By the time you receive this issue of the magazine, the Technews IT developers will have put the finishing touches to one of the most significant Internet initiatives this company has ever undertaken.
At an interdepartmental think-tank last year, we identified the opportunity to add value to our online offering through tighter content integration between the SA Instrumentation and Control website and that of IBG, its Industrial Buyers Guide counterpart. As from the beginning of October, every page on the I&C site will have a direct connection to related products and services on the IBG site, via one or more links embedded in the navigation bar towards the top of the page.
These links are logically related to the page you’re on, so if you’re reading an article about level transmitters, for example, you’ll now be able to link directly to the corresponding IBG page that will allow you to narrow your search according to the features you require, before producing a list of all the South African companies that supply the type of transmitter you are looking for. Clicking on one of these suppliers’ names will then reveal their contact details as well as a list of other related technology articles we think you may find useful.
This integration works both ways, so if you’re browsing a category on IBG you’ll be provided with links to related I&C content. What’s more, the tags are colour coded meaning that clicking on red tags will take you to the directory, while green tags will take you to the magazine. We believe this level of integration between news content and supplier information is unprecedented, and we trust it will help to reduce the time and frustration it often takes to find a supplier who can provide exactly what you are searching for.
In our implementation, we decided unanimously to steer clear of apps and paywalls. We feel strongly that device-specific apps add an unnecessary complication for both us as a publisher and for you as a reader. Since web browsers are constantly evolving and are optimised for exactly the type of content we provide, we’ve decided to stick with the old school approach on this one. Much effort is put in by our technical team to ensure compatibility across all modern Internet-enabled devices, regardless of manufacturer, and when visiting our sites from a mobile device such as a smartphone, a specially formatted version is displayed to make browsing more comfortable.
Regardless of what or where you’re browsing from, all online I&C and IBG content continues to be made available at no cost and requiring no registration. As always, it can be accessed by navigating to www.instrumentation.co.za and www.ibg.co.za, respectively.
We hope the introduction of this new ‘Read the article Find the product’ functionality enriches your online experience with us and that the direct access from magazine to supplier related content makes your hectic day just a little bit easier.
Steven Meyer
Editor: SA Instrumentation & Control
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