Rants - Web News
Two rants about news sites on the web: lack of pictures and fear of links. My issues with web news sites don't keep me from making them my favorite source of news, but I still like ranting about them.
I hate when news sites describe an amazing or horrific visual scene in exquisite detail, but they don't show you a picture. It's similar to telling a joke and then saying, "You had to be there." A visual scene needs to be depicted visually, with words supplementing the photo. When a picture is worth a thousand words, don't substitute it with twenty.
I also find it annoying that when news sites provide a URL to another site, they don't make it a link. It's not that I'm too lazy to copy and paste the URL into a web browser; it's just that the web is all about linking and they refuse to do so. I suppose it could have to do with overburdening a remote site. CNN linking to Joe Bob's website could have disasterous effects for Joe Bob's web server. By just providing a URL, not a link, I suppose CNN weeds out those too lazy or too stupid to copy and paste.
Content updated: 16 Oct 2003