LWN: Comments on "An LWN reader survey"

page layout -- horizontal scrolling

JLCdjinn — 2007-09-11T15:37:23+00:00

CSS offers at least one elegant solution to this problem with the overflow property. When set to "auto", a block that is too wide will automagically generate its own scroll bars; other blocks are not affected.

For LWN, the rule would look something like this:

div.CommentBox
{
  overflow: auto;
}

An LWN reader survey

csawtell — 2007-02-16T10:54:35+00:00

The 'Grumpy Editor' needs a ghost writer to help.
Anybody know of a suitable person?

LWN for mobile/small devices

domo — 2007-02-06T06:03:07+00:00

I use a mobile device (Nokia Internet Tablet 770) to read LWN weekly edition.
In order to get it to the device I first need to go to weekly edition front
page, then choose "one big page" and finally "printable page".

I´d like to get all this behind one click under like "lwn weekly edition for small devices".

After downloading the edition to my 770 (with web browser) I use FBReader
to read the content. It screws some stuff up but is better in general
than the default 770 browser for this purpose.

But thanks, the "pain" in process getting the edition to my "ebook reader"
is insignificant to the benefits I achieve by being able to spend loose
time by reading LWN many mornings while sitting at bus going to work.

missing wishlist item: improved search(!)

roelofs — 2007-02-06T00:51:03+00:00

Probably the biggest wishlist item I'd like to see is an improved search facility. The current version is very slow, does no highlighting, and appears to sort by date rather than relevance, which makes it less than useful. On the other hand, it has access to metadata ("Security page", "comment") not easily available to or usable by mainline search engines. I'd love to see some improvements here.

On the other hand, I've read through all the other comments so far, and aside from some "needs better navigation" comments, no one else seems to care about the search facility. So maybe it's just me...

Greg

An LWN reader survey

roelofs — 2007-02-06T00:42:27+00:00

... site navigation. It is primitive which is a good thing, but I think that it hides things gems such as the kernel index and the timeline from casual visitors.

Maybe a sidebar heading "Perennial Favorites" or "Most Popular Links" or something (for left side, below everything else)? I agree that some of the real jewels are far too well hidden.

Greg

An LWN reader survey

gerv — 2007-02-05T19:34:04+00:00

<applause>. Although I note that this basically means "We like all the time-consuming stuff; the auto-generated stuff isn't so useful". Which is not the best news for the editor. But hey, it's the truth :-)

Sending links ...

gerv — 2007-02-05T19:30:09+00:00

Yes, I always find it hard to track down as well. Something else which could do with being more prominent.

Kernel page index?

amarjan — 2007-02-05T18:34:40+00:00

Even simply changing the background colour of the top navigation bar would be a great start. I've always thought that on LWN, navigation == salmon background. That dead grey background on the top just disappears into the page like a slot for a blocked banner ad; I never even noticed it!

An LWN reader survey

dvdeug — 2007-02-05T14:19:58+00:00

I'd like to see more material similar to the in-depth material on the Kernel, for stuff like GCC, Glibc, binutils, or the GNOME or KDE libraries and support libraries; that is, stuff that runs at a low-level on many people's systems and normally unpublicized changes can have a big effect on systems; on the other hand, stuff that has nice gooey cool code details.

I'd also like to see something like the development page, but without the games and office suites and everything else, and more than just press releases for the compilers and development tools (Valgrind!) and IDEs and other stuff specifically for developers.

Grumpy Editor

telsa — 2007-02-05T13:53:31+00:00

That comment combines two of my favourite things about LWN: the Grumpy Editor, and the coverage from conferences. I have tried to take notes from talks before, and I am utter awe of the OLS/LCA/etc coverage on LWN. It can be seriously aggravating when half the people on IRC or whose weblogs you read are burbling about some conference and no-one writes up a single talk for those who couldn't make it, so the summaries from conferences are a boon.

And everyone has said everything about the Grumpy Editor already. :)

An LWN reader survey

job — 2007-02-05T12:48:22+00:00

I think LWN should focus on what makes it unique and great. Even though many thinks how-to articles would be good when clicking through this, please realize that would make just one of a dozen such sites which doesn't charge for content. It would be impossible to put the skill level "just right".

On the other hand, LWN has unique and high quality coverage of most events and excellent in-depth technical articles. Since Kernel Traffic went away, LWN is the only game in town for kernel coverage (following lkml isn't really an option for most of us). The file system articles by Valerie Henson was an excellent example of both easily accessible and technical in content.

Another thing that LWN is great at is the overview articles in the Grumpy Editor series. What makes them unique is the great perspective and knowledge of traditional UNIX utilities that often covers text based tools as well.

If just one thing should be improved on LWN I think it may be the site navigation. It is primitive which is a good thing, but I think that it hides things gems such as the kernel index and the timeline from casual visitors. That concept could also be expanded with a good security and vulnerability overview.

Reader Comments

jrigg — 2007-02-04T12:56:26+00:00

The comments were one of the reasons I paid for a subscription. While some of them can be a waste of space, there are still enough informative and insightful comments to be valuable, especially on the more technical subjects.

Kernel page index?

hugh — 2007-02-04T04:14:48+00:00

I second the wow's and me-too's. I recently spent quite a while cursing the search enginge looking for one of Valerie Henson's KHB articles. I think that something needs to be done to make this valuable resource more visible.

security vulnerabilities database sorted by creation-date

sweikart — 2007-02-04T00:47:35+00:00

I would like a version of http://lwn.net/Vulnerabilities/ that is sorted by creation-date not update-date. This way, I can read about a vulnerability once (the first time it's addressed by anyone), and then never read about it again. -scott

Kernel page index?

fixkowalski — 2007-02-03T23:12:52+00:00

I wasted cumulated days googling for kernel features, while as a subscriber I had access to this page. Please make this more visible. It is a shame that such a piece of information is so buried...

Kernel page index?

nedrichards — 2007-02-03T22:40:33+00:00

This chorus of 'I didn't know this amazing thing existed' seems to suggest that some kind of Interaction Design/Information Architecture/Look and Feel refresh may be handy.

Grumpy editor index?

a9db0 — 2007-02-02T18:46:40+00:00

Talk about a hidden feature....
Fortunately, Google is pretty good at finding them.

Grumpy Editor series - excellent! 5+

Grumpy Editor series index - bonus points!

This one probably deserves a link off the main page header. I've read every one, and used several as reference when digging for solutions. I'm sure they take a lot of time to put together, but they are well worth it to this reader. Thanks!

Reader Comments

kael — 2007-02-02T17:32:26+00:00

I have an alternate spin here. I've been against comments since they were implemented, indeed I modified my account settings soley to comment on the survey, since no other form of custom input was provided (shame!).

LWN = Linux Weekly News. It's not /., not a discussion board, not a community forum. And it shouldn't try to be those things.

I subscribe to LWN as I consider it an electronic weekly paper of great quality. However, I use it in that manner; I read once a week the weekly edition. I'm not interested in daily stories and as I mentioned, comments, no thanks. The letters page is the proper response forum.

In closing I'd like to thank LWN and I will continue to thank you with my wallet.

Ps. Please don't respond for my benefit, as I'll be turning off comments again Real Soon.

Hardware

yodermk — 2007-02-02T16:43:58+00:00

Ok, so people consider HOWTO articles to not be news, understandably. That may be true, but I suggest integrating them with some hardware coverage. Some articles covering newish hardware -- how well does it work with Linux, what modules are necessary, and how do you set it up? -- would be pretty valuable. That would be a good thing to outsource to guest authors. Someone gets an interesting gadget, does a write-up about it, and it might pique the interest of several LWN readers.

Sure there are other "hardware compatibility list" projects, but they usually have vaguely useful comments and rarely cover newer stuff. I am not proposing a list, just news combined with howtos for newer gadgets not covered well elsewhere.

Yet another happy customer

rountree — 2007-02-02T12:16:31+00:00

What I like best about lwn is the reporting that isn't
duplicated anywhere else. The Grumpy Editor Guides are
unique -- I can't think of any other regular review
with similar depth and honesty. But the section I turn
to week in and week out is the lead kernel article.
Explaining some new aspect of the kernel -- what's the
problem, what was the old solution and its limitations,
what the new solution and possible limitations -- is
invaluable to me. To the best of my knowledge, nobody
else covers this material.

Everything else could go and I would keep coming back
for the in-depth articles on flocks and abis. Granted,
it's a niche market, and I don't know how much you're
going to grow by emphasizing it more than you do currently,
but if you could keep it at its current level then I
forsee renewing my subscription for several more years.

Thanks for all of your wonderful work so far.

The Time Line

raytd — 2007-02-02T11:35:52+00:00

I couldn't live without the "Time Line". I look forward to it every year.

An LWN reader survey

pointwood — 2007-02-02T10:09:08+00:00

++ again! This is the only thing I subscribe to and I'm frankly astonished that it doesn't have more subscribers. Maybe it is simply because of all the competition - there are so many places to get your news from and most of them are free.

I just got a new credit card and couldn't remember whether that influenced my subscription here, but a quick check and an update to my subscription so it doesn't run out until 2009 and I was calm again.

An LWN reader survey

xav — 2007-02-02T10:02:32+00:00

Hi,

first, I'd like to thank LWN for existing. Then, please oh please don't do
podcasts ! I can read english perfectly well, but I have troubles
understanding people (especially natives) speaking english, and then it's
easy for me to read LWN at work, whereas listening for it would not.

Finally, I'd like to underline how difficult it is to choose what kind of
articles I would like being developed in future editions: I know that
whatever the subject, if it's done by LWN it's an enjoyable reading, and
will teach me something interesting.

Cheers,
Xav

"Grumpy Editor"

pointwood — 2007-02-02T09:58:55+00:00

And I love the humour in the articles!

bigpage and printable links

jbw — 2007-02-02T07:14:35+00:00

> One of the most useful, albeit very simple, things for me is the "One
> big page" link on the weekly issue - this means I don't forget to at
> least skim any part of the zine.

This reminds me. I always view the weekly edition by grabbing the URL for it, then adding "bigpage?format=printable" by hand. It would be very helpful to be able to set this as a preference so I don't have to always type this or click through several links to get it.

Kernel page index?

markcox — 2007-02-02T01:54:26+00:00

i have to add another 'me too', and suggest that you move the options to the bottom of the sidebar, and trim them down. e.g. 'contact us' and 'write for lwn' could be merged. 'home' could be removed because most ppl know that clicking the logo means home. etc.

i would also like to mention elsewhere in this thread the 'grumpy editor' page was discussed, i have to admit that i often skim these as sometimes the article may cover a topic i'm not interested in, and if the article goes for several weeks, i feel disappointed, i think the non-tech articles (like about email clients) should not span across issues.

the third thing i want to address is from an increasing no's of subscribers point of view, it isn't us (the subscribers) you should be asking, it is the non-subscribers, psychologically, if we subscribers think that this years lwn is not as good as last years, we will probably still re-subscribe, so i think it's short sighted to exclude non-subscribers (although, i think you should have a 'different' survey for them).

and, thanks for the good work, i always enjoy reading lwn.

An LWN reader survey

ordonnateur — 2007-02-02T00:27:43+00:00

Much has been said already with which I agree: it's the only thing for which I am willing to pay a subscription, the value of the Grumpy Editor series should not be underestimated, I never knew the kernel index page was there.

I find the security news useful; yes, as a sysadmin I subscribe to distribution specific lists but it is useful to have a feel for overall trends.
I look at LWN, often via .rss, several times a day, but use the weekly edition to be sure not to have missed anything.
Much of the kernel page is beyond my ken, but I still read it in order to (sort of) understand the development trends.
Howtos could be useful but only if they are at a high technical level. Similarly if you can find good, very good, contributors fine, but quality before quantity.

Libre Weekly News

giraffedata — 2007-02-02T00:19:39+00:00

The name of the publication was officially changed from Linux Weekly News to LWN.net several years ago.

Reader Comments

corbet — 2007-02-01T23:38:52+00:00

LWN has always required that commenters have an account. I think it does help keep the noise down somewhat, but it's a pretty small barrier.

Reader Comments

barbara — 2007-02-01T23:36:32+00:00

First, I'd like to echo the earlier reader comments about the overall
excellence of LWN _content_. This is the *only* site I'm willing to pay
for. I've been a faithful reader since 1998.

Second, I've noticed a deterioration of the quality of the _comments_ on
LWN. A few years ago I rated the reader comments as excellent. Over the
past year or two the signal to noise ratio has declined; I've especially
noticed negative and unpleasant posts to subscription-not-required
stories.

The best solution to this problem is to require readers to sign up
for an account at no charge if they want the privilege of commenting.
LXer.com (another excellent Linux news source) does this, and the reader
comments are respectful. It's just a great reader community with lots
of give and take, humour, insight, and just plain fun. LXer requires a
user name (it doesn't have to be your original name) and an email address.
It also requires the user to abide by their Terms of Service and Code of
Conduct.

Advertising placement

jbw — 2007-02-01T23:34:45+00:00

How about allowing people to opt-in to more ads? If there was a button I could click to get more ads (and therefore more revenue for LWN) I would happily choose to do so.

An LWN reader survey

BackSeat — 2007-02-01T23:25:00+00:00

For a short while, there was a "Desktop" section in LWN (maybe 2-3 years ago?). After a shaky start, it settled into a useful and informative page, although I recall its demise was for financial reasons. It would be good to reconsider that as funds permit, especially now that Linux is becoming more prevalent on the corporate desktop.

With respect to "HOWTO" articles aimed at beginners: please don't. The only other useful, non-beginner Linux publication was Linux Journal, but they've dumbed down so much in the past six months that I have cancelled my subscription. There are LOTS of beginner 'HOWTO' articles on the web, just as there are lots of Linux magazines aimed at beginners, but precious few sites have quality yet resist the need to appeal to the lowest common denominator (well, there's one site, and this is it).

Like so many others, this is the only online resource I pay for, and I'm happy to continue to.

An LWN reader survey

jimi — 2007-02-01T22:58:27+00:00

Like many others have stated, my subscription to LWN has been worth every penny. In fact, it is worth more than the pennies I am already paying. I wonder if in order to meet the monetary needs LWN has a rate hike or higher individual option is appropriate? I'm certain this wouldn't fit everyone, so perhaps some kind of study to find out if higher rates are feasible is appropriate. The content on LWN is the best I've found and I am willing to better support it if required.

Sending links ...

corbet — 2007-02-01T22:39:53+00:00

The "send a link" feature is still available. There is some information in the FAQ on how to use it.

calendar

bart — 2007-02-01T22:29:37+00:00

I answered "2" on the events question, but an iCal version would definitely make it useful to me! It's
interesting to know which events are coming up, but currently I just don't remember to check the
events page.

I also really enjoy the event write-ups on LWN, like the articles about linux.conf.au.

Sending links ...

kmself — 2007-02-01T22:28:14+00:00

... is that still available? I've looked for the feature a few times recently and failed to find it. Should be a good advertising technique, I'd think.

We need a Grumpy Editor's Guide to LWN :-)

felixfix — 2007-02-01T21:52:02+00:00

A tour by example, full of the good Grumpy Editor drawings and screenshots, yeh, that's the ticket!

Grumpy editor index?

jospoortvliet — 2007-02-01T21:34:20+00:00

fully agreed. the content of LWN is excellent. well, the survey results
are pretty clear, i'd say. i did rate some things 1, but mostly because
they just don't spark my interest, it's not that i hate them being there.

and the 'real' articles are very interesting to read and of a very high
quality. actually they are why i read LWN, i've seen the news already.

calendar glitch

jenro — 2007-02-01T21:31:55+00:00

While you are at it: could the events overview on the announcements page
be fixed? It´s a bit confusing that days 10, 20 or 30 are always shortend
to 1, 2 or 3.

The "2007 Open Source Think Tank" at Napa for example is listed to start
at March 8 and to end at March 1.

An LWN reader survey

bronson — 2007-02-01T20:45:57+00:00

I agree. The problem with non-trivial howtos is that they are necessarily tied to a particular version of a particular distribution.

For instance, I'm in the middle of writing a KVM howto: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/KVM . I'd love to submit something like this to LWN for publication. The problem is, it would take days for me to make it distribution-neutral. And, if it did cover most of the popular distributions, it would probably be incomprehensible. Ever try following code with tons of #ifdefs in it? Now picture that with English...

HOWTOs are great. I'm just skeptical that they could be turned into something worthy of publication on LWN.

(I suppose one solution would be a wiki-type-thing, where readers could translate HOWTOs to different distros themselves. That sounds a little far-fetched though...)