03/22/2001

Welcome to a new edition of "Ask the Manager." There's a lot new at DallasNews.com these days, and I would like to take a few moments to go over our latest additions:

Spring e-cards. Our electronic cards for all occasions continue to be popular. The latest addition is scenes from the Dallas Arboretum, celebrating both the arrival of Spring and the Dallas Blooms event, going on now. You could really brighten someone's day by sending him or her one or more of these e-cards. They are free, fun and easy! You'll find them and others (such as images of Troy Aikman) in our Card Stock section:

http://www.dallasnews.com/cardstock/index.shtml

Speaking of Troy, his departure from the Dallas Cowboys made lots of headlines recently. Did you know that for the first time you could purchase reprints of those historic pages? The prints are 11 by 17, full color, on glossy, coated paper. Priced at only $12.95, they are great keepsakes for Cowboy fans. You can view them here:

http://www.allegroweb.com/dmn_ftpg/aikman.htm

Subscribe to a Page. Did you know you can stay current with the latest news from our website through your e-mail? Using our new Subscribe to a Page feature, we'll deliver you the front page, the business page, the metro page, the sports page or the weather page up to three times a day, directly to your email. It's free. You can sign up for this service here:

http://subscribepages.belointeractive.com/

Today in History. Ever wonder what famous events happened on this date in history? What famous people were born, and how old they are? Just bookmark our new "Today in History" page from the Associated Press. Check it daily and you'll be "in the know." Find it here:

http://www.dallasnews.com/history/

One of the newest products from The Dallas Morning News is Express, published weekdays and distributed through our partner papers in Mexico. This 8-page edition sums up the latest news from the United States for readers in Mexico and Latin America. We also distribute it on the website as a PDF file using the free software program, Acrobat Reader. Take a look or send the link to your friends. It's here:

http://www.dallasnews.com/frontpage/express.PDF

The 2000 Census. The long-awaited information on the 2000 Census has started to arrive, and we have tons of data to share with you. You'll find a roundup of what's available at:

http://www.dallasnews.com/census2000/censusdmnhome.html

Also, working in collaboration with the North Central Texas Council of Governments, you can find much more, including aerial maps, which can pinpoint your home or neighborhood. Look for this great resource here:

http://census.dfwinfo.com/

Speaking of special areas, don't miss our complete coverage of the Van Cliburn Piano Competition:

http://www.dallasnews.com/cliburn/index.shtml

Or our special area on the Oscars:

http://www.dallasnews.com/oscar/

And congratulations are in order for staffers Laura Ford, Leslie White and John Cranfill, who shared honors at the recent Editor and Publisher Interactive Conference. Their work on "Toxic Traps" was honored with a national Eppy Award for Best Special Section. Staffer Karen Davis was also nominated for her work on "Hidden Wars." Great job by all.

You can view Toxic Traps here:

http://www.dallasnews.com/toxic/1003index.html

There's much more in the works, so check this space soon for more exciting developments at dallasnews.com.

Now let's go right to the mailbox ...

Q. "Do you currently have a way to download your news to a pocket PC, so Microsoft Reader could be used to read the paper? If not, any plans for the future?" -- A. Rodiger

A. We are very actively looking for ways we can distribute the content on dallasnews.com to wireless devices, cellular phones and pagers. We already have services in place that provide personalized weather and financial information: My Weather, My Finance and My Cast. Here are the links:

My Cast:
http://weather.belointeractive.com/mycast/dev/dallas/mycast.jsp. This provides weather information personalized to the square block.

My Weather and My Finance:
https://home.strategy.com/PortalHome.asp Personalized weather and financial news delivered via email, cell phones or pagers.

You can be sure this is an area we'll continue to expand. Look for new product offerings in the next 30-60 days.

Q. "Is it still possible to download your great wallpaper scenes. We used to be able to do so from your travel page."

Thanks, Don Graves

A. Don -- Wallpaper, for those who might not know, is what many computers use as background for their screens. Typically, it's a photo or image that has been sized to fit your screen settings. The most popular sizes are 800 by 600 pixels or 1024 by 768. As to your question, we did have a number of travel wallpaper images available at one time but they were lost following a redesign of that area. I will ask the editors about the possibility of restoring those.

In the meantime, if anyone wants to see an example of wallpaper, our sports areas have a lot of it, including here:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sports_day/
football/cowboys/2000wallpaper.html

Q. "I think it is absurd to charge to go into your archive files. I have read newspapers from previous towns I lived in, and never have I had to pay a fee to view articles that were written in the past. One of the newspapers I still frequent the site of goes back almost four years, and no charge. This is ridiculous, and therefore, I will not subscribe nor use your sites anymore. I will just go back to the library and pull up information I need. Thank you for putting financial needs before your readers' interests!"

A. This question seems to come up often. Let me explain why there is a small charge to access stories older than seven days:

Our online archive (http://archive.dallasnews.com) contains every story we have published since August 1984 -- almost a million articles. These are searchable by word, topic, section, author and date. As you might expect, it isn't inexpensive to database that information and provide the means to search it. The small charge (40 cents to $2 per article, depending on the number purchased) helps us defray that cost.

As you said, you do have the option of using the library to research and find those same articles for no charge. But many people feel the savings in time and trouble more than offset the small charge for having the article immediately from your computer.

While it may be true some newspapers offer their "back issues" for free, most major newspapers do not. And we charge less than many of those. We think the Archive provides a valuable service to readers and hope to expand our offering to the years prior to 1984. We will continue to make it as affordable as possible.

On a related note, here is an email we got from a customer who needed help using the Archive:

"Thanks, Jill, for your help and quick response! Many times I send off questions for assistance and never get a response...nice to know the Dallas Morning News has real people behind their website! Great job!"

Much appreciated, Bud Farnham

Bud: Thanks for writing us about that. Jill and the team who support the Archive are very committed to providing the best customer service.

And then this note:

"I wrote after the election to congratulate you and your web master for having the best election coverage available on the net. I read several newspapers (maybe scan is a better word) every day on the net. I get almost 100% of my news from various sources on the Internet. I have been checking coverage on the 7 convicts looking at Colorado papers and others. I must tell you again how impressed I am with the quality and content of your web site. It is terrific and shows a lot of attention to detail that I value. Keep up the good work!!!"

Now that's a great note to end on!

Have a great week everybody.

Gerry