Pete Clifton, editor of the BBC News website, unveils an upcoming feature on the site, endures shouting in capital letters from one unhappy reader, highlights another remarkable laptop excursion, and launches a vote to solve the picture poser once and for all.
Re: desktop ticker. Thank you for the "sneaky peep" of the new destktop ticker being developed. I've been waiting since the old one was pulled a while ago for this revision (it's been a long wait!). I'm happy that the BBC is being forward-thinking about technology and about keeping up with how users interact with the site. RSS, the desktop ticker, and your P2P trials are exciting to see. As for my opinion on the preview picture you posted, the ticker is clear and readable which is good. It's meant to be on the desktop background so keeping it simple and stylish is the right idea. Please just make sure it is a stable piece of software and that the legibility of the headlines is good while they are scrolling by at whatever speed. I can't wait to try the full version.
John-Charles Cary, Montreal, Canada
RE splash page. Not a bad idea but I too thought that the writing was way too large on the headline. Also I was expecting more information on the splash. It seemed to me that just the font and the picture got bigger, which didn't inform me of anything the old way would have done.
Gavin Kinch, Adelaide, Australia
Just wanted to tell you how very much I appreciate the BBC. I watch the news every morning on BBC America. For the most part, I find the BBC remarkably unbiased and even-handed (I wish there were anything quite as good in the US). Many thanks!
Katy, Fairfax Station, VA, USA
As an UK expat living in the USA I love the BBC websites. However, isn't there a danger of overload? How many webpages can one possibly read in one day? And does the cost come out of yearly licence? This is not a complaint but put here to generate discussion.
Ron Williams, Colorado Springs, USA
Regarding the new 'splash' homepage. Yes, it does make the major story more prominent on the page, however, it also reduces the information supplied about the story. Previously you would have reserved the top part of the column that is normally "Other Top Stories" for links about the major story but with the larger image and bigger headline text this is now gone. If a way to include more links about the story can be found that would be an improvement.
Kenneth Knox, Glasgow, UK
What chance of us poor Mac and Linux users actually getting some kind of BBC story alert software? We sure didn't get the last one, and are unable to be involved with the BBC's iMP trial. Shunned.
Has the threshold for what merits a news alert popup changed? When I first installed the software it only popped up occasionally to inform me of major events. Now we get it several times a day to inform us of vital things like the name of the new James Bond. Sorry to gripe. I think that the BBC news website is probably the best site on the web and I am a regular reader of your column. The photo isn't that bad.
Is it just me or does Pete Clifton look a bit too much like Francis Rossi of Status Quo fame in the picture above?
Chris Higgins, Preston