Blog #3

Favorite Online Newspapers:

1. The Harbinger Online - The website, with its big, bold. colorful fonts, gives the reader/visitor a very strong first impression. The stories are updated often; even yesterday, at least two were updated. The overall theme is very well balanced, and the website is very user-friendly, not overly complicated, and easy to navigate. Stories are very relevant and interesting, especially to students.

2. Point of View - The articles here are more opinionated and political. Some topics include bankruptcy, immigration reform, and executive decisions in the White House. The website gives a very technical and professional feel, and gives me a very intellectual impression of the student body. I find the polls to be very interesting because people actually go on it and vote; the opinions are varied which opens the floor to possible discussion.

3. The Tower Pulse - When I first clicked on the website, I immediately noticed the graphic change of the big picture headlines at the top of the page. I really like this site because the topics are highly, highly relevant to students as well as society. Just yesterday were the Oscars, and within a 24-hour period, there is already there is an article talking about the highlights of the night. The topics do not only cater to the movie culture, but other pop culture and trends as well, like Twitch Plays Pokemon.

Best of SNO:

1. "Ignore Dehydration Symptoms at Your Own Risk" - I am drawn particularly towards the headline; it is as if the article is challenging you to read it, and that's how I think headlines should be: compelling. Reading the article brings me into the point of view of someone who is actually undergoing dehydration, which is an important aspect of the story's impacts to the reader, especially because it highlights clear symptoms, which people may or may not recognize as the onset of something very serious.

2. "Self-harm is Damaging but Treatable" - This article focuses on a very sensitive topic that prevalent yet often avoided in society. Though cutting and self-harm can be viewed with a certain social stigma, the article takes a very direct approach to addressing the causes and effects of such a damaging action. Such strong writing can also enable sufferers to reach out and find help, as if they were to read the article, they would realize that they aren't the only ones going through such an ordeal and that there is a very possible way to help them out of their mentality.

Features Editor
Michelle Huang

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Websites that stood out to me:
-The Tower Pulse (thetowerpulse.com): The Tower Pulse stood out to me because it was very clean. It was clear and visually easy to understand. The information was split up in accessible ways.
-The Kirkwood Call (thekirkwoodcall.com): This website has a good color scheme and a big picture at the top of the page of the school auditorium filled with kids.
-The Harbinger (smeharbinger.net): This website has a color that is nice on the eyes. THe action shots of sports games caught my eye when I looked at the page.

Stories that stood out to me:
"Breakdancing helps student come out of shell" by Clara Harrington and Maddie Kinnaman from Palo Alto High School was touching and it had a really good lead. It interesting me especially become I am a dancer and loved to hear this story about dance helping someone to become more confident in themselves.
"Uncovering Addiction" by Kaitlyn Lemke and Jackie Gehling immediately caught my attention because of the title. It automatically makes you curious. The story is well written and brings a lot of attention to teenage addiction which I feel is a big problem today in many schools.

Daniela Carlock

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I like the Foothill Dragon press website. The layout was very intriguing and made me want to see more. The Boiling Point had very interesting articles. Many of them were about Jewish identity. The Edge Online had a very organized format. It was simple but got the point across. There were also many intriguing articles. The first story that stood out to me was about a girl who made her own homecoming dress. It was really cool to read about a girl who is around the same age as me. I’m interested in fashion so her story somewhat inspired me to design clothes. The second story that stood out to me was about people who are addicted to heroin. This story was very deep and it was interesting to read about how students overcame their addiction and are now back on their feet.

Blog 3 Stephen Proler

The Foothill Dragon Press expresses its layout in a manner of organization and interest. The most interesting stories are at the top of the page, while the layout shows all of the papers distinct categories. The photos are a direct representation of what the story is about. The The Inklings news online website provides for easy access and format. The layout is interesting in the way where top headlines flash out at you. The Boiling Point creates an interesting format, not one of creativity but one of organization. This paper acts as a file for everything going on with its high school as well provides students opportunities and informations only found on the website.

The review on the Lego movie agreed with every opinion I created after watching the children's film. The story provides an inside look not only on a child's view of the movie but an adults as well. The interest of the hidden characters only adults would know of engraved a review of interest. The review on Flappy Bird takes the daring stance of the addictions to apps and the troubles it brings. This story does not tell of the success of Flappy Bird but what it is doing to the people who play. A very interesting angle and avery unusual outlook on this now famous game.

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Looking at the list of online publications, one of my favorites would the the Palo Alto Campanile. I really like thier publication's webiste because of its simple and easy to navigate design. Any viewer can get a glimpse at whats stories have recently been published in each section, photos and their twitter feed all on the home page. I also really enjoyed how this website had a way to see their current publication. Several of the stories related to what was going on in the Palo Alto community- not just what was happeining in the school. I really like how they include what is happening around them instead of only school related stories, such as rennovations in the Palo Alto community or local elections. Another webiste that I liked was the Walnut High School Hoof Print. Their website is really eyecatching in that it is full of contrasting colors and cool effects. I really liked their sections such as "arts" which included school activites such as dance and choir and "scene" which featured reviews and more enteratinment centered stories. Many of their features were question and asnwers series along with short, quick to read stories such as a look back at fashion's history. Another online publication I liked is the Sagamore paper online. I really liked this website because it was simple, eyecatching and easy to navigate. I really liked how each section was seperated in subsections which made room for more stories. I also liked how they had stories about things such as the school cafeteria to an alumni's look back at the school's curriculum. This website made it really easy to find everything you need to know about the school from applying to the paper to just reading about what is going on in the school. All of these websites showed a glimpse at the students at each school and the entire community. On the best of Sno website the story "Homelessness affects students, while school systems offer support" by Hannah Conkin, John Sevier MS, Kingsport, Tenn. is very intriguing because of the controversial subject matter. This story easily could have been shot down by the school administration, but it was well written and encompassed the entire issue and how the school dealt with it. Another story that I found intriguing was "Uncovering addiction" by Kaitlyn Lemke and Jackie Gehling. This story featured multiple interviewees who had all dealt with the serious subject matter of addiction. A subject that is not easy to understand much less make understandable to the reader, was professionally written about by these high school newspaper students. 

Alison Elberger
entertainment editor

Blog #3: CSPA & Best of the SNO - James F.

These three sites stood out for me. Each of them have stories that show clear formatting (quote, transition, quote).

The Clarion (http://rbclarion.com/): This site was very clean, classic and simple, not overwhelming users with flashy widgets. Site navigation was relatively straightforward. The home page features an individual section for each section in the newspaper allowing one to easily browse for a story. They have individual pages for each writer, giving a short bio, a picture and links to all stories, photos or videos by that writer. This is very impressive. 

The Feather Online (http://www.thefeather.com/): This site is also very simple but gets the job done. The frontpage features widgets for videos, blogs, podcasts, polls, comics and of course, stories and pictures.

The Foothill Dragon Press (http://foothilldragonpress.org/): This is by far the most impressive site. It looks like a real, professional website: something comparable to that of the newyorker.com. The design is so clear and clean-cut. There are impressive web features like preview on hover, and I loved the pictures and drawn visuals to accompany the stories.

These are two fantastic stories.

"Homelessness affects students, while school system offers support" by Hannah Conkin of John Sevier MS. This is just a really interesting and compelling story in which Conkin does a great job of articulating the topic. She is very thorough and obviously has done a lot of research with all the insights and information about the city's Homeless Education Program (HEP). It is a really interesting and moving story. It sort of makes me think how lucky I am to be able to live the way I do, and I am very impressed with that.

"Even seniors get cut from the team" by Darryl Littlejohn Jr. at Southfield HS. This is sort of a sad story, but I think Littlejohn does a good job of writing it with an upbeat tone. He has a optimistic tone for the basketball team and gets all sides of the story (the cut player, the teammates, the coach) which all wish the best for the team's future. I like the use of "literary devices", really just that he used a clever phrase "Attempting to fill Parker's Nikes are two new freshmen..."

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Favorite Online Newspapers:
1. The Sagamore-The header of the website is very clean and simple.  The layout is very easy to follow and navigate.  It has a lot of great restaurant reviews along with nice pictures.  The website dedicates a whole section to the arts, which I found interesting.

2. El Estoque-The layout and header of this website is also very simple and easy to follow, but it has more color.  There is a wide variety of editorials, and the website contains a lot of graphics designed by the staff members that really pop to the reader.

3. The Hoofprint-The layout of this website is a lot more sparse and disoriented compared to the other two online publications' layouts that I just mentioned.  To navigate, the different sections are located in a somewhat hidden column on the left of the screen instead of at the top.  The features and scene section pictures are very good, and the website has a lot of student drawings.

Favorite SNO Stories:
1. "Uncovering Addiction"-It was interesting to read about how heroine is starting to greatly affect not only the lives of teenagers, but their parents too and how scary the consequences can be.

2. "Even seniors get cut from the team"-A senior girl who expected to play during her last year of high school was cut unexpectedly by her coach.  I thought it was was surprising how she had such a positive attitude and still wanted to go and support her team at all their games.

Claire Weddle