Information

Published: Thursday, 02 April 2009

Using narrowboatworld

The site narrowboatworld is a waterways newspaper on the Web, and since 2000 when it was first introduced, has remained the most read and regarded as the most influential of any waterways publication, it of course being so well established.

Since its last major update in 2009 there has been the 'explosion' of the use of tablets, and particularly mobile phones that people use to browse the web, so in April 2017, Jason Crossley, our Software Developer, re-designed the site from scratch, not only to make the site tablet and phone friendly, but to increase its safety.

The design allows everything to be shown on the front page, with a easy 'read more' for long articles and very short emails to be included in full (or bunched together) that was impossible on the old system.

Some categories have been lost to enable this new design, such as 'Supermarkets', as boaters are easily able to get the location of them all in any area on mobile phones, and not just the major ones we gave. The 'Gallery' too has been lost, as the pictures were well out of date, and none being replaced.

We believe, that what is most important, is that the site is easy to negotiate, without the annoyance of going through page after page in search of what you are looking for.

  • FRONT PAGE.  Everything now appears on the front page as soon as it is published, and in date order, so it is just a matter of a single click to get the full article. This includes news, comment and columnists with short emails/stoppages shown in full.
  • SEARCH. Should you want to see the articles of a particular columnist all you need do is enter such as 'Victor:' or 'David:' or 'Fens:', and you will get all the articles from that particular columnist on view in date order. In fact should you require details of anything from past articles, simply enter the name in the Search box, and again you will get all the articles that match your entry.

  • ARCHIVES.  At the bottom of each page are ten click boxes, each one giving a page of ten articles.  Around the present time there is a total of 677 boxes, giving you the opportunity to view no less that 6,770 articles!  This will of course increase as more articles are added. On the site itself there are over 10,000 articles, but as these are well out of date and no longer applicable, they have not been included.
  • RIGHT HAND COLUMN. The top section gives instant access to the ten articles on the home page, so change constantly.  The bottom section gives the the most read eight articles at the present time.

Telling it like it is

It is accepted that narrowboatworld is a non-profit web site, published in the interests of boaters and the waterways, with the aim of 'telling it like it is', and refusing to publish, without question, the many—suspect—Press Releases received from the various organisations.

Cost

During the past years the costs of producing the site has risen considerably, and has been supplemented by the editor, so now an extra Google advert has been included, in an attempt to accommodate the extra cost.

Emails and features

Emails and articles are always welcome from boaters, for after all, as our former columnist Brian Holmes once wrote—narrowboatworld is by boaters for boaters about boating—and are included unedited, except for any typographical or spelling errors to comply with our Style Book. But we will not allow personal attacks, and should anything be untoward, the sender will be contacted before any alteration/deletion is published.

In the case of emails or articles about the authorities, we do not hold with the system of sending the email or article to the authority concerned for comment, which others publishers then include with the original, which usually negates the writer's opinion.  But of course we do allow the particular authority to answer. That is then the end of the matter.

Emails for publication must include the writer's full name, But under no circumstances will the correspondent's email address be passed on to a third party, unless with express permission.  We are always pleased to receive information for publication regarding any aspect of the waterways or boating and it is left to the writer as to whether his or her name be included.  But please state if the name is not to be included and we will honour this.

Photographs

We of course accept photographs for inclusion, with of course an explanation, and will publicly acknowledge if required, but the photograph must have been taken by the sender, or permission obtained for it to be included.

Tuesdays

As boaters for the past 22 years we spend Tuesdays on the boat, so there are no updates on this particular day.  We also take two fortnightly cruises during the year when normal updates are not included, but Victor Swift usually gives his unique view of the waterway situation... 

The team

Publisher and Editor—Tom Crossley

Software Designer—Jason Crossley

Proof Reader—Ted Sedman

Senior Reporter—Roger Fox

Reporter and Stoppages—Keith Gudgin

Columnist—Victor Swift

Columnist—David Hymers

Contributors:  James Henry, T. Lang, Roger Fox, Orph Mable, Ralph Freeman, Martin Cox, Helen Cripps, Kevin McNiff, Howard Clarke, Amy Dickerson, Jim Cracken, Brian Hawkins, John Hibbert, John Howard, Mike Todd, Bill Ridgeway, Paul Robinson, Brian Jarrett, Roger Spurr and others to be added as we discover!