Nice one.
Bless TT and all on the globe who sail on her.
Dave.
Ta Linz

Move over Murdoch, Fairfax, Packer and Stokes, thre’s a new contender on the block in Australia’s media : Lindsay Tuffin and the Tasmanian Times.

Thank you Tasmanian Times for a free and open source of news, debate and opinion.  Contrast this to James Murdoch’s extraordinary attack on the BBC which he claims threatens independent journalism.  What he means of course is that public broadcasters such as the BBC and ABC threaten his ability to make even more money. Mr Murdoch claimed that free news on the web provided by the BBC made it “incredibly difficult” for private news organisations to ask people to pay for their news.  Murdoch is perhaps suggesting that all news information should be paid for and that public broadcasters should introduce pay for view charges creating a level playing field with the private news organisations.  In my humble opinion, access to information, including knowledge and news, should be a human right, and any attempt to weaken public broadcasters is an attack on this right.  It is shameful that Murdoch uses the cry of `independent journalism’ where if he had his way the middle classes would be fed on a corporate world view while the poor would wallow in ignorance.

I’m booked. Woohoo.

Yes! - Dave, William and Pilko! - It’ll be good to see you there, and Duncan! - Sooo true about Murdoch’s attack on public broadcasting! We need even more independence here.. Phil

So is your web company doing this free of charge in their spare time or what ? I could fingerpaint the Harbour Bridge faster than this dev cycle.

Well okay, go and fingerpaint the harbour bridge then and leave Tasmania and all who sail in her alone.

John, that’s exactly the attitude that makes Tasmania last at the table. Tas businesses generally need a kick in the behind when it comes to service. They’ve been hiding across the water from competition for so long they’ve got very complacent.

Good then Millsey, but is there any reason to ridicule development that comes from one’s own resources when one is not topped up economically from the public purse?

Eh ? What’s public money got to do with it ? They’re even slower.

My perspective comes as a web developer myself. I just can’t imagine how a fairly straightforward news and comment site like the TT can take MONTHS to get off the ground.

Since the TT has offered no real explanation for the painfully slow process (other than someone being on jury duty for two weeks), I am summising that it’s just typical Tasmanian lethargy.

And based on painful experience with other Tasmanian IT and “service” companies, that’s what I’ll continue to believe until informed otherwise.

That’s not ridicule. That’s experience.

Ed: An explanation. Slow and steady evolution, not revolution ...

#10 MillseyJ, the entire flotilla and crew of Tasmanian Times and all whom sail her ships are a loyal lot of persons, not to be intimidated by negativism and all that it inspires in the very minds of determined critical so called experts.
Should the need arise to compete with the silicone world of high-speed corporate rapine, pillage and failures, then do expect a call from this non-corporatized entity.

Native Tasmanians are such an insular and defensive lot…

thanks for such informed and non-generalised feedback Millsey. When attacked, people do tend to get defensive funnily enough.

My wife has asked to stop reading TT. I have found it hypnotic and addictive.v You are the most refreshing thing I have found in Tasmania. Good luck.

Anna, can you see the irony in your post ? Look hard now.

And Mr Boeder, nowhere did I claim to be an expert.

Life in the slow lane.

I agree, Philip (#14)! For me, it is highly refreshing and reassuring to be able to read the articles and opinions here. It would be a bleak world having to depend on other local media when combined power groups are changing our island so remorselessly. Although a local, I feel ostracized by the enormous weight of developments and ignorance of them. I’m heartened every day by the caring contributions on TT.

Just like the Alanis Morissette song Millsey!

Sorry Anna, I don’t follow pop culture, so that one’s lost on me. Probably just as well lol.

Seriously though, I am a big fan of the TT, I’m just impatient to see it relaunched. While the TT is in this form it’s never going to be a serious contender against anything.

I’m hoping the TT can give the networked drivel machine of the Mercury and the Gunns weekly Examiner a good kicking online.

And won;t it be interesting to see whether in a year (or less) the Mercury and perhaps the Examiner get locked up behind a paywall ?

That’d have to be good news for sites like the TT.

And compliments to the TT for publishing all my unflattering comments ;-)

it’s a terrible song anyway…

looking forward to the new site indeed!

Yhe ! onay Lizny !  Hpoe all oyu gsuy
aveh nste uoyr odnatino’s

                  d.d.

Looks great, Lindsay! Yippeeee!

Hi MillseyJ

you wrote “While the TT is in this form it’s never going to be a serious contender against anything” 

Perhaps I might start the ball rolling by mentioning:

One of the OLD TT’s deficiencies:
1.  the lag-time, waiting for articles and comments to be posted. 

One of the OLD TT’s strengths:
1 The TT site/archive could be searched.

Your remark seemed to suggest that there were aspects of OLD TT which could have been improved.  As you can see from what I’ve written above, I agree with you.

Could you tell me what you thought needed improvement/change?

Thanks,
Garry.

Is there any way to get the comment count and comment numbers back please?

Without those two simple features it’s not possible to know if there have been any changes in the comments to an article, and for longer comment lists no brief way to refer to the comment (e.g. #23).

..and I wonder, would readers prefer the New Comments section to be grouped by topic by date rather than by date alone?

I would.

Casey

I could go into long analysis of this “design”, but that’d be a big job and normally I get paid for web analysis. If I had to sum it up in one word: 1999.

I really am aghast.

Re #25 ... how about a ‘pro bono’, cobber?

Answer the question - who really runs TT? And who pays for it?

@garry stannus

I have twice started to write out an analysis, but it just comes across as so negative that it wouldn’t get a look in here and would confirm everyone’s opinion of me as a dismal naysayer.

In the very broadest terms I think the design fails in the following categories: aesthetics; market “pitch”; SEO, typography; user experience; and navigation logic.

Back to the design, this website loads quickly, no flash or animations holding up your quick search for information and views. There’s an honest feel about the focus on what the site does best. The dynamic, uncensored, courageous content says it all! Linz says highlights for links are returning. Navigation will be a breeze again. In the previous design, I liked being able to see the number of comments in the list of articles on the opening page. You could see where the action was, and read more widely when you had time. Perhaps a sans serif text such as arial would be more breezy. I like my java, flash, video links and image-loaded text on sites dedicated to, say, image and networking, but here, the emphasis on text imparts a feeling of being informed.  There are plenty of whizzy online tabloids. And we see some great photo-essays here, don’t we Garry!

I have commented to Linz that perhaps highlighting or putting posters names in bold print in the “comments section” would be helpful in separating comments more easily, is that fair comment ?
            d.d.

Hi Linz,

Great work. Looking forward to the dinner.

Could the writers receive notification of comments in the same way as those who make comment? This would help with archiving the material published.

Best Regards,

Marion