CONTENT

In any publication, content is a factor that weighs tremendously in readers' minds. Electronic space can be exploited to make several enhancements in this area. These are things that can be done:

Shorten the contents, and provide chunks
On the web, readers have shorter attention spans, and prefer to have short, bite-sized pieces to read. By shortening the texts, and splitting them up into two or three pages if necessary, you will be better ensured that your readers will actually read most of what you want to say.

Make the language clearer
An electronic publication is more readily accessible to all parts of the student population (See Distribution). Hence, as part of your objective to connect all students, you need to consider that your readers will be from various faculties and nationalities. As such, the language used needs to be simpler and more straightforward. 

Be a showcase for new writing styles
Collaborative writing and hyperfiction are literary notions that came with the electronic boom. You can invite contributions for such articles, and introduce the whole student population to these new styles of writing and reading.

Hypertextualize everything
Hyperlink the contents page directly to the articles
The contents page is your readers' 'site map'. They will be able to choose what they are interested to see, and go there directly without ploughing through page after page.

Hyperlink articles externally
Some points can be linked to other resources on the web for further information, or for connecting the reader to related services. Examples of helpful links to services: book reviews can be linked to online book stores like Amazon.com; film reviews can be linked to ticketing services like Ticketcharge.
 
Hyperlink related articles internally
Articles with related information can be linked within the same issue or across issues. These will make the entire content more comprehensive and informative. (See next point).

Build an electronic archive
It is possible, online, to store past issues of the publication. We can have a drop-down menu, in every issue, that links to past issues, and hyperlink relevant articles across issues too.

Aesthetics of design
Exploit web resources fully with animations, videos, sounds, graphics...and colours!
On the web, your pages can virtually come to life through the use of such resources. On the web, colours are completely FREE. Instead of just two-dimensional pictures, we can also make animated graphics and sounds, and can even create our own animation with Macromedia Flash or other technology. Movie trailers from movie sites can be added by us (with copyright), instead of just reviews. E-Ridge will then be better-equipped to attract readers and to keep them there.