The Rolla Daily News is the paper from where I was born and raised, Rolla, Missouri. At first glance I couldn't tell whether or not I liked it, it is boring, but I could tell it was at least organized, and I'm not gonna lie - it is better than I expected from them...
The homepage is a lot like other papers, with featured articles, a picture or two, ads along the right... I didn't like the advertisement on the left column, it distracted me, and it moved, which was just irritating. I liked the tabs for different topics along the top, and that the weather was always there too. By the weather there was a search bar, which was convenient. If I were them I would make sure to put the title way bigger, instead of having it small and putting an election advertisement next to it. It was very obvious that it was a site for a smaller town, with articles about PCRMC, the highway control, Dollar General, and the Rolla Marching Band.
STLtoday is much more technologically advanced than Rolla's. I liked the layout much better, with a rotating section of featured articles accompanied by big pictures to catch your attention near the top. There are scattered ads, but they don't annoy me like the ones from Rolla's site, and the name of the site is more prominent. There is a similar bar with the different subjects, but here there is a drop down menu when you run your mouse over it to narrow down your interests. There is more information on the site as well, with some local stories, but with more state and national news too. Another thing that I like a lot from this site is that there is more reader input - there are featured photos, a 'most popular' articles section, and you can comment on articles if you are a member. And this one isn't so boring...
For me, I don't mind either of them, I would prefer STLtoday, but it is nice to get more localized news from Rolla's. It works well to get a combination of both, which is what my family always did, but I wouldn't say either of them are bad, just different.
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