Submitted via IRC for Bytram
A few days before Hurricane Irma hit South Florida, I received a query on Twitter from a graphic designer named Eric Bailey.
"Has anyone researched news sites capability to provide low-bandwidth communication of critical info during crisis situations?" he asked.
The question was timely — two days later, CNN announced that they created a text-only version of their site with no ads or videos.
The same week, NPR began promoting its text-only site, text.npr.org on social media as a way for people with limited Internet connectivity during Hurricane Irma to receive updated information.
These text-only sites — which used to be more popular in the early days of the Internet, when networks were slower and bandwidth was at a premium – are incredibly useful, and not just during natural disasters. They load much faster, don't contain any pop-ups or ads or autoplay videos, and help people with low bandwidth or limited Internet access. They're also beneficial for people with visual impairments who use screen readers to navigate the Internet. (Related: Designing Journalism Products for Accessibility.)
Source: https://www.poynter.org/news/text-only-news-sites-are-slowly-making-comeback-heres-why
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday December 26 2017, @02:53AM (5 children)
That's kinda funny. Only kinda.
All those years ago, that's all I ever wanted. Text news sites. Video can be cool, but it's far overdone, IMO. Just gimme the damned news, let me read it. I'm old enough that I remember newsPAPERS. No video, no flashy gifs, none of that trash. Front page with bit headlines and the leadin for a story that is continued on page six, smaller headlines with leadin for stories continues on pages ten through one hundred. An editorial section, where the editor explains how evil Party A (or B) is. And, why the editor's favorite candidate should be canonized in Rome. All I ever wanted was the print page. Then there was the local news, usually starting on page 20 or so. The mayor was caught drunk driving, Main Street to be closed for repaving, a house fire on the south side. A separate section for home makers, maybe a section for gardening, the sports section, classifieds, and comics. And, all through that news paper, not a single flash application.
I know, you're asking how in hell we could even comprehend the news.
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Tuesday December 26 2017, @05:30AM (4 children)
Oh God yes...can you believe it was only about 25 years ago that we could read our news on the WWW just like on a newspaper?
When life isn't going right, go left.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Tuesday December 26 2017, @02:11PM (2 children)
There were general news on the WWW in 1992?
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Tuesday December 26 2017, @05:20PM (1 child)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_journalism [wikipedia.org]
When life isn't going right, go left.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Tuesday December 26 2017, @07:09PM
The timeline is not entirely clear on that page, but it says that the first online news on the World Wide Web was Nando. And on the Page about Nando [wikipedia.org] it says the web site was added in 1994.
Thus I conclude that in 1992 there was no general news on the WWW.
Also note that WWW != Internet (even today), and Internet != online (at least historically).
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Tuesday December 26 2017, @06:38PM
I remember in 1996, on CompuServe, I bought a program that would dial in at 4AM (non-peak hours,) auto crawl the top US, State, Local stories, sports, weather and weather map, and reformat it all offline into a framework resembling a standard newspaper, then you clicked on headlines or zoomed in/out. I forget what the program was called.
I actually still miss it, and also miss the clean text window interface of CS. And I'll make personal use of those CNN and NPR sites, as I already refuse to use the graphics-laden sites.
Thanks Soylent!
This sig for rent.