June 6th, 2007
12:04 PM ET
Being a good web citizen


CNN.com's core mission is to provide you with timely and accurate access to news and information. And as David mentioned in his post, we do this well. But we also understand that there are a lot of places for you to get news and information online, so we want to make sure we are "being a good web citizen." This concept is based on the notion that it is beneficial for all if we make it easy for you to find the most relevant content that suits your needs, even if it is outside of CNN.com.

A prime example of this is local news. You told us you wanted it, but we weren't really set up to deliver it you the way you need. So we've teamed up with some companies, including Internet Broadcasting, who specialize in this sort of thing to help us meet your needs. So now all you have to do is type in your zip code and CNN.com will give you information about what's happening in your neck of the woods – and, more importantly, from sources in your neck of the woods.

Another strong example of how we're striving to be a good web citizen is our new "From the Blogs" feature. You can see what bloggers outside of CNN.com are saying about a given story or topic. It's very interesting to see what's being blogged about, and in the interest of being a good web citizen it's critical to bring in the different points of view expressed in the blogosphere – and, of course, it's fun to join the conversation.

This idea was a little scary at first... after all, we should want to keep people on CNN.com, right? But by being a good web citizen, we fulfill our core mission by doing whatever it takes to help you get the full story – even if it takes you away from CNN.com. If we do that well, we believe you'll keep coming back. So stay tuned because we'll soon introduce even more ways to embrace the full power of information on the web.

Posted by: Dermot Waters - Head of Product Development
Filed under: Beta • Webcitizen


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Displaying 9 Comments | Add comment
1
June 7th, 2007
11:22 pm ET
 

I think the present website looks vibrant in terms of color. The Beta Cnn.com is lacking the color by menus. The layout is nice but color choice is cold,

Posted by: bash
2
June 13th, 2007
2:33 am ET
 

Hello , not sure where to write out what I feel about CNN. I always have had great respect for CNN, as I thought about it as one of the most prestigious channels and unbiased channels. The other one was BBC.
But sadly CNN has sold out. Your news coverage is only about the "hottest" news, not the meaningful news, its all about media attention, not about creating awareness. You try to make your article titles catchy, but the title never reflects the true story. BBC is still true to core and provides unbias information to its viewers. Hopefully you all will see the post and understand why I am writing what I am writings.
I do like your other information areas, like Health, Money , Travel etc. But I do not feel like I get the adequate view into the world with the news you provide us. What's the difference between you and FOX? Are we not in league of BBC anymore?

Posted by: P Shah
3
June 15th, 2007
2:03 am ET
 

Nice job on the new format. I would recommend a module listing all blogs available for review and posting to be put on your main page.

Posted by: Chris
4
June 16th, 2007
6:02 pm ET
 

Hello CNN – Your new design is good in appearance. Glad to see you're allowing more read vs. view choices. Quite often the video wasn't present or was very slow.

I have a prpblem though – once I choose a story from the home page, the subsequent page is offset to the right and even when I'm scrolled as far left as possible part of the left side of the page is not visible. Now I do now that computer problems can come from many sources, but NO changes have been made to my PC – no hardware, softward or preference settings. This is REALLY annoying. See what you can do. TIA.

Posted by: P Holman
5
June 16th, 2007
8:31 pm ET
 

One thing that disappoints me about the new CNN beta is the apparent lack of reasonable consideration for accessibility. A poor-sighted individual might try to increase the font size via their browser controls, but your website doesn't respond, at least in Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 (you should be using percentages or EMs for font size, not locking it by point or other means). You should also implement "accesskeys" for your most used hyperlinks (such as Home, Contact, etc). then people with physical disabilities can use ALT+number+ENTER to go through the link. You should follow the W3C Guidelines for Accessibility, at least Priorities 1 and 2, and be really diligent about it. Are there transcipts from your videos so the deaf can read what others hear? Or are they using described video? Do you have a statement regarding Accessibility somewhere?

KEv

Posted by: Kevin Burke
6
June 18th, 2007
3:02 am ET
 

I was also wondering whether you were designing to the W3C standards...after all the research I've conducted since Febuary about "all things new about the Internet," I now know that Web 2.0 is not only about including as much of a "mosaic" (as you term it) as possible, but also creating a more socially-friendly and language-friendly site as well. This means not only offering RSS feeds and social networking chicklets, but also coding the language in UTF-8, the binary language code that allows anyone around the globe to view content in their language of choice.

Posted by: Janet
7
June 18th, 2007
7:53 pm ET
 

I think you are clogging the blog with too much verbage. Shortenent up your comments, 3 paragraphs to say something so simple just clogs the blog. Also i cannot access your videos, and the font size is too too too small, I am almost 70 and the strain on my eyes is just too much.

Posted by: ray cwikowski
8
June 25th, 2007
8:44 pm ET
 

I agree with other observers that the video often does not come up when clicked. When it does come up, the speakers face and lips are often out of sync. with the audio, or in one case, not moving at all. Often, I would rather read a story than see the video and I certainly don't want to wait several minutes for it to load. Also, although it could be the fault of my computer or my ears, the sound is not loud enough for me to hear without headphones.
cr

Posted by: charles
9
July 6th, 2007
1:32 pm ET
 

i think its a great time to buy cnn stocks!! you guys/gals at cnn are pioneers..

Posted by: stephen layne
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