We are wrapping up the year here at PLSN. Our gift to our readers during this festive season is an updated website that we are sure you will enjoy.
I have unwittingly found myself among the people who when bored, search for interesting online news, on my phone. And to be honest, I was a bit peeved at how the majority of these sites I was visiting were slowed down because I had to constantly navigate through banners, ads and leads to other stories. We at PLSN were just as guilty as the rest of the people in the world, because we didn’t keep up with technology.
Raising the Bar
Let’s be honest, everyone wants the latest technology. We realized we needed to stay on the top of our game. If we don’t make it easy for our readers to get the latest info quickly, it’s too easy to click on somewhere else. Like changing the channel on your TV. So we busted a move.
Our fearless publisher, Terry Lowe, called us all to attention. We started discussions on how to change the way we present the news — your news — in an orderly fashion. Our goal was to do it in a better way than anyone else. Fast and easy to find news that isn’t obstructed by banner ads and links to other stories. None of this nonsense of pecking around to find what you want to read or being directed to the wrong site. We put it all right there in front of your face. It’s too easy now. In short, we raised the bar.
Mobile Friendly
The first thing I see when I click on PLSN.com on my phone now is a feature story from last month’s hard copy with a great pic to catch your attention. The reader has five seconds to click on the story, which is easily done by just touching the headline. After these few seconds the image changes and the next story is there. But say you don’t want to read the articles because you enjoy sitting back on the couch with paper in hand. You just want the news. Simply scroll down your screen and it’s right there. All of it in order of the date posted. We just post the latest news that day on top, but it’s simple to click on the tab at the bottom that says “next” to get to yesterdays news and, well, the whole year’s worth if you wish to keep scrolling. When done with the article simply scroll down to the bottom to choose whether you want more news, articles, currently trending stories etc.
I’m actually more proud of how the site appears on my computer screen now than anything. Click on our site, I know you have it bookmarked. Fill your screen with the image and the first thing you’ll see is the latest news postings. You’re looking at 12 posts at once and can choose whatever story to read in whatever order. Scroll down and there are all of last month’s articles waiting for you to click on without any pesky scrolling or searching.
We’re glad to facilitate the masses who need to kill time at gigs and entertain themselves while traveling. It’s a digital world and we embrace it. But I still enjoy spending the weekend mornings on the couch, flipping pages on my big old hard copy. After a full year as editor I can tell you I only received one complaint about the size of our magazine and that’s because my friend Mike Swinford says the mailmen have to fold it to get in his box and it doesn’t fit in his travel bag. Many others wrote asking not to change a thing. Once again, we stick to our claim that we will keep printing our large format magazine, to paraphrase Charlton Heston, until someone rips the final copy out of our cold (living) publisher’s hands.
For Nook Schoenfeld’s introduction to the Dec. 2015 issue of PLSN, go to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd1mjbLqSYc
