Puffbox

I gave the Telegraph some stick when they launched a series of blogs without RSS feeds… so it’s only fair that I mention that RSS feeds are now available, as part of the Telegraph’s new-look website. It’s quite a shock to the system initially, given the way Telegraph websites have looked in the past… but I like it, I think.

Perhaps coincidence, perhaps ‘great minds thinking alike’, there are definite similarities with the online versions of fellow ‘broadsheet’ newspapers, like The Timeses of London and New York. It seems to assume a full 1024×768 screen space, and uses larger fonts, larger pictures, larger promos… larger everything, really.

But I’m still waiting for someone to really bite the bullet, and give us a way-over-the-top re-design. With so many people using broadband, and at ever-greater speeds, the reasons not to are diminishing rapidly. Full-screen images and 72pt text (or more?!) are not far away, believe me.

Gerry McGovern hits the nail square on the head this week. ‘For many websites, quality navigation is enough. In fact, search may be a negative… because it’s really hard to get search right… Having a search engine can also be used as an excuse not to organize content professionally.’

I’ve had similar arguments in the past – and for many people, including Gerry himself as he admits, search is one of those things you just need to have. I disagree. Search is just one navigation tool. It might be right for your website; it might not. There’s no such thing as a ‘given’.

For anyone involved in blogging, this is worth a look. The BBC has just completed a policy on blogging – written, it turns out, by the bloggers themselves via a wiki. Since the BBC often becomes a de facto model for everyone else in the UK, you can expect to see the model picked up elsewhere.

I’m delighted to be supporting National Working From Home Day, although 3.30pm was a bit late to realise I was doing so. I’m doing the vast majority of my work from home these days, and I’m finding it a terrific experience generally. Definitely a lot more productive than trapsing into a central London office every day. The only catch is that two or three days can pass with me barely leaving the house.

A great piece by Hitwise’s Heather Hopkins (‘Triple H’?) charting the rise of bebo.com and its imminent leapfrogging of everyone’s current favourite kidz community, Myspace. Bebo is certainly a lot prettier than Myspace, and the tie-up with Skype hints at a more open approach. But I wouldn’t count Myspace out yet… as I still think the connection with the music business will be its defining characteristic. I’ve noticed a growing number of bands’ websites including a prominent link to ‘our Myspace pages’ in their primary navigation (eg The Streets). Bebo, meanwhile, looks like it wants to be Friends Reunited for those who haven’t left a school yet. I feel far too old to even register for it.

There’s a new beta version of Skype available, with the (possible) incentive of cheap SMS text messages. It looks like it’s 5.5p per txt within the UK, which may compare favourably with your mobile tariff. Or may not, depending. Still a nice gesture, though.

Once you’ve upgraded, you might want to try something called ‘Skypecasts‘, which look like big audio chatrooms / lectures (up to 100 participants). The sessions currently on offer don’t look especially inspiring, but it’s an interesting concept. How you ‘chair’ a discussion of 100 people is, initially at least, a mystery to me.

A story on the BBC News website says that according to a BBC-backed poll, people trust news websites, like BBC News, more than governments. Normally one would frown on such self-congratulatory stories. But we forgive the Beeb, because we trust them. This is all becoming a bit circular, and my head is beginning to hurt.

The full poll results are available in PDF form. But the key bits on the UK audience are:

• TV remains Brits’ main news source (mentioned first by 55%), with internet (8%) trailing just behind radio (12%). I’m a bit uneasy about this ‘mentioned first’ measure, though, as I don’t know which one I’d say first. In fact, I don’t know which one I’d place first. It’s radio in the early morning, internet through the day, and TV at night.
• We trust national TV (86%) almost twice as much as we trust web news sources (44%). Oh, and apparently we trust national TV more than we trust our own friends and family (78%). How depressing.
• The BBC is still, by far, the most trusted single news source (32%). I’m surprised to see ITV News (8%) ranking higher than Sky (7%), albeit marginally.

The most scary stat of all comes from the US data: the most trusted specific news source is ‘fair and balanced’ Fox News. Who was it said that if you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth?

The BBC’s rush into blogging continues. Of particular interest among the half dozen blogs launched over the Bank Holiday weekend: the Sport Editors, tech editor Alfred Hermida’s coverage of the BBC-backed ‘We Media‘ conference, and ‘Planet Earth Under Threat‘ – which, leaving aside the startling title, will track the progress of a Radio 4 series due for broadcast later in the year. A range of projects, all interesting in their own right. Worth following, but Nick Robinson remains the king. (It’s been interesting, incidentally, to see him beginning to engage with the readership a bit more.)