Helvetica vs. Times

Little quiet on my end here as of late. We were working on the iBooks Author edition of our annual Visitor’s Guide, but that got pushed aside a bit; we were working on mobile apps for a bit, but then that got derailed a bit; the overhaul of our new Advertising website? Put on hold temporarily.

But just because we’ve put those things on the back-burner for a bit doesn’t mean we’ve abandoned them (quite to the contrary). No, we’ve been forging ahead with our systems upgrades, which has kept me jumping through many hoops of varying sizes. But there’s been one other biggie that’s been looming in the background for a bit and has finally come to fruition:

Yes, if any of you have heard the rumors, they’re true: we’re coming to Justin.

This is an exciting time for us, as we get to act like a startup. We get to ask ourselves questions like, “In the year 2012, if you were going to start a new newspaper, how would you do it?” or “If we were just now starting Update, would we even do it in print?”

Initially, we’re setting up shop, so-to-speak, as an online newspaper, providing the Justin equivalent of Update (we’re calling it “This Justin…”), plus Northwest high school sports and education briefs, obituaries, and even all of our existing Classifieds. We’re hoping for an April launch of some sort of print version, probably the easier to hold tab. Perhaps even a printed version of “This Justin…” Time will tell. Until then, follow us on Twitter or friend us on Facebook.

A couple of days ago, our Sports Editor, Richard Greene, stopped into the graphics department to present us with a challenge: How do we graphically represent the upcoming UIL realignment?

Once again, Andrew May has come up with the perfect solution, armed only with the following quote from Chico Athletic Director Stephen Carter:

“I think they throw darts at a board, and that’s where you end up.”

Our next challenge was to help Richard devise the perfect headline. We scoured the internets for dart terminology; alas, my suggestion of “Diddle for the Middle” was oddly rejected. Not surprisingly, there were a lot of other dart terms that carried a bit of barroom humor/double entendres that just didn’t seem to fit (see here for some prime examples… ). Andrew won out with “All Over the Board” and his representation of a throwing line on the ground.

Great job on an even greater page, Richard and Andrew! Check it out here.

If you’re a regular reader of Update online, you may have already noticed this; if not, you will tomorrow. Yep, we’re changing things once again here at the ‘ol Mess.

I was charged with what many in the office probably thought was a simple task: get the printed Update ads online… NOW! But it didn’t prove to be that easy. Sure, I could have scheduled them all via my online ad manager software, but the problem there is that they would get scheduled by day: If the ad was scheduled for Tuesday, on Tuesday the correct ad would show up. But let’s say it’s Thursday, and you’ve missed a couple of days and decide to go back and read Tuesday’s Update. What ads would you see? Thursday’s. Because, after all, it IS Thursday, not Tuesday.

Along comes a fellow by the name of “binnyva” to the rescue with his WordPress plugin Article Template. Sure, it’s got it’s bugs (I won’t bore you with the gory details, but hit me up if you want them), but it’s incredibly easy to use, and even the reporters who post breaking news, bleary-eyed in the middle of the night from their iPhones or iPads at the scene of an accident or house fire, can simply click a template style which injects the correctly pre-scheduled ads into their posts. All we have to do weekly is get a schedule for the ads, modify the templates for the week, and we’re gold.

To track the ad impressions/clicks, we have them all routed through wcmess.com before they reach their ultimate destinations, be it their websites, their Facebook pages, a static Update ad, or any other place they desire.

Thanks, Binnyva!

(Oh, and contact ads@wcmessenger.com to get your business placed on the waiting list for the online Update…)

One of my favorite aspects of being a graphic artist is fonts. I’m a font nerd. One of my favorite documentaries is Helvetica the Movie. Heck, I even BOUGHT a copy. And have watched it multiple times. Now that’s truly showing my colors.

And yet, sometimes good fonts go bad. Take, for instance, our last Midweek edition. During our latest round of upgrades, we somehow missed (1.) Our main paginator using the Post Script version of Times (our headline font), (2.) our Sports Editor having the OpenType version installed when he paginated the Sports pages, and (3.) the person sending it to press that night having the Post Script version installed, but Extensis Suitcase Fusion accidentally fired off the True Type version due to #2, which doesn’t allow embedding into PDF files (the files we send to press) due to licensing issues.

Or at least I think that’s what happened. With fonts, you never know, there are a myriad of variables that could have interfered.

Luckily we were able to fix the Digital Subscription copy of it, which you can view/download for FREE here in case the printed copy didn’t make any sense without those headlines. Sorry about the mix-up, we’ll watch it closer next time!

Ever experienced this on a manual upgrade for WordPress? Not fun.

OK, so maybe Loop of “Death” is a bit of an exaggeration, but it’s truly a pain that’ll have you banging your head on the wall for hours. Here’s the scenario:

After a manual upgrade of WordPress, you try logging back in to the back-end, when you’re greeted with the following screen:

OK, fair enough. Click the button. Then you get this:

Wow. That was fast. Click “Continue.” Then you get this:

Followed by this:

Ad infinitum. It just keeps looping on. I checked WordPress’ Codex and user forums. They document it only slightly, and lots of people seems to have the problem. Possible solutions being “reset your plugins,” “Go into MyPHPAdmin and update some SQL tables,” etc etc. None sounded like fun.

Then, somewhere on one of Google’s search results pages (yes, I think I actually went through like 8 result pages before I found this), came the solution:

1. Empty your browser’s cache.
2. Restart your browser.
3. Log back in.

Now you’re gold. Easy, no?

Admittedly, I forgot Apple was having a big media event today. I’ve got a lot on my plate right now, and that was not really number one on my priority list. Having read all the rumor sites, both blogs and Twitter, I was fairly certain it concerned education, and possibly something about publishing.

Little did I know.

The big thing Apple is pushing here is their (forceful) entry into education. I say education, and that’s not really the right terminology, as they’ve been there for a while. This is their push to get the iPad into it even further, to get textbooks into their ecosystem. That’s a good thing. That’s an exciting thing. I don’t want my daughter breaking her back lugging around 20 lb. textbooks in her backpack when they can all reside on a nice, comfy iPad.

No, what Apple is doing here is pushing their way into publishing, even further than they have in the past (think PostScript, LaserWriters, Aldus, et al). When I first saw the announcement, I thought to myself, “cool, they’re doing something to help my daughter’s future, by maybe putting a few chiropractors out of business.”

But looking further into their announcements, I saw they had a new app: iBooks Author. Disco!

But a bit of back history here: Adobe, in it’s best intentions over the past few months, introduced their “Digital Publishing Suite,” which (correct me if I’m wrong here) seemed more like plug-ins or add-ons to their already existing Creative Suite package. What they told me was that I first had to shell out $1,200 for Creative Suite itself, then another $400 for their “Digital Publishing Suite.” With those pieces in place, I could successfully publish to the iPad.

What the sales rep didn’t tell me, however, was that $400 additional cost was PER ISSUE. That’s right, PER ISSUE. Every time I wanted to publish a new publication, like a special section or edition of the newspaper, I needed a new license. At $400. Or I could buy a yearly subscription, which means I didn’t actually own the app, I was just renting it to produce unlimited apps/publications. I can’t even fathom the cost of that.

So along comes Apple and their iBook Author app, for free. Now I realize, this only serves to help them: the more authors they get into their ecosystem the better, plus they get their own 30% cut of it all. But, you mean I don’t have to pay you $400 per issue to publish on your platform? Sold.

As soon as I heard the announcement, I fired up the App Store and downloaded it. Two minutes later, I was already plotting my “Welcome to Wise” attack on the iPad, easily dropping in photos, stories, figuring out ways Joe could help me build photo galleries, ways our video editors could trim down footage to be optimized for electronic delivery… The world was our oyster!

Sure, there’s a few caveats with it all (strange wording of their EULAs and all, only works with iPads, how can we eventually streamline the whole production process to produce an iBooks version of the paper immediately after spending hours on the print edition, etc. etc.), but ultimately, congratulations, Apple; Steve would be proud.

Looking to start blogging but don’t want the hassle of setting up your own domain, installing software, blah blah blah? You can always sign up with a service like WordPress.com, but then, technically, you don’t own your own content, THEY do (read the EULAs…).

Here’s an easy way around that if you have a Dropbox account: Sign up for Calepin.

Here’s what happens: write your blog post in a simple text editor, add a little bit of junk at the top (Date: 2011-11-15 and Title: blog post name) then blog away. When you’re done, save that file with the file extension .md into your Dropbox folder Calepin sets up (they’ll ask you to authenticate your account with them, essentially allowing them permission to work their magic). Everytime you create a new post this way, simply go back to Calepin’s website, click the Publish button, and voila! instant blog! And since nothing’s uploaded to them at all (it’s all stored in YOUR Dropbox), they don’t “own” it (though I suppose maybe Dropbox does; I’ll have to re-read that EULA).

There are a couple of caveats, though: their resulting website (in my initial tests, wcmessenger.calepin.co) is pretty plain-jane looking. There’s no customizing the look of it at all (they say they’re not even planning themes for it, but I would guess if it takes off…) and there’s no way to add any other functionality to it like WordPress can (widgets and what-not). Heck, there’s not even a search function.

But still, surely something can become of this; certainly others are already hacking away at it, tearing it down and creating their bastardizations of it. Keep your eyes peeled.

In my 16+ year career here at the Messenger, there have been very few constants in terms of public figures constantly making headlines. One of those was Boyd head coach J. G. Cartwright, who has now announced his retirement from high school football.

In looking over Sports Editor Richard Greene’s tribute to him, a couple quotes stuck out to me:

“Our motto was play hard, play fast and play with class.”

“When I got into coaching, I thought coaches moved every two years. I expected to be here a couple of years and be gone. It never happened … I didn’t make the wrong person mad at the wrong time.”

“I told the guys earlier that I wouldn’t be on the field with them, but I’ll be a little farther back in the stands supporting them.”

Truly the end of an era.

CLICK HERE to read Greene’s story, along with Publisher Phil Major‘s thoughts, Joe Duty‘s interview with Cartwright and a special photo tribute by Joe.

Something that just occurred to me tonight as I was sending the latest edition of the newspaper to press:

• All the hours spent selling ads…
• All the hours spent designing/typesetting ads…
• All the hours spent writing stories…
• All the hours spent editing stories…
• All the hours spent designing compelling pages…
• All the hours spent getting it all ready for press…

We click a few buttons and it’s there at the press, ready for them to begin their part of the printed product process.

And shortly thereafter, after we’ve uploaded the pages to the press, we’ve already started producing the digital version. Upload a file here, click a few buttons there, post the edition to our CMS, send out an email, post a tweet, and it’s done.

Simple as that. Before the delivery drivers have even left the building. More than likely, before the press crew has even seen the digital files. Before you, the readers, have a tangible, printed copy in your hands.

*POOF* We have a new copy of the paper out, digitally, ready to be consumed. Fascinating.

I love the 21st century.

Probably one of the things I find most engaging on our website is the newsroom blog, Making a Mess. This gives our reporters a place to share their personal thoughts on stories they’re covering, things that are going on in or near our community that may not necessarily be “news-related,” or sometimes it’s just a sounding board for other topics. So it was finally time for a facelift. Hope everyone enjoys it, and please let me know if you have any comments/complaints/suggestions for it.

View the Making a Mess blog HERE