Tuesday 9 September 2008

Web site A+

Updated 2.51 p.m.
Wow, the torontosun.com layout whiz kids got it 99% right this time.

The new web site launched Monday is an impressive transformation, from a cluttered and claustrophobic torontosun.com to a web site that shines like the good Sun should.

Lots of Sun red, lots of white background, a breeze to navigate and organized and categorized to the hilt. Surfing the new site is fast and inviting.

But . . .

The text font needs to be nudged up a point for easier reading.

And at 4:10 a.m. Tuesday, the lead news story, accompanied by a photo, hadn't changed since 6:38 p.m. Monday. The 3 p.m. Toronto bus stop slaying was old news at 4 a.m. - and why was it a Canadian Press story and not a Sun story? What's that all about?

(At 2:51 p.m., almost a full day later, the lead news story was still "Shot dead at bus stop" but it is now a Sun Media story, not CP. Gotta move along with news as it happens folks if you want to compete with radio and television news.)

The next three stories at 2:51 were all about the PM.

Also, isn't this awkward: "Last Updated: 8th September 2008, 6:38pm?"

Couldn't it be simplified to "Last Updated: Sept. 8, 2008, 6:38 p.m.?

Or do what Goggle news does: posted 30 minutes ago, 1 hour ago, 11 hours ago.

But it's only day one.

Meanwhile, the Your Scoop page invites readers to submit pictures, video and recordings and includes the following agreement wording:

"I hereby confirm to Canoe Inc. that I am the owner of all rights in the picture(s), videos or recordings (the "Material") that I am sending to Canoe and I am granting Canoe and its affiliated companies, a worldwide, irrevocable, royalty-free and non-exclusive license to use, reproduce, distribute, transmit, broadcast and publish that Material for any purposes, on any material form and in perpetuity. I attest that the Material is an original work and is authentic and that the shooting of this Material did not infringe any law or regulation."

No mention of Sun Media paying for said pictures, videos and recordings, so it is possible a citizen journalist with a major "scoop" will be surrendering all rights to his work for free.

That just doesn't seem right, for Sun Media or any other media outlet.

If a picture is worth a thousand words - pay for it.

3 comments:

  1. 10;42 a.m. and no update since 4:30. Before that it looks like it was just the overnight paper dump at 2:30. Yep, new website is a winner. Don't know what the brass figured when faced with the equation: no staff=no updates.

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  2. Irene goes home at 4:30

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  3. You'll find that the agreement is pretty standard fare for internet related submissions - it's the same kind of policy that most sites requesting submissions adopt.

    Also, there is a tool / option for increasing the font size. It's been there the whole time.

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