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SoylentNews
from the we're-on-the-leading-edge-of-1997 dept.
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, Informative) by Pino P on Tuesday December 26 2017, @03:03PM (1 child)
I don't see how. It's painful to read text in lines that are more than about 75 characters long because the eye ends up accidentally skipping or repeating lines.[1] So I guess "proper use" of a 1920x1080 monitor is tiling it to two 960x1080 windows: one for SoylentNews and one for the source I'm reading to back up the claim I'm making.
[1] "Readability: the Optimal Line Length" by Christian Holst [baymard.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by coolgopher on Tuesday December 26 2017, @08:49PM
If sites go to the trouble to flow text into columns of reasonable width, that's fantastic! I absolutely agree that it's more pleasant to read large chunks of text in 80-column format.
That said, for what's commonly a single paragraph, I, personally, much prefer to get the full use out of the width of my screen. With a paragraph only spanning a couple of lines, it's hard to accidentally skip to the wrong line when hitting the visual CR. It also makes it easier to scan the headlines since I have more of them on the screen.
Too many sites are obsessed with their whitespace as far as I can see. And don't get me started when they waste space on my mobile screen too - aaaaarrgh!