Cyprus-Forum.com

[reportfromcyprus]

Even more thanks for your tips and comments!

Articles are welcome, we can't pay (yet) but all credit will be given for sure.

I've got to say I enjoy this forum, it's so lively and people are full of personality. Definitely NOT cafe culture where more time is spent on gossiping and admiring someone's handbag than on some interesting conversation.

[Niki]

Best wishes to you Sarah

Starting up any company is tough but stick at it.

But - I do have some very nice handbags!!!

Niki

[reportfromcyprus]

Thanks for the good wishes Niki.

For the record; I've got nothing against handbags, love them in fact

[Sotos]

I agree with the others that the design is not very good. But what matters most are the news. Look at the Cyprus mail website. It wins no webdesign awards but still it is very popular because it has a lot of fresh content every day. Good luck to you Sarah!

[cypezokyli]

this is a personal opinion and i know that many people disagree with that way of thinking.
i read 3-4 newspapers every day , and what is more important to me are not the "news" or the "facts" , but the columnists - or "opinions" on those facts. so i dont really bother with the outline , i just try to see how a specific person understands or interprets an event.

when reportfromcyprus reaches that level , be sure that you have won me as a reader.

...
soto i dont believe u just called cyprusmail as a newspaper with fresh content!
i am going to give you a tip i learned from this forum : dont read that paper ....its american paid

[Piratis]

this is a personal opinion and i know that many people disagree with that way of thinking.
i read 3-4 newspapers every day , and what is more important to me are not the "news" or the "facts" , but the columnists - or "opinions" on those facts. so i dont really bother with the outline , i just try to see how a specific person understands or interprets an event.

I think these are 2 different things. The newspaper first and above all should report the raw facts and allow the reader to form his own opinion.
Beyond that the newspaper can have a different section with various opinions on the subject.
If this is not done then the reader might have a difficult to distinguish which are the facts and which is the subjective opinion of the writer.

Of course in reality very few newspapers report just facts. Most of them are trying to pass their own agendas and intentionally blur the difference between the facts and their opinion.

[cypezokyli]

do you think that even in the "facts" section stories are not spiced up ?
there is NO newspaper that reports raw facts imo . and because of that, better read sth that you know its the opinion of someone rather than being under the impression that you are reading raw facts.

[Niki]

Sarah - a few comments have been made about the design which is a shame as you have worked hard on the content so I hope you don't mind a few pointers re the layout (this is what I do for a living).

Typography - use 2 fonts, serif and sans serif, have different sized headlines, MORE LEADING between lines with smaller text to give a feeling of space on some articles - these tweaks will hopefully create contrast and makes the layout more interesting - less 'block' like.

Images (low res) help to break the pages up and maybe have a leading story on the title page and on some other pages that extend across 2 columns.

Niki

[reportfromcyprus]

Thanks, Sotos for your good wishes.

I agree the Cyprus Mail has fresh content daily, and seem to offer balanced reporting.

The thing I like about online publications is that they can be more interactive and have a broader perspective. If the audience is world-wide, then you don't have to stick strictly to local issues.

Look at bbc.com, for example, that cover news from so many countries. Between cnn.com and bbc.com, you may find the same stories repeated, mostly because they get their news from the same news agencies (Reuters or UPI etc).

The quality of the writing is also important. Is the lead sentence good? Are the basic facts there? Is the story told in such a way that you make up your own mind? These are the questions I ask myself when I read something in a publication.

[reportfromcyprus]

Thanks Niki, I will definitely make the changes! Great pointers, by the way.