CMS's say the darnedest things, #1

Publishers of web sites that contain lots of frequently-changing material use content management systems (CMS) to coordinate the display of all the words, pictures, links, indexes, and so on. Not surprisingly, newspapers with full online editions use CMS's behind the scenes to manage all the stories coming in from reporters and wire services, and to sync the online and print editions. Much of this happens automatically. Some of it shouldn't.

I remember how much care we used to take when laying out a newspaper page. In particular, the relationships between images on a page, and headlines on a page, were always scrutinized. That probably still happens with print editions. I also remember the fuss over the first automated layout systems for print, how much concern there was about the appearance and utility of the page.

No matter how much attention they may still give the print editions of their papers, it's disappointing to see how little concern is directed at the packaging of that same material online. The Boston Globe in particular commits offenses daily. I wonder if they even look at their own "output" at the Globe. Maybe after too many layoffs and years of decline, there's nobody left to put the house in order. If these things happened in print, at least back when I worked in newsrooms, there would have been yelling, lots of yelling. Editors used to yell a lot. Maybe they still do. And after the yelling, someone would have come away knowing never to commit this sort of offense again.

Here's the first in a probably never-ending series...

Hint: that's not Steven Tyler.
[ Boston Globe, June 28, 2008 ]