I think those guys are trying. But for me thats only for backends (server based programming). I mean I am not too impress. I expect it should get better by the day.

They load relatively fast, colour combination ok but that should not be all. I mean there are alot of 3rd party and free plugins everywhere. For instance going to a different site altogether for a site's forum, chat, survey, etc most times these are free services, so you see links everwhere. And imagine times font for content instead of something like Tahoma. What about images?

Please in 2008, lets role out the best. Cheers!

Yep,

The news is there but from a design/usability standpoint, most need to improve. Case in point: i visited the punch site earlier today. I used their search feature in order to look for news on Akwa Ibom State. I got a mysql error instead. Also, the news is scattered everywhere on the home page, ads are haphazardly placed and the page scrolls horizontally. I have made it my mission in 2008, should I get to implement the AKSG paper (Pioneer) website, to unseat punch

In my opinion, there are better newspaper sites out there than punch but somehow they rank higher than the rest. Oh well.

As you've said Astron, here's to cranking out better sites in 2008!!

yeah PUNCH is it!

i guess these guys are too rigid and are forgetting that we not only want to see prints but images

Guardian is about the worst to me in terms of Images


There are some like Champion VAnguard that aren't packaged well to feed readers

I think they are not that bad as in the main ones- I read punch and guardian mainly but sometimes visit businessday and vanguard

Most serious newspapers don't worry too much about images, they focus more on the content

I just hope they improve on their reporting,some of the reporters write like they are telling secondary school stories they use the same phrase and clichés all the time

In the new year the newspapers should increase the interactivity with online polls,comments and opinions

it seems they don't have full online reporters, they have to wait for the next day to write about a breaking news
when something happens in Lagos now you'll probably see it first on the BBC before you read it on a Nigeria newspaper

_{And they should patronise Nigeria football league more}

@ Dis Guy: Did I hear you say "like they are telling secondary school stories". lol

There are even well developed news scripts that are very easy to modify and implement that would have made a great difference. And for the images, I think they are as important as the text. What about concepts like photo-news (collection of well shot photos that clearly illustrate the news without much texts).

I mean a look at cnn, bbc, yahoo news, etc should even a good reference point. I hope something is done.

HI guys could you please check out my blog and tell me any chaanges i should make i am not such a good web designer. my site is www.tochispeaks..com thanks tochi

@ Wiseone007
I must congratulate you for the steps so far. They are commendable. But as my mentor will always say "the race for perfection has no finished line", so there is always room for improvement.

I my opinion, I will recommend:
- You define what your blog is going to be for. This decision will guide you all the way and will determine what you will be posting. Hence your target audience.
- You try other styles of skin for the blog, since its blogger and compare them. In order to have the best,
- You may even consider a blog with strickly your name. In that case you will need to pay for hosting and a domain name (something within N5000 should take care of that).
- If you intend intend making serious income with your Adsense, remember it will take some time and effort you start making reasonable income. But you have to tailor how you display your ads, your posts, keywords, site traffic, etc.
- Learn more on adsense, play by the rule, review your progress, make adjustments,

I hope this will help.

astronp7:

@ Dis Guy: Did I hear you say "like they are telling secondary school stories". lol

There are even well developed news scripts that are very easy to modify and implement that would have made a great difference. And for the images, I think they are as important as the text. What about concepts like photo-news (collection of well shot photos that clearly illustrate the news without much texts).

I mean a look at cnn, bbc, yahoo news, etc should even a good reference point. I hope something is done.

I agree with this point but they should not be the main page, they are very useful for sports events like the Nigerian Football league _{i know the pitches are not exactly nice to look at} we just hope they can afford to pay photo(sports) journalists
Or political events like elections and rallies
Even the never ending queues in our banks and ATMs

Sunday's football pictures

They are alrite. But they need to be updated more often. Eg. Thisday: I'm sick of seeing the same old Thisday music festival pictures.

@ Dis Guy:
Yes you are right. In most cases its always an added service separate from the main page. For updating a site, some well developed news scripts allow you to simply post the article to the appropriate section and it will reflect immediately, so the issue of waiting through the next day to report a breaking news will not arise.

the also have to reduce the use of some phrases 'our impeccable source' , 'he added that', 'he also added that'
'says he'
they should also use plain English!

automatic mass vehicular transporter!= BUS!!!

Maybe their correspondents are addicted to these "slangs". This is a new year, I hope they will over haul their strategies. The problem is that there is no competition, despite their numbers.

I hope something will happen in the system that will cause competition and allow is again to see investigative journalism. Thanks to Dele Giwa and Co of blessed memory.

astron, I think it is more than slang. I think it is more of a "make i show dem wetin i sabi"/"do you know who i am?" mentality. Please read on:

One of my first courses in the US was English 101. I can remember my first english essay. I say make I show dem. "I am in a high glee penning this letter", "it was a red letter day", "I hope you are hale and hearty", etc. Na im full my paper. I got 50% or so. I approached the teacher. In my mind, I was saying to myself, "does this teacher even know that this is Queen's English? Does she know that in naija, such proverbs, etc would have earned me an A3 minimum?"

The teacher basically told me that hey, the english is good but the point of writing is to connect with your audience, to communicate with them. When you make them always run to the nearest dictionary, you have defeated the purpose.

I can't remember how many times I have had to run to a dictionary upon reading a news article. Why must they say, "roving reporter"? Why must they say, "automatic mass vehicular transporter"? Perhaps we should start up a thread that lists the most ridiculous lines of english found in an article.

na wa for us o!