Sunday, January 29, 2006

The revamped Spartan Daily is online

The new Spartan Daily online is off to a running start. As the new Online Editor I'm quite proud of what we were able to do in such a short time. The changes go far beyond the cosmetic. Sure it's slick and quite a piece of eye candy, but there's more under the hood than a fresh coat of paint!

But first, I believe in giving credit where credit is due. This isn't just my baby, it's just as much Ryan Sholin's baby. I love this guy! And by that I mean in the "I'll have your back in a ballroom brawl" way. (Shouldn't that be bar room? Even better!)

We're tackling the site together. I'm the Online Editor and he's our Webmaster. Ryan's a whiz at coding and keeping up with technology. He always seems to know just what to use when I start going, "what if we did..." I provide the content and do the general posting and editing while Ryan handles the code that keeps the site running. Together we both come up with design ideas and think up new ways to make the site better. Incidentily, if you have an ideas for the site, we're all ears! Leave me a comment below.

In the coming weeks we're going to try some things that take the Spartan Daily Online from a last resort for those unable to find a print copy to a destination site with unique and exclusive stories and features not available anywhere else.

I've already started reqruiting a staff of photographers and columnist (if you're a SJSU student or alumni and want to be a part of it, shoot me an e-mail or leave a comment here). Up next is generating the exclusive content. For instance, short films and music from SJSU students. And we've got interactive slideshows, downloadable goodies, and a message board in the works as well.

Eventually I see the Spartan Daily Online becoming a splinter cell companion to the print edition, with it's own staff and content in addition to the content available in the print.

But this semester is a building year, hopefully I'll do a good enough job to convice others to carry on with my efforts. Don't forget to check out the site by clicking on the picture above.

As an added bonus, The Spartan Daily is now part of the College Front Page network and we're now also part of Yahoo News and Google News. So any relevent searches should show up.