From In-depth to Internet

I am taking two classes this semester that focus on the difference between reading something through print (whether that be a newspaper, novel or essay) and reading online and I've discovered that I am guilty of being a Web site scanner. 

Give me a book or a newspaper article and I will devour it without thinking twice, but a long, flat block of text on my computer screen seems daunting and I usually balk at having to read more than a few paragraphs. 

Because of my busy schedule, I find that more and more I go to the Web to read my news each day. But newspapers have not yet discovered how to write online in a way that draws readers in. 

My favorite sites tend to be the New York Times and BBC World News. After consuming my morning news, here are a few things I noticed they did to hold my attention (and in many cases, divert my attention elsewhere): 

• Both sites put information at the top, left of the page - immediately drawing my eye to the stories they viewed as most important
• The NY Times linked words throughout their stories so I could click to learn more about a subject
• The BBC World News used bolded sub-headlines so I could easily scan for information I was looking for

But on neither site did the stories look like they were designed for the Internet:

• Large blocks of text had few bullet points or bolded sub-heads to break up the monotony
• In the case of the NY Times, most of the stories appeared to be in the same form they would be found in the print version
• Photos were present but often scarce and did not always enhance the reading experience

In all, I found that I prefer to satisfy my daily news addiction through reading a print newspaper. But if I have only a few minutes, the Web is the best place to go to quickly scan top headlines and gain a cursory knowledge of what the day's current events are.