The Dayton Daily News- or Day-Old news as I prefer to call it, launched a new iPad app (epaper) this week. Gone is the sidebar when you launch it with more recent news.
All it provides is a new way to look at the print edition- with more ads. Now when you click into the article to read a version that can be enlarged type- you get ads, something you didn’t get before.
The ads aren’t as obtrusive as the NY Times app- but, they don’t load as fast, so many times I’m off the page before they actually load. The actual print advertisers aren’t getting anything extra out of this delivery vehicle – and that’s too bad, they deserve more.
And, now, if you email a story- the headline isn’t placed in the subject line as it used to be.
[1]The much improved section navigator- note time on top of page
The section navigator is more visual- it’s come in very handy because the app quits, and you have to navigate back to where you were. And, the Thursday edition still comes with their crazy repeating zoned “neighbors section” with bizarre divisions of their community (I can never figure quite out where I’m supposed to be- South Dayton or…).
The best two things about the app- is it loads a lot quicker than the old one, and they’ve included the time at the top of the app- something I love about the NYTimes app- which is the gold standard at this point in news apps that I’ve used (BTW- the NY Times runs the entire news ecosystem on WordPress- the same app we use to publish Esrati.com, and the one I teach how to use monthly in our www.websitetology.com [2] seminar.).
Still missing from the DDN app- any kind of commenting or community (of course their online commenting is absolutely a wasteland- and confused because they publish multiple versions of almost everything.) and, any kind of built in saving of stories like the NYTimes app.
With nothing in real time- it’s not really a news app anyway. Their early print deadline of 3pm each day- means the sports section is worthless, and any news from evening community meetings will come out a day later.
[3]This was after I shut the app down this morning- after seeing 60% useage.
However, the one big fail is the battery drain. Since installing it, my iPad reports that it’s using as much as 60% or more of the battery life in the last 24 hours- totally unacceptable (screen shot has it at 47%- since I shut the app down right after I saw that this morning.)
Maybe it’s time that Cox actually hire someone who knows how to publish news in a timely manner online efficiently…. you wouldn’t know anyone local who does that?
Just for the record, I posted last Saturday, March 3rd, that DPS Athletic Director Mark Baker and Dunbar Principal Crystal Phillips had been put on administrative leave. [4] They got the story, a week later [5], today. Maybe I should call them the Dayton Week-Old News.
Not to mention the bottom third of the reading space on each page is consumed by ads. Argh. Glad I’m not the only one who noticed the crap-tacular “redesign.”