This Week's Hot News - April 20th to 24th

This week's hot news is going to be a little different. We're inviting you to help us test out a new tool called JogTheWeb designed for wrap ups.
If you like it, we'll be using it to put together groups of articles on specific topics that you may be interested in.
Essentially, once you click on the link below, a new page will launch with a side bar. On the left side bar, you'll be presented with the list of articles that we thought were the most interesting during the week. Each list will be accompanied by a short blurb explaining what the article is about. In the main page, the actual article will load.
Simply click the left and right arrows to go back and forth between stories. Or, click on the blurb on the left themselves to launch the story. It's that easy--and most importantly, fast.
We think using this way, you'll not only be able to read the original story, but participate directly with the comments and existing user thread in that story, without having to track the original down. To exit the tool and remain in the site, simply click the red X at the top-right corner of the left side bar.
So help us test out the new tool and let us know what you think of it!
To launch the tool simply click here.
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If you think of other specific topics you would like to see grouped together in this manner, let us know. For example, we could create a "Jog" of all interesting overclocking or Windows 7 stories so you don't have to scour the site.
Let us know and enjoy!
/ Tuan Nguyen
Director, News Operations.
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taruncharles The interface is good..It is fast and easy to browse articles..Reply
The short blurb explaining about article is a little hard to read. The words are just conjested. Maybe it can be aligned in a more easy to read manner..
And you could also have an option for "hiding" and "showing" the side bar similar to "hide or show the right column" in forums..
Other than these its really cool. -
No! Its a bad tool. I need to see everything and like a hunter or a food searcher - to find what I want out of many options. This tool makes me feel like I am losing something or like I am manipulated or like I am in a closed small room. Please don't launch this tool. You can use it in your warehouse though.Reply
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bobc Good tool. I like the idea of having a sort of virtual booklet of related articles while being able to dig into any post and then moving on to the next one.Reply -
like the rest have said, fast and I particularly like that I find it easy to read. Usability of the site is increased too as I dont have to always search for every individual article.Reply
the thread topics can also add versatility to the articles as they can be cross categorized that way.
i enjoyed the browsing experience much more than the usual site. -
boudy I really liked the tool.Reply
The only problem I found were the titles of the stories in the sidebar; you cant really tell what it is saying, but the description fixes that (sort of)........ -
Wow, clearly a well written tool, it impresses with it's lightning response-times and slick interface. And best of all, I expect its tragic flaw can be fixed rather easily. Like others have said, its painfully difficult to skim the cramped summary text for each article. And the headlines (which is what 90% of people are going to skim anyway) don't pop. But I expect:Reply
1) If the headline font size were boosted 2 or 3 points, and maybe emboldened, they would be much more readable without taking up much extra space.
2) A simple control were added that allowed you to widen the size of the tool (I happen to have a brand new 24" monitor, and I was dissapointed I couldn't use my desktop real-estate), that the tool's slightly claustrophobic feeling would vanish. -
drealar CoolReply
A few comments, mostly on the interface rather than usage/performance:
1)Agreed with LiquidCake with the resizeability of the tool.
2)Maybe a revision on the font used. Comic sans looks nicer for a cramped up text, for my preference at least. Just my opinion.
Have some other ideas, feature wise. But I guess we'll see how this initial design works a few more weeks. Won't be good if too many feature stuffed in that small column too early, coz it might lose it's original purpose :P