For the past week, I’ve been beta testing the Guardian’s Digital Edition. And I’ve been really pleasantly surprised.

Before going to university, I would happily sit and read the paper with my breakfast. Now I can’t, given that I now have to go and BUY the paper. Since I’m a lazy git, this only happens very occasionally, and I’ve been getting my news from other online sources. But I’ve been missing proper newspaper journalism – even if you look at the Times’s online edition, the copy is all the same but it doesn’t “feel” right.

The Guardian have come up with the answer, an answer to which I may end up subscribing and never buying a newspaper again. I’m a Guardian fan anyway (I love the sense of wit and irony the Guardian has), and this version is a really good idea. You get a little picture of each page of the paper (you browse through them one at a time), and then you click on the article you want to read. This brings it up in a right-hand column in HTML format, and you have the option to download the article or email it in a number of formats. So you get to see where it “fits” in the paper, and you can read it. You can even click on the adverts, and it brings them up in a little pop-up window.

And, of course, it’s ready and waiting when I want to read it – no having to go and buy it at the shops. You can even access about a week’s worth of back-issues, which is handy if you don’t have time to log-on one day.

It’s such a good idea, that I want to give it an award. But I can’t. Because I don’t have one to give.

Originally posted on The LBSC