ME MYSELF IS UNEFFECTED by grammar mistakes—most of the time. But than, once in a while even a curmudgeon editor like I needs some help.
So, I’m grateful to the folks at copyblogger for coming up with this handy graphic. And some of you may went to share this with your editor colleagues. Better yet, post it on a newsroom wall!
Filed under Graphic
MICHAEL SENT ALONG three fronts…all dealing with a fire in his area in July. They’re in chronological order, with notes from Michael below each. My comments (natch) follow.
The July 14 edition is fairly conventional. We debated whether to go four or five columns on the lead fire photo. In the end, everyone decided they thought four columns was appropriate. What are your thoughts? Is there any good litmus test for 4, 5 or even 6 columns?
FROM ED:
1. Interesting page, what with coverage of two different fires.
2. I think the secondary photo in the condo fire package is really the more visually compelling. I’d have given it top play.
3. I’d have placed the Haley and DiSabato mugs at the top of one column, avoiding two separate text wraps.
4. Seems like a lot of space between the SC Forestry subhead and text.
FROM MICHAEL:
The July 21 fire package contains, enterprise, feature and news stories. I thought it would be fun and informative to show readers what fire resources exist in Carolina Forest. The graph exists because response times are central to the lead story. Any other thoughts? Thanks!
FROM ED:
1. The package on the fire trucks/equipment is informative. I liked it, though I’m not sure about running the numbers in a clockwise fashion.
2. Also liked the graphic on response times.
FROM MICHAEL:
With the Hornet Fire page, none of the other media explained what a sky lantern was (a wayward sky lantern started the fire). I’m not good in Illustrator, so I used clip art and the programs I do know (Photoshop, Quark) to illustrate. We even received a letter to the editor the following week thanking us for the report.
FROM ED:
1. I give you quite a bit of credit for the graphic. I think it’s pretty well done—and it reallyhelps to explain how the fire began.
2. Don’t know why, but here the clockwise patter for the explainer items seems to work better.
3. Ouch! That yellow ad at the bottom of these pages is really distracting and ugly. Maybe the advertising department can offer this advertiser some better ideas.
Filed under Submitted pages
