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Practical Web Design

Published on: November 22, 2006 by Paul Boag

A number of you have been in touch with me about the upcoming “closure” of the Practical Web Design Magazine and how that will affect the podcast I do for them. In order to avoid any confusion I thought I should explain myself.

Basically there are going to be some fairly major changes to Practical Web Design Magazine over the coming months but it isn’t as simple as it closing down. The problem is that PWD and .net are both produced by the same publisher and contain very similar content. .net is very popular here in the UK while PWD is popular in the states.  

The decision has therefore been made to essentially close PWD (including the PWD website and forum) and replace it with .net. However, due to its popularity in the states the PWD name will be kept although the content of the magazine will fundamentally be the same as the .net content.

Confusing isn’t it! I am sure there must be a similar solution but I can understand their desire to keep the names people recognise.

So where does this mess leave the PWD podcast? Well the official line according to the PWD website is:

The Practical Web Design podcast will continue as a .net presentation.

Quite how this will work out in practice is yet to be decided. Basically, the show will continue but we might change the name and the format a bit. Personally, I feel the show could do with a bit of a shakeup in order to distinguish it more from the boagworld podcast. I have loads of ideas about what we could do but I need to meet up with Dan Oliver (The Editor of .net) to discuss them first. Hopefully I will be able to share more after my meeting with him on the 29th.

Comments

Comments are for the discussion of this post. If you have other questions / comments then post them to the forum or send me an email

  • Post by Iain on November 22, 2006 4:32 PM

    I'm not surprised it's closing/changing. It's got to be the hardest magazine to buy. I tried 5 branches of WH Smiths, no sign of it. I then went to the web site 3 times and each time I clicked on the subscribe button it told me the offer had expired. I then emailed the editor and got no reply. Shambolic. A pity, because the podcasts were great if a little frustrating as Paul's discussions on the content really whetted my appatite!

  • Post by Dave Redfern on November 22, 2006 5:19 PM

    i have recently stopped having pwd for the pure reason it is too basic. i now get .net.

    they sell both at my local whsmiths although there are a lot more .nets on the rack.

    glad to hear the podcast is staying, can i suggest a co-host? maybe someone from the magazine? it is a little boring after 40 minutes of listening (no offence, there just isn't the comedy factor (marcus) or anyone to bounce off and create a debate or discussion).

    look forward to seeing the changes.

  • Post by Aleksandersen on November 22, 2006 6:34 PM

    Please make sure to give us the updated feed address for the new .net Podcast!

  • Post by Paul Boag on November 22, 2006 6:42 PM

    Dave,
    I hate it being just me. Unfortunately that is all their funds/time will allow. However, if I get my way when I meet Dan you can guarantee it wont be just me you will be hearing.

  • Post by Andy on November 24, 2006 12:13 AM

    You say that with the new opportunity arising from this shake up, you want to make the podcast different from the Boagworld podcast. Well, in my opinion, the format is already very different. Precise and to the point with little waffle.

    I can understand it being no fun on your own, (and btw, I do enjoy the waffly tangents and digressions with Marcus) but hey, sometimes you have to suffer for your art. Keep future .net podcasts the same as the PWD ones now, just rebrand them as, your weekly dose of web design medicine.

  • Post by Russell – Crimson Fox on November 24, 2006 10:03 AM

    On the point of adding a co-host.

    I'd be very interested to see how you bounce off another tech head. Boagworld works because of the intended audience. It often seems like you are explaining things, which I like. But, because the PWD audience is more tech savvy it would be nice to have a discussion style rather than an explanation style.

    If you know what I mean.

  • Post by Brett on November 24, 2006 12:42 PM

    As one of those U.S. fans of PWD who has steered clear of .net, I'm wondering... am I the only one who skimmed right past the latter on the magazine rack because I assumed from the title it was about Micros*ft's .NET Web services platform?

    I am? Well, OK. It was just a thought. And yes, PWD is rather basic, but so am I, so I love it.

    The magazine I can't ever find here is Web Designer. I bought one issue in Florida but haven't seen it since. Is it still being published? (Yes, I'd buy both.)

  • Post by Dan Oliver on November 26, 2006 1:25 PM

    Thanks for all the comments. As Paul says, we'll be meeting next week to discuss the podcast, and its format going forward. I had this wacky idea about getting together and sampling real ales as we skipped through the fortnight's web news, but I understand something similar's been done before.

    Dan

  • Post by Saad on November 27, 2006 1:40 PM

    Will the .net magazine be more widely available here in the US then?

    Btw, Ive just started listening to your podcasts, Paul, and they are very nice! Although they are 45 mins, for a 16 year old designer like me, its very informative, and more interesting then reading article after article!

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