This year I’ll be working on yet another incarnation of The Daily Grail, to keep up with changes in back-end software etc. As I plan for this, I thought I’d post some polls and some posts such as this to gather feedback from readers.
To start with, I’d like to ask your thoughts on a preferred format for the front page (ie. the page that displays when you go to http://www.dailygrail.com). Back in the day, we use to have the ‘river of news’ format that remains popular at sites like Slashdot and Boing Boing (and which can still be accessed here via the ‘Grail Blog‘ link at the top of the page). More recently we changed over to presenting a summary page, trying to point out the newer and more important content on the site, so that those stories didn’t get lost in the mix as the daily deluge of news stories got posted. I’ve found there are both positives and negatives to the change: on the plus side, some stories that I think deserve extended coverage now get exactly that by staying on the front page, rather than slipping down as new items are posted. Additionally if I find it difficult to post to TDG for a few days then readers aren’t faced with a long line of ‘News Briefs’ postings and nothing else (for example, see the last 6 days). On the negative side, perhaps now those ‘lesser’ stories that don’t get featured on the front page are disappearing without most readers knowing that they exist.
So anyhow, take the time to register your preference by voting in the new poll, and add any pertinent comments that you think might help us as we go about creating the next version of the site. Certainly seems a better solution than me simply taking a guess at the best presentation.
