Too Many Columns for One Magazine

Read Editor in Chief Harry McCracken's Weblog.

Photograph by Rick Rizner

Don't look now, but some of PC World's top columns are missing from this issue. There's no cause for panic, though. Truth to tell, they're missing from every issue--because they reside online at our Web site.

Original Web columns aren't a startling new development: As long as we've had a site, we've had some. But the modern era of PCWorld.com columns began one year ago, when Ramon G. McLeod, the site's editor, asked staffers to propose subjects they'd like to write about. Folks responded in force, pitching columns ideas about their passions. Suddenly, we jumped from a smattering of columns to a veritable smorgasbord.

The sheer variety is part of the fun. Topics range from shareware and freeware (Staff Editor Laura Blackwell's Download This) to optical storage (Associate Editor Melissa J. Perenson's Burning Questions) to Linux and other open-source software (Technical Project Manager Matthew Newton's Free Agent). And PCWorld.com columns are about more than products and platforms: In Tech.gov, for instance, Senior Editor Anush Yegyazarian reports regularly on how Uncle Sam's doings influence the way we use technology.

Among our newest columns are The Print Shop, Associate Editor Eric Butterfield's look at all things printer-related, and Net Phone Zone, a Voice-over-IP column by Senior Editor Aoife M. McEvoy. (Aoife's been using Internet telephones since they were...well, unusable.)

If I were to give you a guided tour of every column on the site, this column would run to three or four pages. Fortunately, I don't need to. You can find links to all of our columns, including online originals and such print mainstays as Bugs and Fixes and Consumer Watch, in one convenient place.

When a PCW staffer is passionate about a topic, odds are that plenty of PCW readers are, too. Happy end result: Many of these columns rank among the site's biggest hits, and all of them are shaped by a dialogue between columnist and column readers. "The interaction is wonderful," reports shareware expert Laura Blackwell. "I get e-mail from folks who download programs and share their experiences, give tips, and tell me about new programs."

"I feel privileged to be able to write about something I'm so interested in," says Laura. To which I can only add that we feel privileged to bring PCWorld.com visitors the work of such dedicated and talented online columnists.

Could one or more of them work their way into the dead-tree version of PC World? It wouldn't be a first: Senior Associate Editor Andrew Brandt's Privacy Watch was an award-winning part of our site before it found a home in the print magazine. If you have thoughts on these columns, or other feedback, drop me a line at mageditor@pcworld.com.

This Month in Digital World

Best ways to get HDTV: Ready to make the leap to high-definition television? We'll tell you how to tune in--via cable, satellite, or plain old rabbit ears. That's only one of the stories in the April Digital World. If you're a PC World subscriber, you can download this issue as a PDF. Copies of PC World that are sold at newsstands and other retailers include the print version of Digital World. For more information, check out our Digital World pages.