I want your life to be as easy as possible, since you are providing a great service.
My favorite style of newsletter is "Windows Secrets", where you can choose to receive the whole html newsletter via e-mail. This is probably too costly or time intensive, or both.
The "Ask-Leo" style of sending teasers of all of the stories, with links to the whole stories, is slightly more "painful" to access, but is doable.
If a blog is organized similarly to the current online newsletter, and clicking a link in an e-mail gets me to it, that can work well for me.
If there are too many steps required to access the information, and/or if there is a lot of scrolling, and many pages to weed through to get to the information, it will discourage me from continuing to visit the newsletter.
Do you have an example of what you are proposing that I could check out?
Thanks for all of your good work.
Rex
[quote:30mn8iie]My favorite style of newsletter is "Windows Secrets", where you can choose to receive the whole html newsletter via e-mail. This is probably too costly or time intensive, or both.
The "Ask-Leo" style of sending teasers of all of the stories, with links to the whole stories, is slightly more "painful" to access, but is doable.[/quote:30mn8iie]
Hey Rex - Ironically, I see it the other way round. I'd rather receive just the headlines and a brief pr
Go for it Dave - a blog makes the job a lot easier for you but still gives us the info we want. Please don't become a Facebook clone.
Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm. (Winston Churchill)
Wow, plenty of encouraging comments!
I see social media mentioned consistently throughout the thread, so let me address that in an upfront and honest manner!
In this day and age we can not ignore the importance of the social networking sites. Our goal is to reach as many eyes as possible and one of the most effective methods today is through social media. As a matter of fact, every newsletter and almost every page on the main site contains a share link which allows anyone to share the content with others through various means, and has for a long time. I do plan for the new site/blog/content management system to have similar functionality in the same low key/out of the way fashion. Maybe a Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ button at the bottom of posts, but nothing that will draw a user away from the content. I really hate when you visit a site and this big "thing" flies into the screen and blocks the whole thing. It's even more annoying when you are a regular visitor and it does it each time you visit, so there won't be anything like that!
Facebook, or any other social site, will have no direct link with DCT so they will have no access to your viewing habits or data. The only time one of these planned buttons will do ANYTHING is if a visitor clicks the button. A click will allow the user to share the page link of the current page only with their friends/followers on the site belonging to the link they clicked. Even at that point nothing is done until the user completes the process and then only a URL is passed to the site, which is only visible to those who you allow to see.
I hope I read the posts correctly and replied accordingly. If not, let me know. Heck, let me know if the above explanation helps you understand the reasoning and process, or whether you want to tar and feather me!
I should also mention that once this whole thing goes live I do envision newsletters to be more along the line of snippets instead of the full content. The reason is I believe that function can be automated, whereas a full newsletter would put me in the same boat I'm in now - having to format each and every item before it can be sent. It has nothing to do with preference, only simplicity.
If it is a Website and not a Social website like Facebook or Twitter, I think it would be a great idea. Especially since it would be a better Format for you to keep us informed.
[size=120:3ljg49cb]Okay guys, let us put it in plainer terms: DCT will definitely [b:3ljg49cb]NOT[/b:3ljg49cb] become a social site, not even remotely similar to Facebook, Twitter and co. The content and characteristics of the site shall remain true to Daves Computer Tips objectives and pretty much identical to what they are now.
[/size:3ljg49cb]
[quote:3ljg49cb]I should also mention that once this whole thing goes live I do envision newsletters to be more along the line of snippets instead of the full content
It has nothing to do with preference, only simplicity.[/quote:3ljg49cb]
Dave is far too modest to expand on that any further so, hopefully without boring you, here is one of the main reasons:
All the newsletter content you view is actually compiled in HTML, the language of the web. As it stands now; the articles need to be converted to HTML and then published to the site. That chore is labour intensive and the onus is largely on Dave. We cannot all help share the workload and it places huge demands on Dave's time
On the other hand, because a blog format accepts text, we would all be able to publish articles directly ourselves and alleviate a lot of Dave's workload. Plus, because we would not be reliant on Dave's busy schedule and the associated time constraints, we shall be able to post articles at any time.
What this will all mean for you, the members, is generally increased content; more frequent articles and more up-to-date news and commentary.
It sounds like the added flexibility would be good for everyone.
From the publishers' point of view you would be free to "editorialize" on those subjects that appeal to you most. From the readers' point of view, we would certainly benefit from have a brighter light shone on important issues.
[quote:1r74lhgc]It sounds like the added flexibility would be good for everyone[/quote:1r74lhgc]
"Added flexibility".....you said it in a nutshell Tom.
Spot on mate!!
Whatever you guys want to do to make it easier for you is good with me. I subscribe to so many different newsletters anyway and it seems that they're all similar, but different. I am adaptable. Don't mind change in the least, so go for it!
Sure go for the new format, it is your publication.
Since you have cleared up the social sites format question, I hope you avoid my other pet peeve with online content. Too many sites let automation split articles into multiple pages. Too often, the second page is just a short stub. Yes I know it is to encourage clicking on advertising, but it is a PITA.
The proposed move to a blog sounds great. My feeling is that you should proceed. The all-round benefits seem to be sound and reasonable.
Sounds like you have come up with a more efficient and flexible system that would work out well but please no social sites.
Hi,
IF its easier----------Just do it. QED Cheers GerryH
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