Since the
first printed newspaper was published back in the 17th century,
newspaper circulation had enjoyed rapid growth establishing itself as the
premier vehicle for distributing news. Technological advancements in TV, radio and
the Internet has brought some stiff competition and circulation is on a steady
decline as advertisers shift their loyalties online.
Competition
is good for the consumer – some major broadsheets have moved to a tabloid
format to make an easier to carry format, without compromising the standard of
the journalism. This is an attempt to win back the audiences that are shifting
to alternative news sources such as the internet. The Internet is now rife with free news
content. People no longer have to pay
for news. It's no surprise then that the one
growth area of newspapers is in the circulation of free daily newspapers.
However,
despite this declining circulation the reader has to make do with a poor online
reading experience, a disappointing substitute for the reading experience
offered by the newspaper. I personally only use online news sources
for breaking news or to follow up a news article. I’ve remained fairly loyal to the print form
because I enjoy reading news, news and more news, and not being distracted by
superfluous content which clutters an online article.
So should
the newspaper feel safe from the limp threat offered by digital news?
Yes, but
don’t rule out other forms of electronic media. Last week the Mail unveiled a truly enhanced digital reading experience, the Mail eReader. Built using Windows Rich Presentation
Technology – Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), it is launched in Beta form
and is available for download.
This newsreader application allows readers to download Daily Mail and Sunday
Mail News and read it in an enhanced digital format. It is not browser-based, using WPF instead
of browser technologies.
Associated
Media and Conchango only started work on this back in November, with
development finishing late January. This is a major achievement to deliver such
an impressive application in just a few months.
I am excited that if this is what can be achieved in a matter of months then
there is much more to come and these WPF news readers should finally make the
digital reading experience something to be reckoned with.
Why is it
something to get excited about?
The web has
failed to deliver a reading experience that can rival print. But with WPF comes features and typographic
control that leaves newspapers glancing nervously over their shoulders. There are
many reasons that the Mail eReader offers a highly readable, easy-to-use
experience. I recommend you see for
yourself by downloading the eReader .
For those
that need an incentive to download the eReader well here are just a few
reasons: -
- Improved text rendering (e.g. WPF support OpenType features
like ligatures, old-style numerals and swash variants and ClearType
support for sub-pixel positioning and y-direction smoothing – I’ll leave the designers to explain
this better). Most important thing is that the improved text rendering
significantly increases reading speed.
- Reflow – content automatically
reflows to fill the application as it is resized. This is an impressive feature as it
allows the content to adapt to provide the best fit the readers screen.
- Focused reading – minimal
distractions and reduced clutter. For example, adverts are optimised by resizing to fit available space and work around the content. The adverts are therefore non-invasive as they adapt to the available space.
- Easier to read - narrower
blocks of text compared to the wide blocks generally used for online news.
- Simple easy-to-use navigation
- Faster interactions (content is
synched and cached client-side)
- eReader makes use of the entire
screen
- No scrolling – navigation is
via pagination controls.
- Text to Speech (currently
unique to the Daily Mail eReader)
- Rich media – WPF is the platform for rich media so look out for future enhancement to the Daily
Mail eReader to include audio and video.
Will this
be the death of the newspaper? Certainly
not as newspapers have always shown great resilience. Only time will tell whether this portable enhanced digital reading application is going to further add to the decline in circulation of the newspaper or become a complementary tool that is used alongside the newspaper and website.
For further information read Ciaran Hanway's post - 'Conchango, Daily Mail and Vista: The eReader'