CALENDAR October 17 Missouri Photojournalism Hall of Fame Induction, 4 p.m., Washington, Mo. 28-30 Associated Press Media Editors Conference, Indianapolis November 14-15 MPA, Local Media Association Google AdWords Certification Training, Stoney Creek Inn, Columbia December 1-2 Missouri/Kansas Editors & Publishers meeting, Kansas City Marriott Country Club Plaza January 30-Feb. 1 Election Reporting Workshop, RJI, Columbia Return advertising, Directory updates to MPA by Friday No. 1296 16 October, 2013 Digital Footprint help available Your paper can be local merchants connection to web Missouri Press advertising director Mark Nienhueser is visiting newspapers to help them add Digital Footprint to their services for local advertisers. Missouri Press recently launched Digital Footprint, which is a bundle of digital services that will generate new revenue for newspapers and Missouri Press. Newspapers will be able provide their advertisers with a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Yahoo, Pinterest and other programs people use every day to shop and communicate. Every company and business, even the smallest one-person enterprise, should be online in some form. Many of the businesses in your community have no presence at all on the Internet. Now, through Digital Footprint, you ll be able to provide that presence for them. Businesses in your town could get these services from any number of providers, but they should get them from you, the dominant medium in your market. Digital Footprint will encompass all that MPS and its members have to offer in addition to display space in newspapers, Nienhueser said. There is a substantial market out there for all things digital, from creating web pages and Facebook pages for small businesses, to increasing online exposure, to email marketing, even video and audio. In addition to working hard to increase print advertising, we ve got to make a big push for online marketing, he said. News release service going national Missouri Press has partnered with GistCloud, LLC, to provide a cutting-edge press release distribution service that eventually could provide global reach. GistCloud s Intermedia Press Release (IPR) can incorporate video, audio, documents, photos, and web pages, along with multilingual content for instant broadcasting capability. IPR can be distributed to traditional media outlets all across the country, to online social sites and to mobile applications. The service offers users an easy-to-follow website where they can select the kind of features and distribution area they need. It provides much more reach and many more options than Missouri Press Service s established Flash News service. Every press release includes online distribution, robust social sharing tools, and real-time analytics delivered in a GistCloud Missouri Registration forms for coming MPA activities can be found at mopress.com/current_forms.php.
Missouri Press Association Bulletin, October 16, 2013, Page 2 Check out Postal s Small Business Tool for barcoding labels Effective Jan. 26 the use of Full- Service Intelligent Mail barcodes will be required to qualify for automation rates for newspapers that you mail out of your area. The Full-Service IMb will not be required for papers sorted to carrier route and delivered to the delivery post office. For mailings of fewer than 10,000 pieces (maximum 250,000 per year) the Postal Service has a free labeling service called the Intelligent Mail Small Business Tool (IMsb). You can get lots of information about Full-Service IMb at usps.org. A Full-Service Open-Line is scheduled for every Wednesday from 1-2 p.m. Central. USPS representatives will be online to answer any questions related to Full-Service Intelligent Mail. Go to the http://ribbs.usps.gov/gettingstarted. Contest Committee needs more members You are invited to participate on the Better Newspaper Contest Committee to review the rules and procedures for the 2014 contest. All of the committee's work will be done by email and telephone, so you can participate without leaving your office. Usually one conference call, lasting about an hour, is held to discuss and vote on changes. The rest of the work is done by email. Missouri Press would like to get the contest rules, categories and entry procedures distributed to newspapers by the end of December so everyone has plenty of time to gather and upload entries to the contest template. If you can help, email MPA editor Kent Ford. If you can't, but you have some thoughts or suggestions about the contest, please share them (kford@ socket.net). The Contest Committee needs people from large and small dailies, large and small weeklies; publishers, editors, ad reps, designers, photographers, others. All are welcome. Ad Google to your advertising offering Missouri Press Association and the Local Media Association will hold a Google AdWords Certification Training on Nov. 14-15 at the Stoney Creek Inn in Columbia. A flier about the training is enclosed. This training will position your sales team to help you gain your share of paid search. More than $6 billion was spent in Missouri in 2012 for paid search. Google AdWords are those highlighted entries on the pages you see when doing a search in Google. Those businesses have paid to place those ads on Google. They create templates that include the markets they want their ads to display in, so they pay only when someone in their market clicks on the ad. That s why you often see ads on Google from businesses near you. Amie Stein, LMA s director of training and development, will conduct the Columbia session. GistCloud Missouri professional and attractive manner. All these services are provided at a significantly lower cost than other national news release services. By partnering with GistCloud, Missouri Press is able to offer more exposure to its clients. Each release is included in Google News, MSN News and Yahoo! News, is mobile ready, offers multilingual options, and is affordable. We re excited about our partnership with GistCloud. This new press release service offers a high level of sophistication and options that will benefit our customers, MPA Executive Director Doug Crews said. Need help with a newspaper issue? Check the links at mopress.com/reporterslinks.php.
Missouri Press Association Bulletin, October 16, 2013, Page 3 Ad expense deduction threatened Remind elected officials this is a bad idea The Newspaper Association of America (NAA) reports that the House Ways and Means Committee is considering proposals that would limit the ability of businesses to deduct the cost of advertising as a business expense. This proposal is being considered as a way to reduce the corporate tax rate to 25 percent. Missouri Press Association encourages its member newspapers to contact their U.S. representatives and senators and remind them why they should oppose any proposals to limit the deductibility of advertising. Key points: The advertising deduction is not a subsidy or tax exemption. Advertising is a necessary cost of doing business, just like salaries, office supplies and utilities. There is no authoritative economic or practical support for enacting a limit on the deduction of advertising costs. The Tax Code has permitted this deduction for the 100-year life of the corporate income tax. Advertising helps sustain newspapers and other media that citizens depend upon for information. Limiting the ability of businesses to deduct the cost of their advertising would reduce important revenues that support news and information provided to communities. Advertising expenditures account for $5.8 trillion in U.S. economic output and help support 19.8 million American jobs. Consider the nebulous nature and ubiquity of advertising and the administrative nightmare of such a change. We would need another horde of bureaucrats. Do you support newspapers? Donate! The Missouri Press Foundation is the only organization that exists solely to champion the future and quality of Missouri s newspapers. To support that mission, the Foundation launched the Society of 1867 and Page Builder campaign in September at the annual Missouri Press Convention. Society of 1867 membership is bestowed on partners who recognize the important history of Missouri newspapers and are dedicated to helping them meet the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. An enclosed flier explains the Society of 1867 program and the levels of individual giving. Newspapers can contribute through a Page Builder program, in which they pledge to donate annually the equivalent amount of a full page of advertising. Newspapers and individuals can make pledges to give annually at varying levels. The pledge year began Oct. 1. All members of the Society of 1867 will be recognized in Missouri Press News magazine. Privileges and recognitions for each level of giving are noted on the enclosed flier. They include special gifts, lapel pins and other recognition. The flier also lists ways the Society of 1867 will work to build a solid future for your newspaper. Those include hiring a Foundation director, developing a Newspaper Toolbox you can use to demonstrate the value of your newspaper to your community and businesses, and training opportunities for you and your staff. All Page Builder contributions and money donations to the Society of 1867 are 100 percent tax deductible. The enclosed flier includes a form for Society of 1867 and Page Builder pledges. How can you find things on the MPA website, mopress.com? Click the Site Map link at the bottom of the page.
Missouri Press Association Bulletin, October 16, 2013, Page 4 Most bosses don t tweet (Mashable) A recent study by Domo and CEO.com found that nearly 70% of Fortune 500 CEOs have no presence whatsoever on any major social media channels, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Google+. Of the 30% that choose to engage in social media, nearly all of them (28%) do so through LinkedIn. And while the number of CEOs utilizing the other three networks is small, it appears that Twitter is the only other social channel Fortune 500 CEOs are moving toward slowly. A few notable CEOs joined the Twittersphere in the past year, most notably Berkshire Hathaway chairman and CEO Warren Buffett, who hadn't tweeted since his first day on the site despite amassing over half a million followers. (He follows nobody.) But even that number can be misleading: the report found that 22% of Buffett's followers are actually fake accounts, and roughly 13% of all followers of Fortune 500 CEO accounts are actually fake. Missouri Press Association You can offer video to advertisers (If you re putting video on your website, here are some thoughts from the owner of a video production company. The thoughts are aimed at marketing people, but they apply just as well to video news and features. ReelSEO.com is an online video marketing guide that has lots of information about how to produce video. Follow it at: @ReelSEO on Twitter and ReelSEO on Facebook.) In the past few years, as owner of a video production company, I ve noticed a real shift in what clients are requesting. A few years ago, it was mostly the typical sales pitch video. But, now clients want more. They re looking for ways to connect with their audience, to use emotion, and to create a lasting impression. This is a promising trend for all of us in the professional video industry. Below are a few reasons to embrace the trend of storytelling in videos. 1. Storytelling sets us apart as video professionals in a world where anyone can shoot and edit. As professionals, we strive to do a much better job than our clients could do just setting up a camera and reading a script. New editing software and cheap digital cameras make everyone a video producer. But, once we hone the craft of telling great stories, our clients can t really emulate that. And, they don t want to spend the time it takes to master the art. 2. Storytelling videos are much more likely to be shared online. Sales pitch videos, though they certainly have their place, aren t really likely to be shared online. But, when you create a humorous, interesting, thought-provoking, or problem solving video, people will share it. 3. Storytelling videos can be very efficient and can help you get the sale. New editing software and cheap digital cameras make everyone a video producer. Some clients have a really tough time narrowing down the points they want to make in a script. All clients want to bring too many ideas and thoughts into a video while still keeping it short. And, if the client can t really articulate their vision, and they re relying on you to come up with what they want, sometimes, you can lose the sale. The process is simple. We do interviews, preferably with the client and the business owner. We send the audio files to a video transcription company, such as CopyTalk. We get the transcripts back in a couple of days and write the stories completely from the interviews, just like a news reporter does. I use information in the narration, and I use the interviews to convey opinion and emotion. Storytelling does not have to be expensive. We use stock video in some cases and build the story around what we can find. In most cases, it s much easier and less time consuming than developing a script and trying to get clients to say something that s scripted rather than the conversational style of an interview. No matter how you tell the story, whether using interviews or a script, keep in mind, the components of storytelling such as emotional characters, a fun or dramatic plot, and engaging settings are more likely to land a great response and be shared online. MPA s website, http://www.mopress.com, has archives of past issues of the Bulletin, ebulletin and Missouri Press News magazine.
Missouri Press Association Bulletin, October 16, 2013, Page 5 Download ads for Free Speech Week Free Speech Week is a nationwide program held every October. The goal is to raise awareness and celebrate the importance of free speech and a free press in the United States. A recent study indicated that 36 percent of Americans could not name a First Amendment protection such as freedom of speech. A wide variety of organizations and schools that believe in the value of freedom of speech register as FSW Partners, and hold activities such as panel discussions, mock debates, and library exhibits to celebrate the week. For 2013, these partners include the Abrams Institute for Freedom of Expression at Yale Law School, Society of Professional Journalists, National Communication Association, Rutgers School of Communication and Information and Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press among many others. NAA has posted several downloadable ads that newspapers can run in support of this endeavor (www.naa. org/fsw). The Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order issued by President Abraham Lincoln more than 150 years ago, during the Civil War. The Proclamation freed the slaves in the Confederate states. It also ordered the federal government to do all it could to keep the ex-slaves free and the military to accept the free slaves as Union soldiers and pay them for their service. Critics of the Proclamation say that Lincoln should have freed the slaves in all of the states. In states like Missouri and Kentucky, which were considered Border States because there was sympathy for both the Union and the Confederacy, the slaves were not freed. Lincoln s critics then and today argue that this shows that the Emancipation Proclamation was more of a political maneuver than a sincere desire on Lincoln s part to free the slaves. By the end of the war, however, The Proclamation had influenced Americans to advocate for and accept the abolition of all slavery in both the North and South. Less than two years later, the 13th Amendment was passed ending slavery in the United States. Lincoln considered The Proclamation the most important aspect of his legacy. He said If my name ever goes into history it will be for this act, and my whole soul is in it. An Important Document for Human Freedom Lincoln actually issued the Emancipation Proclamation twice. On Sept. 22, 1862, he issued a preliminary proclamation giving the southern states until Jan. 1 to cease the rebellion. When the Confederates did not yield, he issued the final Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863. Lincoln s Cabinet initially resisted his idea for The Proclamation. It was only after the Battle of Antietam, which gave the Union an advantage, that it was persuaded. The Emancipation Proclamation was issued five days later. The Emancipation Proclamation changed the Civil War from a war to save the Union to a war for freedom, adding a moral force to strengthen the Union effort. all men are created equal It was the first step toward freeing all slaves and the eventual passage of the 13th Amendment, which made slavery unconstitutional. Throughout his life, Lincoln spoke against the evils of slavery and the need to make the words in the Declaration of Independence about all men are created equal a true statement about our country. The Emancipation Proclamation turned his words into action. The Emancipation Proclamation gave great hope to slaves everywhere that there was freedom in their future. Missouri Learning Standards: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.1, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.2, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.3, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.4, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.10 Use The News! What do the words emancipation and proclamation mean? Using the newspaper, find words that could be used as synonyms for these words. What is an executive order? Search your local newspaper or an online newspaper for examples of the President s activities or speeches and brainstorm about what might be the topic of a future executive order. Do you think that the phrase all men are created equal is true for all groups of people living in the United States in the 21st century? Using a newspaper, find examples that show both sides of this issue that we, as a nation, are moving toward equality for all but that there is still need for improvement. This Newspaper in Education feature brought to you by this newspaper, The Missouri Bar and the Missouri Press Association. Missouri Bar feature on freedom proclamation The Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Abraham Lincoln 150 years ago. Share the importance of this Proclamation with readers with this new feature from Missouri Press and The Missouri Bar. Download it at mopress. com/nienews.php using code ep150. News tips from public notices Research center notes story from Cape Girardeau (From Public Notice Research Center, Of Record) An August story by Baton Rouge Advocate reporter Jeff Adelson struck exactly the right chord with newspaper publishers in Louisiana and elsewhere: the newsroom reported on one of the public notices carried elsewhere in the newspaper. The lead story in the Aug. 21 edition of the newspaper highlighted the coming selection of committee members to the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority East and included a graphic of the public notice running on Page 9E of the same day s newspaper. PNRC has long urged newsrooms to cite and link to public notices when stories cover matters where public notice is required. The links and cites permit members of the public to evaluate for themselves whether notice was adequate and also encourage better attention to newspaper public notices. The Advocate did what we all long for with public notice, says Pamela Mitchell, executive director of the Louisiana Press Association in Baton Rouge. Meanwhile, on September 11, the Journal-Times in Grayson, Ky., tied a public notice into a story on a request for an increase in water rates from the Rattlesnake Ridge Water District. In a public notice published in today s issue of the Journal- Times, the district outlined a proposed across-the-board rate increase of 29 percent for all customers, wrote staff writer Joe Lewis. And in Cape Girardeau, Mo., a story by Erin Ragan in the Southeast Missourian reported on a plan by the city to obtain a community development block grant for its planned business park. A legal notice published in Wednesday s Southeast Missourian indicated the city soon will request a release of grant funds from the Missouri Department of Economic Development, Ragan wrote. 2013 Need a registration form for a coming meeting or seminar? Go to mopress.com/current_forms.php.
Missouri Press Association Bulletin, October 16, 2013, Page 6 Join research survey to get data you can use in local sales pitches Newspapers that participate in the Pulse of America shopping survey will receive the results of the survey. Your sales staff will have the most current consumer product and service purchasing plans for effective sales presentations. It's simple to participate. Just invite your readers and website visitors to participate in the survey. Run small house ads inviting your readers to complete the Pulse of America consumer survey and publish a link on your website to the survey. Run classified ads and send email during the research period, which is through December. Go here for more information and promotion material: http://www. pulseresearch.com/poa/. You will receive a free copy of the results. Use them to make sales presentations to local businesses. Pulse Research has developed a Small Business AdSeller program to help you effectively use and present the Pulse of America research data. View a demo at www.pulseresearch. com/sba. Questions: Contact Andrew Dove at 503.626.5224 or dove@paper.net. Rate your paper to get better Things you can you do to polish your brand Every leadership team of every news organization should take this list from Inc. of what customers will pay more for and rate themselves. My sense from reading industry news is that, as a whole, newspapers rate a C-, and I m probably being generous. Here s my evaluation. 1. Your product is easier to buy. A-. Generally speaking, I think it s easy to order a newspaper subscription. Newspaper boxes are ubiquitous, although finding six bits is sometimes a struggle. Websites are free, although this is rapidly changing. Expect the grade to go down when more paywalls go up. (Actually, it s harder to stop newspapers from coming. Many newspaper companies continue to deliver them after cancellations in hopes that you ll come back.). 2. Your product arrives more quickly. C-. More quickly than what? Delivery is rigid. The Stop thinking that local is the answer in and of itself. Local is no good if it isn t compelling. paper is delivered at about the same time every day. Do some customers want it at a different time? Yes. Do papers meet that need? Rarely. Websites load fast enough, although some are slowed by too many ads doing too many things. Improvements: Get newspapers to homes earlier. Make delivery more efficient so that papers don t pile up even if you ve stopped them. On websites, lose the ads that move all over the screen or that pop up when you roll over them, which usually occurs accidentally. 3. Your product has a must have feature. D. Local news? News no one else has? Many customers have voted with their feet on that must have. The news may be local, but it is either a commodity available elsewhere for free or it isn t compelling enough to pay for, much less a premium. Some papers can pick up extra coin from charging for premium content on their websites, but they aren t close to being dominant. Improvements: Stop thinking that local is the answer in and of itself. Local is no good if it isn t compelling. Aim to have every story make a difference in the lives of as many people as possible. Actively listen to your readers. Make the website different from the newspaper. It s used differently so that content should be different more visual, more interactive, more open. If you have a paywall, have premium content behind that wall that is worth paying for. 4. Your product burnishes the buyer s reputation. A-. Newspapers have believed that they make readers smarter. I believe that, too. Actually, it is more likely that readers feel more informed when reading the news, whether it is from a printed product or digital. I know my students who are required to keep up with the news routinely tell me that they are surprised to find newspapers so interesting. Whether newspapers get credit for that is another issue. Improvements: That newspapers make readers smarter is declining as readership declines. Break big stories that people can get only from you. Think Sports Illustrated and the Oklahoma State story. Do more of that and less of the turn-ofthe-screw government coverage. Rebrand yourself. 5. Your product has a lower cost of ownership. D. You have to dispose of a paper every day. You have to recycle it, too. It stacks up as you await the recycling Rate your paper Listen to podcasts on advertising legal issues on the MPA website. Go to mopress.com/podcasts.php.
Missouri Press Association Bulletin, October 16, 2013, Page 7 This infographic and the bar graph at the bottom were created by Digimind. Traditional old media get mentioned more than shiny new media (Social Times) Who receives more mentions online? Traditional media outlets such as The New York Times or new media sites like Mashable? Traditional wins. Digimind, a creator of social media monitoring software, created an infographic to visualize this research it conducted. While our love for social platforms may be strong, we still rely heavily on media stalwarts, and the numbers back this up, reads a blog post from the company. The infographic reveals that old media, which includes The New York Times, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal, make up 72 percent of share of voice in total, while The Huffington Post, BuzzFeed and Mashable make up only 28 percent. Digimind also compares how often old media is mentioned on Twitter as compared to new media, and key concepts focused on in The New York Times and on BuzzFeed when it comes to the government shutdown. Rate your paper truck. It weighs on you. Not me, but I know it from hearing the tale of woe from many people. Improvements: Papers do bring in the bulk of the revenue, but it s going away. You know it. Invest a bigger chunk of that profit in mobile. Everyone knows that s the road the customers have headed down. Are you going to go with them? 6. Your customer service is more friendly. F. Ever try to get a reporter or editor on the phone? It s near impossible. And when you do, you often regret it. The carrier doesn t have to miss your house too often for apologies to lose their impact. Customer service isn t in a news organization s wheelhouse. Improvements: Have real people answer phones. Change the embattled culture. Employees are afraid they see the layoffs in the industry. Many have lived through furloughs and no pay raises. You know the deal unhappy, scared employees don t exude confidence and cheer. 7. The price difference isn t worth the hassle. A. No Ever try to get a reporter or editor on the phone? It s near impossible. And when you do, you often regret it. competitor to speak of that charges. And when the price doesn t increase more than pocket change per day, it isn t that noticeable. 8. The customer likes you personally. C. Uh-oh. Everyone hates the local paper. Editorials that don t conform to your opinion. News stories that annoy you with their tone or their angle. Still, many people love the paper. It s a draw. Improvements: Hit the speaking circuit. Talk to people about what you do. Be real. Be friendly. Smile. Apologize for errors. Speak with every social and service and book club. Sponsor community events. Hold community forums about your news coverage and about community issues. Become the biggest charitable fundraiser in town. Change the mindset. (John Robinson spent 37 years in the newspaper business, 27 of which were with the News & Record in Greensboro, N.C. He left the paper in December 2011. His Media, Disrupted blog is johnlrobinson.com.) APME meeting Oct. 28-30 in Indianapolis The Associated Press Media Editors (APME) annual conference Oct. 28-30 will offer practical sessions to help newsroom leaders move their staffs forward in today's economy, individualized coaching sessions, connections with your peers. Conference sessions include Sports Coverage and Access, First Amendment Showdown, Keeping Print Alive, The New Ethics, Metering Mania, How to Reset Your Coverage and Priorities, and The Associated Press Spotlight. Among the speakers: Terry Kroeger, CEO of BH Media Group and publisher of the Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald; Gene Policinski, executive director of the First Amendment Center; Butch Ward, veteran news executive and a managing director of the Poynter Institute; Bill Day of Frank N. Magid Associates; Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute; and Greg Swanson, partner and CEO of ITZ Publishing. Kathleen Carroll, AP senior vice president and executive editor, will lead a panel of AP editors in a discussion of the story behind the story of some of the year s most inspiring coverage and of the news service s new initiatives. One-on-one coaching sessions are available, first-come first-serve, with Butch Ward of the Poynter Institute and Rosalie Stemer, a newsroom coach and editor, who will offer suggestions for creating superior content on deadline. Learn more about the conference at apme.com/?page=2013.
Marketplace Use Newspaper Toolbox Visit the Newspaper Toolbox on the MPA website for articles and links about publishing a newspaper. mopress.com/media_toolbox.php Missouri Press Association Bulletin, October 16, 2013, Page 8 Job / Marketplace ads are posted to http://www.mopress.com/jobs.php as they come in. Check that site for the latest ads.
Adobe offers intriguing web design app Kevin Slimp The News Guru kevin@kevinslimp.com Back in the days of CS5, it became relatively simple for an InDesign user to design a website in InDesign, then export it as a Flash file that could be viewed online. Although it worked well, it wasn t very long before Flash files became problematic, primarily due to Apple s refusal to support them on ipads and iphones. So even though I d created several websites in InDesign, I quickly changed that practice. Then came InDesign CS5.5 and CS6, which made it possible to export HTML5 directly from InDesign. Frankly, though, the process always seemed to work with less than perfect results, so I gave up on that idea. When I subscribed to Adobe Creative Cloud a few months ago, I looked around the site for apps available through the normal subscription. Along with InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop and other applications I used regularly, there was a name I hadn t thought of in a while: Muse. I ve done a lot of beta testing for companies through the years. With Adobe, some of the titles included InDesign (we called it K2 back then), Acrobat and more. Somewhere around 2010 or 2011, I remember beta testing an app called Muse, which purported to be the easiest website tool ever developed. I had my doubts, but I remember being quite impressed with Muse as I went through the beta. Fast forward a couple of years and I m looking through the Creative Cloud options and, lo and behold, there is Muse CC. Wanting to find new apps for professional designers who are already subscribed to the Cloud, I decided to take Muse for a spin. It was a nice ride. To do a full review of the project would take pages, so let s take a quick overview and you can decide if it s worth downloading Muse and trying it out for yourself. The first thing I noticed about Muse was that the process for creating a new website was much the same as creating a new document in InDesign. I simply entered the size (in pixels instead of inches), the margin and a few other details. When I hit the OK button, there appeared before me a white page, much like I would see in InDesign. For an InDesign or Illustrator user, Muse is very straightforward. Most of the same shortcuts work that work in those apps. Most of the same panels that we re used to are in the same place. You ll find the Character Panel, various styles and more. The toolbar in Muse looks surprisingly similar to the toolbar in InDesign. Placing files on the page works the same. Elements can be copied and pasted from InDesign and other applications. Want to place a photo? Place it like you do in InDesign or Illustrator. Want to place a video? Place it like a photo. HTML code. That s what separates the design from the web guru. Not to fear. I wanted to place a Google Map right on my page. I simply went to maps.google.com in my browser and copied the HTML code by clicking a button on the site. I then went to Muse, entered Object>Insert HTML, and there it was. A Google Map on my page. I could move through the map on my website just like I could on maps.google.com. I was nothing short of amazed. I m a Dreamweaver hack from way back. I always hated working with text in Dreamweaver. It never seemed to look the way I wanted when I saw the final product. Not so with Muse. Text works like text in InDesign. Even more amazing, you can choose from thousands of web safe fonts using Type Kit, a service included in Creative Cloud. You don t even have to leave the application to visit a website. It s built right into Muse. I m not one for hyperbole, but seriously, this is nothing short of fantastic. Not only will Muse export the HTML, which it does just fine, but it will FTP it to your web host for you. Just enter the necessary information and password and, boom!, you re online. And if that s not enough, Adobe will host the site for you. When you finish designing a Muse site, it s already online, so others can view it. You re given the necessary URL so others can find it. If you want, and probably do, you can purchase your own URL (KevinSlimp.com, for instance) and point it to Adobe s server. A Creative Cloud subscription includes hosting up to five Muse sites. Listen, I don t work for Adobe. It matters not to me whether you subscribe to the Creative Cloud or not. But I m guessing, for smaller papers, we could pay for our Cloud subscriptions in web hosting fees alone. That should be enough to whet your appetite. For more information, visit Adobe.come to download a free trial version of Muse. I was so impressed with Muse that I decided to add it to the curriculum of the Institute of Newspaper Technology. I must really like it.