You’ve probably already noticed that we are inaugurating some changes today on the Delta News Web. The background color and centered text is new, as is the weather “sticker” and the way the content boxes look.
Also new today is the way we are displaying the news on the Delta News Web. It’s called a “blog.” The word blog is short for “web log”, which is a simple means of quickly putting information on the `Net. The blog containing the news is in a separate section. You can select either the specific news item you want, or read all the recent news by clicking the community news link.
Blogs offer several powerful advantages. First, they are a very simple way to publish information to the web. The interface we use is a web browser, and it can be operated with just a few minutes training. In addition to text, it’s easy to add hyperlinks, pictures, and even audio or video. Second, multiple authors can contribute to blogs. We expect to develop this aspect of the Delta Community News blog in the weeks ahead. There’s another advantage for us, and that is reduced time to bring the news onto the website.
One change you will note is that the archives will be in blog format starting with April 2006. The older archives will remain in the original format.
We’re still experimenting to get the best result on this. If it changes a bit from time to time until we get the hang of it please bear with us!
We are excited about our new calendar feature. It is quite a bit more powerful than the calendar we started with, as useful as it was. One of the best features is that individuals or organizations can obtain their own user credentials and add, edit and delete their own material.
Today there are three ways you can add events to the Community Calendar: with your own free user account, anonymously, and through the editor for a fee. These instructions are on the calendar event submit page at the bottom of most Delta News Web pages.
It’s easy to obtain your own account: just call our office (895-4919) during normal working hours (9-5 M-F) and we will set it up for you. Or you can email us: editor@deltanewsweb.com: tell us the userid and password you want to use and whether you want your email address to show on events that you post. When you post an event, it will be immediately visible on the calendar, and if you need to edit, you just click on the event, click the edit link and do what you need to do. If you have difficulties with your account, we’ll be happy to help you.
The second method is to anonymously add an event. These events are placed on hold until the editor has approved them. This could take anywhere from a few hours to perhaps three days if you post your event on Friday. The system does not allow you to edit these events. We are able to edit them for you, but we will ask a payment of $10 for each time we must edit.
The final method is to call or email the editor and ask that we post your event. We are happy to do this for you for $10 for one event or several.
After the webserver move, we are still working on some of the features of the Delta News Web. The forum is still down, and we are moving towards putting new software online for this. We are also working towards revising our advertising display system.
We hope you like the changes and find these new systems useful. We’re already working on more.
David Johnson – Publisher
