I thought the tech press would have a pretty good grasp on how to make the ‘net work for readers, particularly when it comes to overing significant events. Not so, apparently.
At the moment, Apple’s Steve Jobs is unveiling the new lineup of iPods. A number of sites are providing live coverage. I have broswer windows open for three of the powerhouse tech publishers and there are problems with all three.
Macworld, the long-running magazine and web site for all things Mac, is actually the worst of the three. Their breaking coverage is in the form of a continually rewritten newspaper-style article, which means the newest stuff is generally at the bottom of the page. Almost half-an-hour into the event, their lede is still:
Steve Jobs took the stage at San Francisco’s Moscone West expo center promptly at 10:00 AM this morning, to thunderous applause from the crowd.
Breaking news is about the information, folks, not the writing.
Over at CrunchGear, they’re doing a better job of detailing the information as it comes out, with the latest info at the top of a continually refreshing page. Sorry, not quite at the top: there’s a honking huge graphic at the top of the page. Every time the page refreshes, you have to scroll down to get to the latest update.
Breaking news is about the information, folks, not the pretty design.
Gizmdo, another of the grand-daddy tech sites, is doing the best job of the three: small bursts of text that hit the highlights, latest info at the top of the page, some photos from the event (a lot of camera shake there, though). The page doesn’t auto-refresh but hitting command-R every once in a while is a small price to pay for getting the info quickly and in an easily read format.
Nobody, it seems, really has this online reporting thing figured out, not even those folks you’d expect better from.
An aside: The iPod Touch, complete with wifi and web surfing, has touched off a serious case of techno lust at my house.
TAGS: BREAKING NEWS, REPORTING, ONLINE MEDIA, TECH REPORTING
