"The set up of this new article template is that any article will display a Next Page, link group at the bottom of the text, once the article reaches 2,000 characters, and will create the break after the next paragraph or break tag is encountered,'' the e-mail says. "This change is being made for all sites, both to minimize scrolling for readers, and to generate additional ad inventory for our article pages overall. So the emphasis is on speed to get this deployed, and on setting the default behavior for all sites to enable the pagination."Can anyone confirm -- and add details? Please post replies in the comments section, below. You may also e-mail confidentially via gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com].
Sounds like the same shell game they tried when we went from "ciculation" numbers to "readership" numbers.
ReplyDeleteAnd it is the same bullshit we already pull with photo galleries. Especially in YRP and MetroMix.
Put up a page of thumbnails and let me choose which pictures I want to look at rather than forcing me to scroll through 35 pictures of fat chicks with beer cups to see the three pictures of the band that I really want to see.
And the YRP site gets 2,000,000 hits a week. That means they are doing a great job. NO - it means they have a cumbersome site.
Don't ask the customers what they think.
Dallas Morning News does it.
ReplyDeleteSlate does it.
Lots of Web sites make you jump and jump and jump. It is a real pain, especially if you're using dial-up.
look for the print icon/button. it gathers the multiple-page doc into one screen that can be read at once ... or you can print it, often without the obnoxious ads ...
ReplyDeleteI understand why they're doing this. But as a reader, I hate it as much as I hate jumps in the printed version.
ReplyDeleteIf they must do this, at least give me the option of reading the full story with one click, as the L.A. Times does.
12:13 also is correct about clicking on the print button to see a full version.
This, I think, is the kind of shit that eventually leads to complaints, and later to imposed industry standards and silly regulations.
ReplyDeleteFirefox fix: Greasemonkey and AutoPagerize.
ReplyDeleteFor the sake of making more money, I think this is a good idea. Why wouldn't this blog endorse this move. Shit, it might even save a few more heads from rolling. Think about it jerks!
ReplyDeleteIf you think the users will have problems with it, they can choose to read it in the newspaper with all those annoying ads inserted!
Oh no. Oh, please no.
ReplyDeleteThe single-page view is one of the few redeeming features (if not the only one) of this Web template.
And the "Print View" button automatically brings up the printer screen, instead of just creating a new page.
Scrolling down is a heck of a lot easier than loading a completely new page. Why are we intent on pissing off our readers?
1:07 PM
ReplyDeleteOr, readers can go to a more user friendly and less annoying site.
Or readers can read a print paper and kill a few trees, get ink on their hands, have a driver waste gas delivering it to my house and then still get hit with ad inserts!
ReplyDeleteHmmm...I would say that papers are fucking dead!!! I think the user will enjoy the website: free and environmentally clean!
Jim: Based on your recommendation, I did visit the Coloradoan website. I found the five jump story on "Hetrick" to be well researched and well written. Kudos to Trevor Hughes.
ReplyDeleteBut what is almost unbelievable, is that the same six ads appeared on every jump and every page view. Now, this is a local story, I understand... so maybe my IP address filters out the dry cleaners ads in town. I am not familiar with the "ad logic" used here.
Here are the remnant ads used in the three highlight boxes at the top and the three display boxes along the left side of the screen:
AARP Auto Insurance from Insurance in Minutes
Lose 15 lbs. in three weeks
I Beat My Wrinkles
I spent 15 minutes on the site... reading various local articles. The ads never changed.
I know that it takes effort and time to create and sell adjacencies, but wouldn't it make sense to try and sell stand-by ads based on content?
The dog show article would be linked to a pet product... The article on the housing crunch would pull up a real estate company.... and so on.
The reason the newspaper existed for advertisers was because it worked. Someone needs to get a little more creative here... the on-line version can work, too.
Scott
Scott,
ReplyDeleteMaybe the ads were targeted to YOU! Maybe you old, fat and wrinkly!
I got the same ads on the Rochester site and I am 25 and relatively thin. What gives?
ReplyDeleteWhy did it take the company until 2009 to implement this? It's long overdue. I would have liked to see something like this in the late '90s.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis is neither uncommon, nor new.
ReplyDeleteOne of the most beautiful things about reading the paper on-line is that you don't have to worry about any jumps. This stupid system is nothing but aggravation for the readers and if the advertisers are stupid enough to take it, they get what they deserve.
ReplyDeleteThe Gawker family of blogs all do this, in a way. They tease the post on the main page but force you to click to a new page to see the post in its entirety. Look, revenue has to come from somewhere, and if this make a website more appealing to advertisers, so be it.
ReplyDeleteI don't know about this technique. Half the time I view a story on our site, I get a blank box that says "advertisement" in it. What good are more ad positions going to do?
ReplyDeleteI don't think this is a bad idea. I just wonder how many stories will actually hit the magic 2,000 characters, given that they're recycled from print products with all the newshole of a postage stamp.
ReplyDeleteY'all are missin' the big picture here...they can split a story up into a thousand page views, but that doesn't mean there are ad inventories to support the site. Many sites blow threw their ads at the beginning of the month, leaving just house ads to rotate endlessly through the banners.
ReplyDeleteEveryone is just hypnotized by the page view counts, but no one dare ask: how much did we make today? The reason is it's just peanuts.
The Web side has been such a disaster that if it were a real business, it would have folded long ago.
The Washington Post site already does this.
ReplyDeleteIt might not be so bad, if the Web site didn't take an hour to load each time you click on something. I'm amazed at how every idea they come up with is worse. That takes skill.
ReplyDeletea good idea nothing sinister about this
ReplyDeleteThay have done a nice job with Photo Galleries on the site. It does have the thumb nail option and the ads seem to change.
ReplyDeleteI forgot the link to the photo gallery: http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=G2&Dato=20090211&Kategori=SPORTS&Lopenr=211002&Ref=PH
ReplyDelete