and apply it to
an evolving format.
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