Story Photos
 Readers voted Jeff and Kathy Oberg's 1966 Chevelle SS Convertible the winner of our first Bud Clary's Auto Mania contest. Photo courtesy of Jeff and Kathy Oberg.
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Editor's Update: Something for everyone
Friday, December 19, 2008 2:25 PM PST
By Scot Heisel
Online Editor
Printable version
E-mail this articleWith 2008 drawing to a close and many of our readers bundled up at home enjoying a snow day, we thought this would be a good time to provide an inventory of the recent projects we’ve completed at tdn.com and new features we’re working on. You can expect additional, shorter Editor’s Update columns every few weeks that will highlight other advances.
New Online Reporter
Greg Garrison joined our online staff in November. Prior to that, he spent the last two years designing sports pages for our print edition. He’s already helping us provide more Breaking News items and expand our overall online content, including prep sports coverage and multimedia elements. Welcome aboard, Greg.
Blog On
• In March, the Longview-based Bravo Battery, part of the U.S. Army National Guard 81st Armored Brigade, received word that its second overseas deployment was coming. Bravo had its annual training in Yakima in July. After a brief stay back home, members left for Fort McCoy in Wisconsin on Aug. 22 for additional training and then headed to Iraq in November. A few members of the unit and some of their family members have agreed to share the experience through our Bravo Blog. Visit the blog for links to all our stories about the unit since March and videos of some of the soldiers as they prepared to leave their families behind. You’ll also find photos and blog entries, including a few from the past week.
Visit the Bravo Blog
Getting there: Look for the Bravo Battery logo, a raven, toward the bottom of the home page.
• Graphics Supervisor Mathew Woodard is our self-proclaimed resident geek. He’s got a relatively new blog called “Alt+Tab,” which offers tasty tidbits on new technology and the latest in computer and home-console gaming.
Visit Alt+Tab
Getting there: Click on the bright yellow logo, currently about halfway down the right column of the home page.
• Longview mom Gayle Bryant has built a popular blog centered around ways to save money. Her blog, The Grocery Cart Challenge, offers great tips on shopping, household money-saving ideas and much more. Her personal goal, which sparked the blog? How to feed a family of six on $60 a week. Aside from maintaining her personal blog, Gayle has agreed to write a twice-monthly column, Common Cents, for our This Day section. Welcome aboard, Gayle.
Visit Gayle Bryant’s blog
Related TDN articles:
Common Cents: Take an inventory of your motives and start to save (Dec. 10)
Thrifty Longview mom gains online following with Grocery Cart Challenge blog (Nov. 12)
Money-saving advice from Gayle Bryant (Nov. 12)
Look for Gayle’s second Common Cents column next Wednesday.
Contest Central
In August we teamed up with UPickem, a company that helps media outlets across the nation build and maintain online contests. We burst out of the gate, simultaneously launching three new contests — Auto Mania, Pigskin Prophets and NFL Challenge, all of which were sponsored by Bud Clary Dealerships.
• Bud Clary’s Auto Mania was a submission contest in which readers posted photos and descriptions of there cars. After a few rounds of voting by readers, a 1966 Chevelle SS Convertible owned by Jeff and Kathy Oberg of Toledo was declared our first-place winner. The Obergs received an engraved trophy, and we’re working on showing off their car in our weekly People and Their Wheels feature.
• Hundreds of football fans signed up for Pigskin Prophets, in which players picked winners of prep, college and pro games each week, and NFL Challenge, in which players picked winners for every NFL game this season. Pigskin Prophets ended last week, and first-place winner Greg Rich of Kelso took home a flatscreen TV from Bud Clary Dealerships. NFL Challenge continues through the Super Bowl, and players in this contest are vying for national and local prizes.
• Not enough football for you? There’s still time to sign up for our newest contest, College Football Bowl Pickem. Pick the winners of all of this season’s bowl games. You can also create private groups with message boards for some trashing talking among friends. You can sign up any time during the bowl season, but keep in mind the first game kicks off Saturday morning.
• Future contests will include a NASCAR upickem, which launches early next year, a March Madness bracket upickem and a PGA game that begins in the spring.
Visit Contest Central
Getting there: There’s a white “Contests” link in the upper-right corner of the home page, or you can click on contest-specific logos that also appear on the home page.
Expanded Prep Sports Coverage
In August we launched Red Zone, a new section devoted entirely to prep sports. We’re pleased to say that it’s been quite popular, so we’ve spent a lot of time making it better. Besides all TDN prep stories and roundups, Red Zone offers a link to prep photo galleries, a tab that takes you to Contest Central and the chance to vote in our weekly prep sports poll.
Red Zone also provides complete schedules and results for just about every boys and girls team in the seven leagues in which our local teams compete. Tracking down every score is no small task, so it may take a few days to catch up. We’ll do our best to keep pace.
One other major advance involves video highlights from local basketball games. Online reporter Greg Garrison will try to attend one game each week and have video highlights embedded in the story the night of the game. We’ve already done this for Kelso girls vs. Prairie (Dec. 9) and Mark Morris boys vs. Black Hills (Dec. 16).
Look for video from our upcoming Red Zone Game of the Week, Kelso boys at R.A. Long on Tuesday.
Visit Red Zone home page
View boys schedule/results
View girls schedule/results
Getting there: Look for the Red Zone logo below the Update section near the top of the home page, or click on a Red Zone headline in the Sports section (lower left). The Red Zone home page has tabs that will take you to schedules, results and standings.
What’s Going On?
We’re very happy to announced we’ve scrapped our old clunker of a community calendar and replaced it with a sleeker, more user-friendly model.
It’s actually several calendars in one, with options for Entertainment, Sports, specific towns and more. We’re still entering as many events as we can find, so the number of listings will continue to grow. You can help us out by submitting your own event. We’ve also created a condensed version for our home page, with a quick glance at some of the week’s events.
Visit CowlitzEvents.com
Getting there: Click on the CowlitzEvents.com logo in the right column of the home page, or use the links provided in the condensed version below the logo.
Looking for local gift ideas?
Visit our GiftFinder, which offers local name-brand products at discount prices. Check out our Deal of the Day, or search our database for that perfect gift idea.
Visit GiftFinder
Getting there: Click on the GiftFinder logo currently below the calendar in the right column of the home page.
Gobs of Galleries
Got some time to kill? Check out our photo galleries, where you’ll find photos by the TDN photo staff and members of your community. Got a photo you’d like to share? It’s easier than you might think.
Recent galleries:
Reader submitted: Snow photos
Prep Sports Fall 2008 (TDN)
Kelso Tree Lighting/Longview Parade (TDN)
Reader submitted: Jumbo’s Memorial Toy Run 2008
Unique Tin 2008
Submit a photo
In November we started a new gallery of editorial cartoons. You’ll find dozens of cartoons, and we add four to six new ones every weekday.
Editorial Cartoon Gallery
Getting there: You’ll find the photo galleries in the lower-left corner of the home page, or look for the Photos link under the Entertainment tab at the top of the page.
Daily News reprints
We’ve made it easier to purchase reprints of photographs taken by The Daily News photo staff. Look for the “Buy photo” link below most staff photos on the Web site. If you can’t find the photo you want, click on the “Purchase Reprints” link at the very top of the home page. You can search through available photos or submit special requests. Besides tradition reprints, you can also purchase a photo of, say, your favorite prep athlete, politician or police officer (to name a few) on coffee mugs, T-shirts, greeting cards, mousepads and more.
Visit Purchase Reprints
Golden oldies
OK. These features aren’t new, but they’re pretty cool, and maybe you haven’t seen them yet.
• Our discussion forum, Town Square, is one of our most popular sections. You can register for free and immediately join any number of discussions on politics, sports, entertainment, cooking and more. You can jump into a discussion or start your own thread on the topic of your choosing. Unlike story comments, Town Square comments don’t go through an approval process, so they appear right away.
Visit Town Square
Getting there: Look for the Town Square link in the upper-right corner of the home page, below Obituaries and Police Blotter. Or look for the Town Square tab at the top of the page.
• It’s great to see some low gas prices for a change, but we doubt they’ll stay that low for long. If you’re looking for local businesses with the lowest gas prices, check out our listings provided by GasBuddy.com.
Go to Gas Prices
Getting there: Look for Gas Prices under the Community tab at the top of the page.
A digital blend
• If you like the convenience of reading The Daily News online but miss the look and ads of the print edition, the e-Edition may be just the ticket. For a very reasonable fee, you can download a complete pdf version of The Daily News that’s identical to the print edition.
Visit e-Edition home page
Getting there: The e-Edition link currently is below the World/U.S./Politics headlines in the center column of the home page. There’s also a link in the Customer Service tab at the top of the page.
• Or, if you’re online and just want to scan the print edition ads, we also offer digital versions of all our print ads.
View Newspaper Ads Online
Getting there: Look for the magnifying glass link below Today’s Most Commented Stories in the right column of the home page.
What’s for dinner?
If you’re curious if there are any Thai restaurants in Woodland or want to compare Mexican restaurants in Kelso and Longview, you’ll want to check out the restaurant guide we’re preparing to launch any day now. Our searchable database eventually will include address and business hour information for all local restaurants, as well as what types of food are available and what you might expect to spend. We’re even looking to add pdf images of menus. Stay tuned for that one.
Also in the works
As you can see, there's more to tdn.com than just a home page. We’re expanding and we're planning a 2009 redesign to make it easier to find and enjoy all the new features and content we’ve added.
You can help us out by letting us know what kind of content you’d like to see. Some other things we’ve considered: Daily horoscopes, crossword and Sudoku puzzles, up-to-the-minute stock market information and a bridal guide.
We get new ideas every day, and we’re eager to hear some from our readers. You can leave them as story comments here or send me an e-mail at sheisel@tdn.com.
overeducated wrote on Dec 19, 2008 7:58 AM:
bucko wrote on Dec 19, 2008 1:19 PM:
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