By By Adam Prestridge
Everybody likes to have options, and the more options you have, the better.
This applies to most everything in life, no matter if it involves a product you buy or a meal that you eat, having options is always a plus.
The staff at the Advance understands this concept and has been working hard to offer our readers more, despite tough economic times. With that in mind, the staff has been busy the past couple of weeks preparing for the launch of several new products, which we believe will not only be enjoyable for our readers, but a benefit to our city.
In September 2008, the Advance launched its new and improved Web site offering surfers the opportunity to be more interactive. Some of the new features added to the completely redesigned site were, a slideshow, which displays all the photos incorporated with the top stories; a most commented and most emailed story feature, driven by our online readers; videos and world news.
When the new site launched, the staff also made a vow to keep the community abreast of breaking news. Since then, judging from community response, our coverage of breaking events has become a buzz in town.
Another addition to the new site was large photo albums, which enables the Advance to publish additional photos of events covered in and around Atmore. Our readers can also share photos with other readers by submitting photos under the “Your Photos” section and uploading them to the site. Unfortunately, there were several “bugs” in the system hindering the staff, so not many staff galleries have been created and only a handful of reader photos have been submitted.
So, after weeks of brainstorming, the staff has come up with a solution for the photo gallery problems: a second Web site devoted entirely to photos. That site will become a reality on April 1 when its name and address are unveiled to the community.
The site will allow the Advance’s staff to upload as many pictures as they want as they pertain to events in the community. The best part is that community members can sign-up using a username and password and upload their own photo galleries. Users of the site can also communicate with other users and comment on photos.
See next Wednesday’s Advance for advertisement for the new site.
In addition to a second Web site, the Advance will also be publishing a Spring Home &Garden magazine. The full color edition will hit the newsstands Sunday and will feature local stories, photos and tips for springtime sprucing up.
With that said, we would also like to thank the advertisers who made the magazine possible for our readers to enjoy.
Adam Prestridge is publisher of The Atmore Advance. He can be reached at 368-2123.