The "Latest News" Page

Hi Sigurd,

I notice that you've been compelled to remind people that you actually have this page. I have to confess that I have been skipping it too, but I think I know why (at least in my case).

When I load up that page the actual news item gets about 4-5 lines of space at the bottom of the screen (probably because of my old screen). Occupying pride of place just above the center screen is what I consider "old news". So I'm left with the choice of just clicking the forum link (you have a redundant link to that in your "old news" grey box I see) or having to scroll down to read the news.

Perhaps you could move things around so that the "new" news items are more visible. Or even get rid of the stuff in the grey box and bring up another notch the text size of the news item titles.

Just an idea.

DKH

Thanks

Maybe I should tweak:
http://www.xprizenews.org/index2.php
And create it as "first page".

And make the current page the "second page".

More comments are welcome

Don't mind me, but from 30 years of editorial experience I think the second page would grab more attention and get people to read the articles more.

--Ralph

As a personal preference, I would rather see a bit more of a mix of these two as my front page. Something perhaps that showed the first 2 or 3 lines of the first paragraph of the article, to give me a flavour for what the article's about. This would allow me to scan through the latest articles pretty quickly, but I think that just seeing headlines is not as likely to make me to click on them. index2.php as it is would make me more likely to go straight to the forum.

I agree with Ralph though, that the grey box at the top of the news page containing 'old news' gets in the way - maybe you could put it as a sidebar, so that the information is still near the top, but doesn't get in the way of a reader scanning the news headlines.

Thanks for all your effort though - this site is one of my regular daily stops.

~Dan

I quite like Dan's idea, it's one that reminds me of the Yahoo news page which gives you a snatch of the latest news offerings near the top.

The business about the sidebars should be revisted too ... that calendar thing on the right is nice and must have been a bit niggly to implement, but it just doesn't do anything for me. And remind me, who the heck is Wally Funk again? (I'm kidding, but this falls into the category of old old news). How long has that poll gonna lie around on the top left ...

I think the two sidebars could be combined into one and maybe that old grey box in the middle could ... um ... you know ... disappear.

Sigurd, I am a big fan of your efforts. Really big fan. The whole website is just awesome. The forums are great. If nothing changed I would still come back (near daily) to conduct an occasional hunt or (gasp) try and contribute meaningfully. Take all of the above with a hefty grain of salt.

DKH

Yesterday our site was hacked, you may have seen this message:
http://www.xprizenews.org/__forum/index.html

I hope we won't get this problem again.. It took us 4 hours to get it all back normal.

For people wondering who's Robin:
She's our sponsor, paying for the webhost.
She's also active on this forum, only she enjoys privacy with a total other "username".

I'll try to change the websites in a few months, but I have a lot of other work to do...
http://countdown.gabitasoft.com/ (when this is counted down, single player of hyperball racing (game project) has to be ready (NOT the game release itself).)

It's this one.

All secrets revealed lol

Hello, Robin,

I don't know why but after reading Sigurd's hint I guessed it's that one.':D'



Dipl.-Volkswirt (bdvb) Augustin (Political Economist)

Sigurd how about moving articles out of latest news and into a more relevent section if a thread starts to develop. That way they are easier to find if you want to catch up after a few days, the amout of news stories push them down the list, over a page or bury them within their midst.

That's a good idea!