Welcome (Back) to the MF NewsRoom
Today we’ve (once again) added a new way to read MINI related news from around the web. Some long time MF readers may remember the old 2005 edition of the NewsRoom. While the site proved successful, we eventually had to shelve the concept due to not enough time to devote to developing it. However we’re happy to announce that, starting today, it’s back.
As some of you may know MotoringFile was the first MINI website with an RSS feed and we continue to be big proponents of the technology. With increased use of these feeds by MINI related websites, many people have found a new and efficient way of reading their favorite websites with RSS news reading software. However, many readers haven’t adopted the standard and would prefer this information delivered to them in a familiar web page experience.
That’s where the MF NewsRoom will help. The NewsRoom scans RSS feeds from MINI related websites and grabs the latest articles or posts every few minutes of the day. It’s an easy way to see what’s out there on some of your favorite MINI related websites and learn about others you may not be familiar with.
The idea of a page comprised of MINI related RSS feeds has been on the drawing boards at MF since 2004 and, as we mentioned, was live for most of 2005. However the original back-end of the page was perhaps over-engineered and proved difficult to re-write after some unrelated server issues. So what we’ve done with this new version is to simplify the technology we’re using while actually making it faster and more reliable for the reader.
We’ve also changed the layout from a very long two column page to three columns and a little more compact. Beyond the layout, the color scheme is also lighter and easier to read quickly. All this was done based on feedback we got from our original launch.
However it’s important to know that the NewsRoom should still be considered in “beta” for the next few weeks. So if you spot anything that doesn’t look right or if the page won’t load or even a feed that should be there, please let us know via the contact form above.
You’ll find a link to the NewsRoom in the top right of every page on MF. To check it out, click below:
Very nice – love it! Thanks guys.
Isn’t this bad timing for the fellow trying to sell Go Motoring? Not that I don’t appreciated your page, but don’t you think his value might take hit if this alternative is available…
>Isn’t this bad timing for the fellow trying to sell Go Motoring?
It’s our understanding that Mark’s site was just sold a few days ago.
Nice logo…. Where’s Twisty?
Nice feature. I’m glad it’s back.
>Nice logo…. Where’s Twisty?
Sorry – I thought it was in there. I’ll add it to our updates later in the week.
Very nice.
Makes for easier navigation.
Thanks.
Pretty enough … sad that GPMINI is missing. Some other sites omitted too – I guess there’s a reason
Glad to see its return Gabe.
Love it. I will check it daily. However, where’s Winding Road?
ahh – good timing after all, thanks.
>Pretty enough … sad that GPMINI is missing. Some other sites omitted too – I guess there’s a reason
No reason that I’m aware of. We’d be happy to add GPMINI. And if there are other <strong>regularly</strong> updated sites out there please let us know.
>Love it. I will check it daily. However, where’s Winding Road?
I went back and forth on WR. Their daily news can be a little slow compared to what else is out there but then sometimes they find some great stuff. I may throw it in there in place of another site.
Gabe I honestly don’t even know what an RSS feed is? I see this mentioned around the web. Can someone enlighten me?
RSS is a computer readable version of weblogs and similar regularly updated pages … try <a href="http://www.gbmini.net/wp/feed/" rel="nofollow">this link</a> for example.
>Gabe I honestly don’t even know what an RSS feed is? I see this mentioned around the web. Can someone enlighten me?
A good explination of RSS can be found <a href="http://whatisrss.com/" rel="nofollow">here</a>.
>Gabe I honestly don’t even know what an RSS feed is? I see this mentioned around the web. Can someone enlighten me?
And you can also read about them on our <a href="https://www.motoringfile.com/rss-feeds/" rel="nofollow">subscriptions page</a>.
Would it be possible to display in bold font any of the links under the general automotive news section that dealt directly with MINI?
Well thanks for having me in the newsroom for a little at least…nice traffic while it lasted…
>Well thanks for having me in the newsroom for a little at least…nice traffic while it lasted…
While we’d love to have as many sites as possible, we’re trying to keep the number relatively low for the time being. And as we do that we’re still trying to figure out the right mix of sites. Looks for changes this Friday.
Yeah, it would be a fairly long page if you added every MINI blog there is. It would be nice if you had a way to automatically demote sites that haven’t been updated in a certain amount of time, or maybe have some of the blogs in a pool of blogs that the page would randomly choose from when you load it. Just some ideas, not really sure how easy either would be to do. BTW thanks for re-adding me. I do plan to cover several Tarheel MINIs events this year, so it shouldn’t get too stale.
Thanks Gabe
Yeah it’s tough to decided what should be there. I just realized we forgot to add miniology which looks like a really cool site.