Sometimes readers will want to engage with a particular story in the calm, uncluttered space an iPad affords, with no distractions and with the content front and center. Other times, they may want to read things — as we increasingly do — in the midst of a busy hub of data. That should be the reader’s choice, not the publisher’s. (more…)

We talk a lot about fragmentation in the online world — the unbundling of the news product, the scattering of audiences, the unraveling of publics, etc. And when we do, we tend to focus on the entropic implications of that shift: “Fragmentation,” of course, carries a whiff of nostalgia not just for the thing being fragmented, but for wholeness itself — for completeness, for community, for all that’s been solid. (more…)

A platform is a technology or product upon which many other technologies or products are built. Some platforms are controlled by a single corporation: e.g. Windows, iOS, and Facebook. Some are controlled by standards committees or groups of companies: e.g. the web (html/http), RSS, and email (smtp).

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Twitter and other stream-based flows of information provide an important role in the ecosystem. Perhaps the most important psychological innovation of Twitter is that it assumes you won’t see every message that comes along. There’s no count of unread items, and very little social cost to telling a friend that you missed their tweet. That convenience and social accommodation is incredibly valuable and an important contribution to the web.

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A content strategy plans the full lifecycle of content: how it will be created, delivered, maintained and archived or destroyed. This project focuses on web content: all forms of digital language and media found on websites. As an integral part of User Experience, web content strategy must take account of search engine optimization, user interface design, user needs, business needs, and other aspects of online strategy. (more…)

It could be a backlash against intrusive advertisements (think of the rise of ad blockers) and, just as importantly, the internal promotional widgets that function just like advertisements. It could also be that text, or language – unlike more visual media – must in the end be processed sequentially. (more…)

Users tend to glance at websites when they need to accomplish something or to find the answer to a specific question. In contrast, newsletters feel personal because they arrive in users’ inboxes, and users have an ongoing relationship with them. Newsletters also have a social aspect, as users often forward them to colleagues and friends.

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