New website, where is it, you ask? Here’s an update.
Thank you to all who took the time to answer my survey a few weeks ago. I really got a lot of valuable information out of it, such as finding a way to denote freely available content in the Daily Digest, many readers like story maps but embedded videos and podcasts not so much, and if there are multiple articles on one subject, don’t excerpt them all but instead put links underneath.
I’ll be launching the new website soon. In the meantime, I have one last survey on website stuff along with responses to some of your comments from the previous survey.
Survey comment: If it ain’t broke …
A number of you said that you liked the website the way it is and so the new website structure will remain the same for the most part, but the look will be updated. In this age of hackers, not updating isn’t an option, and there are a lot of new capabilities that have become available since I built the website the last time (about four years ago) that I want to take advantage of.
Besides, I’m the Sarah Winchester of websites; if I stopped developing them, I would die … Tweaking my websites is absolutely the most fun thing for me to do!
Survey comment: Preferring transcripts
Someone wrote, “If you do podcasts or video, I will only ever read the transcript. If there’s no transcript, I probably won’t watch or listen.” Thank you! That is the main premise of Maven’s Notebook: the idea that transcripts of meetings and etc. is easier and faster to go through then a long webcast. Plus, it gives you meeting notes.
Survey comment: Daily Digest and News Worth Noting changes
Some of you noted that the standard images for the Daily Digest and News Worth Noting are old. I agree! New graphics all around. I have also decided to discontinue the News Worth Noting category and fold those items into the Daily Digest, and I will note when it is from a press release or whatever. Things that don’t fit the mold will be “Other News Items” and I’ll put them in the Daily Digest stream on the main page.
Differentiating different days of the Daily Digest
Another comment I received was, “I wish that all daily digests for the current week were available on the main screen” and another, “When I want to catch up after a vacation, I lose track of which digests I’ve already clicked on, because they all look so similar (and the dates are so tiny!)”
I am trying to figure out a way to solve this. I did try putting five daily digests on the front page and it made the section much too long; one of my goals in this redo is to reduce the length of the main page. I wish I could put a new awesome picture for the Daily Digest every day, but in the interest of keeping the hair on my head, I’m looking at other options. (Although it would look awesome!!)
So last week, I put the date in the Daily Digest headline; this week, I am putting the day of the week after the Daily Digest. Do any of these help? Do you have a better idea? I put this question in the survey. Let me know your preference!
By the way, on the current website, you can see the archives of all the Daily Digests by clicking on that blue arrow that’s in the right hand corner of the header box for that section. I’m not sure how obvious that is to folks, so on the new website, it will say “More … ” which will be a more explicit way to make readers aware of this feature.
Too many emails?
“Like: variety & detail of topics Dislike: the number of mailings on a few days.” Just to note, you can change your subscription to receive only one email per day, and no breaking news alerts. Just click on subscription options at the bottom of the email.
Do you have problems receiving emails from MailChimp?
I know, it’s a little like writing in an email, ‘if you didn’t’ receive the email let me know,’ but if you are having problems with receiving Daily emails or other emails, I would like to hear from you. I am considering an entirely different way of delivering the emails so I am looking for beta testers.
Too many links …
“I don’t like the multiple links (sometimes as many as 4 that take me to pages for your daily new material.” I do try to minimize this when possible, so if this is your issue, please email me with more details, or let me know in the comment box on the last question of the survey.
Last call …
This will likely be the last survey before I implement the new website, so if you have any ideas, suggestions, irritating things, or problems, please let me know.
I thank you for your input. It really does make a difference!
Click here to take the survey.
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