Welcome to NewsworthyAudio, your personal audio newspaper. With NewsworthyAudio you can listen to newspaper stories, subscribe to news podcasts, and build your own news podcasts covering news topics in which you are interested.
While these instructions are valuable to all NewsworthyAudio Users, they are written especially for the visually impaired and those that are using screen readers.
Alt 1 launches a menu intended for the visually impaired using screen readers to help you navigate the site. It also turns the Cascading Menus OFF so there are fewer links.
Alt 3 jumps to the Click-2-Listen icon of the first story in the current podcast.
Alt 4 jumps to the previous page of stories in the current podcast
Alt 5 jumps to the next page of stories in the current podcast
Alt 6 jumps to the previous page of related podcasts
Alt 7 jumps to the next page of related podcasts
By default, Firefox uses Shift Alt, as opposed to Alt.
NewsworthyAudio takes advantage of heading levels. Heading level ones jump you to the main panels. Each may have different sub-heading levels.
Many level heading one sections contain one or more heading level five sections with detailed information about that heading level one section.
The NewsworthyAudio site is, for the most part, a single page web application. The action takes place in six different panels. The panels change based upon your current podcast selection and any actions you might be performing.
The four main panels are:
A fifth panel is the Top Panel which seldom changes, and the sixth panel is the Advertisement Panel.
The Personal Podcast Menu is a menu of podcasts with an associated Action menu for each podcast. It is a vertical menu of podcasts located on the far left. It is divided into two lists. The first list contains Personal Podcasts. The second list contains Market Place podcasts.
The Podcast Name is displayed followed by the approximate number of stories in the podcast.
By default, the list of Personal Podcasts is a set of 12 different "Basic" podcasts NewsworthyAudio creates for you covering different news categories such as U.S. News, World News, Sports, Entertainment, etc.
Selecting one of these podcasts updates the Story Panel with the stories from that podcast. It also updates the Related Podcast Panel with any podcasts that may be of interest to you.
You can perform several functions on each of these "Basic" podcasts via the Personal Podcast Action Menu discussed below.
After the "Basic" Podcasts is a list of any Custom Podcasts you have created using the "Add custom podcast" feature.
Following any Custom Podcasts is a menu item that lets you add your own Custom Podcasts. Selecting this item opens up the Podcast Detail Tab where you can build and customize your podcast. You can build multiple custom podcasts.
The second section of the Podcast Menu is a list of Market Place Podcasts. This list contains two types of Market Place Podcasts, those to which you have subscribed and a list of featured Market Place Podcasts we think you may be interested. Selecting one of these types of podcasts updates the Story Panel with the stories from that podcast. It also updates the Related Podcast Panel with any podcasts that might also be of interest to you.
You can perform several functions on each of these Market Place podcasts via the Personal Podcast Action Menu discussed below.
The Personal Podcast Action Menu lets you perform selected actions against the selected Podcast. Visually, the Personal Podcast Action Menu sits along side and to the right of the Personal Podcast Menu. The displayed Action Menu item is the default action for that Podcast. For instance, the Action Menu item for a podcast to which you have not subscribed is"Subscribe". The Action Menu item for a "Basic" podcast to which you have subscribed is"Edit".
Each Action Menu item also has an associated pop-up sub menu that contains all the actions you can perform on that podcast. Moving the mouse over an Action Menu item pops up the sub menu. If you tab to an Action Menu item, pressing the right arrow key will also pop up the sub menu.
The actions you can perform on a podcast depend on whether you have subscribed to that podcast, and the type of podcast.
The Action Tabs are displayed in a panel that expands and contracts based on whether you are performing an action. Usually the panel is collapsed and only the tabs are visible. By selecting a tab, the panel expands. The panel will also expand if you choose a Podcast Action that implements a tab"s action.
Most Action Tabs have a Close button in the upper right hand corner. It is typically the first control upon entering the Action Tab.
Some Action Tabs are not visible based upon what you are doing. For instance, once you have logged in, the Login Tab is not visible.
The NewsworthyAudio Overview and Create Account Tab walks you through several screens and describes the functions and benefits of NewsworthyAudio. At the end it takes you to the Create Account Form.
At the bottom of each screen are links that take you to the next screen of information, labeled"Learn More", take you back to the previous screen, labeled"Previous", and jump you to the Create Account form, labeled"Subscribe".
The Create Account Form lets you create a NewsworthyAudio account. Your NewsworthyAudio User ID is your email address. NewsworthyAudio requires a password of six or more characters.
After entering your email address, password, and password confirmation you must select a security question and fill in the security answer.
You are also asked to fill in your first and last name, select from a drop down box the year you were born, fill in a check box with your sex, choose your country of residence from a drop down list, and enter your zip or postal code.
When complete, you must click on the "Create Account" link at the bottom of the panel.
Once your NewsworthyAudio account has been created you are taken to the Podcast Subscription Short-cut Form. This form provides a quick and easy way for you to subscribe to multiple "Basic" and Market Place podcasts from a single form. Note, you can always subscribe to them later, but this form lets you subscribe to several podcasts with the fewest keystrokes and clicks.
The form contains a set of radio buttons for various podcast aggregators such as iTunes, Zune, Google, Yahoo, and others. You must first indicate your preferred podcast aggregator by selecting one of the radio buttons.
Following the radio buttons are numerous buttons, each representing one of the "Basic" podcasts and Market Place podcasts that are on the Personal Podcast Menu. Upon selecting a button the podcast aggregator will be launched so you can subscribe to the podcast via the aggregator. Keep selecting buttons for each podcast to which you wish to initially subscribe.
At the bottom of the form is a"Finished" link indicating you are finished with this form as well as a"Preferences" link. Both links take you to the Personal Preferences Tab discussed below.
The Personal Preferences Tab is a data entry form that lets you set preferences for any future custom podcasts you create.
To set your preferred newspapers and news sources you move news sources from the Available News Sources list box to the Preferred News Sources list box. You can have up to five Preferred News Sources.
We initially populate the Preferred News Sources with the Associated Press, the Washington Post, and one or two other news sources. Tab to the Preferred News Sources list box to review the current list.
The Available News Sources list box is to the left of the Preferred News Sources. Highlight an Available News Source. Then click on the "Add Selected News Source" button to move the highlighted news source to your Preferred News Sources. You can tab to the "Add Selected News Source" button once you’ve highlighted an Available News Source.
To remove a Preferred News Source, highlight the news source in the Preferred News Source list box, click on the "Remove Selected News Source" button to move it back to the Available News Source list. You can back tab to the "Remove Selected News Source" button from the Preferred News Source list box.
Note, if you select five Preferred News Sources, the "Add Selected News Source" is hidden until you remove a Preferred News Source.
You may also prioritize your Preferred News Sources. To the right of the Preferred News Sources list box are "Move Selected News Source Up" and "Move Selected News Source Down" buttons. Select a Preferred News Source and click on the "Move Selected News Source Up" or "Move Selected News Source Down" button to raise or lower its priority. You can tab to these buttons from the Preferred News Source list box.
You can set the following other preferences:
You set the Maximum Stories per Podcast from a drop down box.
You set the maximum audio play length of any story by entering it as a number of minutes in the "Stories no longer than" field. A value of zero means you have no maximum length restriction. Note, a typical newspaper story, when read is 4 minutes and takes up about 1 megabyte of disk space.
You set the maximum age of any story by entering a number of days in the "Stories no older than" field. Minimum value is one day, maximum value is forty five days.
You set whether you want NewsworthyAudio to automatically update your custom podcasts with the most recent stories by setting the check box "Live update". By default we update your podcasts with the most recent stories every several hours. But if you don’t want the content of your podcasts changed, you can set Live Update off.
You can hide unsubscribed Basic podcasts on your Personal Podcast menu by checking the "Hide Unsubscribed Podcasts" check box. By default we list all the Basic podcasts on you Personal Podcast Menu, whether you have subscribed to them or not. If you wish to only have those podcasts to which you have subscribed displayed, then check the "Hide Unsubscribed Podcasts". This option is only presented once you have subscribed to at least three Basic podcasts.
You Save your Preferences by clicking the "Save" link at the bottom of the panel. You MUST press the "Save" link if you want your changes be saved.
You can cancel your changes by clicking on the "Cancel" link at the bottom of the panel.
The Podcast Detail Action Tab is a data entry form that lets you view the properties of the current podcast and, in some cases, customize it toyour desires.
The first field in the tab is the Podcast Name. You can only change the Podcast Name of a Custom Podcast. All other Podcasts have their Podcast Name set by the podcast author.
The Podcast’s News Category is a drop down list of news categories that describe what type of news stories are in the podcast. All Podcasts must have a News Category. Examples of News Categories are World News, Politics, Business, Sports. U.S. News, etc. The News Category also determines what other types of custom filters are available for that Podcast. For instance, a podcast with a new category of "World" will let you filter stories based on country, while a podcast with a news category of Sports will let you filter on a specific sport. You can only change the News Category of a Custom Podcast.
All Podcasts have a set of News Sources from which stories are selected. You can change the News Sources of "Basic" Podcasts and "Custom" Podcasts.
To set a Podcast’s news sources you move news sources from the Available News Sources list box to the Podcast News Sources list box. You can have up to five Podcast News Sources.
Tab to the Podcast News Sources list box to review the current list. When you "Add a Custom Podcast" we start with your Preferred News Sources list.
The Available News Sources list box is to the left of the Podcast News Sources. Highlight an Available News Source. Then click on the "Add Selected News Source" button to move the highlighted news source to your Podcast News Sources. You can tab to the "Add Selected News Source" button once you’ve highlighted an Available News Source.
To remove a Podcast News Source, highlight the news source in the Podcast News Source list box, click on the "Remove Selected News Source" button to move it back to the Available News Source list. You can back tab to the "Remove Selected News Source" button from the Podcast News Source list box.
Note, if you select five Podcast News Sources, the "Add Selected News Source" is hidden until you remove a Podcast News Source.
You may also prioritize your Podcast News Sources. To the right of the Podcast News Sources list box are "Move Selected News Source Up" and "Move Selected News Source Down" buttons. Select a Podcast News Source and click on the "Move Selected News Source Up" or "Move Selected News Source Down" button to raise or lower its priority. You can tab to these buttons from the Podcast News Source list box.
You can limit the Podcast to only Top Stories in this News Category by setting the "Top Stories" checkbox on. Top Stories are usually identified by each News Source when they are sent to NewsworthyAudio.
You set whether you want NewsworthyAudio to automatically update this podcast with the most recent stories by setting the check box "Live update". By default we update a podcast with the most recent stories every several hours. But if you don’t want the content of this podcast changed, you can set Live Update off.
You set the Maximum Stories to include in this Podcast with a drop down box.
You set the maximum audio play length of any story in this podcast by entering it as a number of minutes in the "Stories no longer than" field. A value of zero means you have no maximum length. Note, a typical newspaper story, when read is 4 minutes and takes up about 1 megabyte of disk space.
You set the maximum age of any story for this podcast by entering a number of days in the "Stories no older than" field. Minimum value is one day, maximum value is forty five days.
You can add your Custom Podcast to the Market Place by setting the "Add to Market Place" checkbox. Adding to the Market Place means other NewsworthyAudio Users can see it and subscribe to it.
You can limit your stories to a single Author be entering any part of the author’s name in the "Author" field. If your podcast has a News Category of "Columnist", you may enter any part of the Columnist’s name in this field as well.
You may enter additional, more free form search criteria in the "Search" field. You may separate words with "OR", "AND", or "AND NOT". "OR" is assumed. Put exact phrases in double quotes. You may end words or phrases with "*" (asterisk) as a wild card. You may also use parenthesis. The Search is performed against the title, story text, author, and any assigned keywords.
Many News Categories have a set of additional filters which you can set after you have selected the News Category for the podcast. Most of the filters are pull-down lists. For instance, the Sports News Category has additional filters "Sport", "Level of competition", "League", "Team Name", and "Games" such as "Olympic Games".
Except for Sports, if a News Category has more than one News Category Filter then only one of the filters may have a value other than "All". For instance, if the News Category is "World", then either you can select to filter on a World Region OR a Specific Country, but not both.
The Sports News Category supports multiple simultaneous filters. In Sports, picking a value in a drop-down list filter will often affect the available values in the other filters. For instance, selecting "Football" as a sport, and "Professional" as a Level of Competition, will limit the Team Names to the list of professional football teams.
Both the Business and Technology News Categories let you enter one or more stock ticker symbols on which you can filter your custom podcast.
You Save your Podcast changes by clicking the "Save" link at the bottom of the panel. You MUST press this button if you want your changes be saved.
You can cancel your changes by clicking on the Cancel link at the bottom of the panel.
The Login Tab lets you log in.
After entering your email address and a password click the Log In button.
There is also a "Remember me next time" check box available. If checked, you will not have to log in next time you visit NewsworthyAudio.
There are also two additional links on this form. The first is a link to "Create new NewsworthyAudio Account". This link takes you to the Create New Account Form discussed above.
The second link is a "Forgot your password" link. This links you to a new page where you enter your email address. That page also asks you for the answer to your security question. Upon entering these two items, NewsworthyAudio will send you an email with your password.
The Share It tab lets you share a story or a podcast with a friend. The Share It tab is opened whenever you select "Share" a story or "Share" a podcast.
You are asked to enter the recipient’s email address. You may optionally send a copy of the email to yourself by checking the "Send a copy to yourself" checkbox. You may also enter a note to include in the email.
You must click the "Send" link at the bottom of the panel to send the email to the recipient.
You can cancel by clicking the Cancel link at the bottom of the panel.
The Account tab lets you maintain your account information. The Account tab is opened whenever you click on the Account link at the top of the page.
You may change your password, your security question and security answer, your first or last name, and other demographic data.
To change your password, click on the "Change password" link. You must enter a new password, confirm that password, and enter the correct answer to your security question. Then click on the "Save Password" link at bottom of the panel.
To change your security question and answer, click on the "Change Question and Answer" link. You must select a new security question, security answer, and enter your current password. Then click on the "Save Security Question" link at bottom of the panel.
You can selectively change other fields. After any changes, you must click the "Save" link at the bottom of the panel to save your changes.
You can cancel by clicking the Cancel link at the bottom of the panel.
The Advertisements Panel contains banner ads from sponsors.
The Stories Panel consists of a set of stories from either the current podcast or derived from a search, a set of actions one can perform on the current podcast, and a search field that lets you search for stories.
A list of Current Podcast Actions is available for the current Podcast. The available actions depend on the type of podcast and whether you have previously subscribed to the podcast. The actions labeled "More" and "Sort" include sub-menus of additional actions or options. These sub-menus are reached either by putting the mouse over the action label, or, pressing the right arrow if you have tabbed to the action.
The search field lets you search for stories based upon the text you enter into the field. After entering the text, tab to and click on the magnifying glass to initiate the search.
You may separate search words with "OR", "AND", or "AND NOT". "OR" is assumed. Put exact phrases in double quotes. You may end words or phrases with "*" (asterisk) as a wild card. You may also use parenthesis. The Search performed against the title, story text, author, and any assigned keywords.
Up to ten stories are displayed at a time in the story panel for the current podcast or found from a search. At the bottom of the stories panel are controls that let you page forward and backward through the stories, ten at a time. Alternatively, Alt 5 jumps to the next page of stories, Alt 4 jumps to the previous page of stories.
The title, author, publication date, and news source are displayed for each story. Each story also has a Click-2-Listen icon for listening to the story and a "Share" link that lets you share the story with a friend. Many stories also have a "Read" link, which launches a new window with the text of story in it.
Alt 3 jumps you to the Click-2-listen icon of the first story in the current podcast. Successive tabs will tab you to the next Click-2-Listen icon.
Each Story also has a heading level 6 which contains the story title and abstract. Screen Readers will read the abstract. Back tabbing from the heading level 6 takes you to the icons discussed above.
The Related Podcasts Panel consists of a set of podcasts that are related to the current podcast, a search field that lets you search for podcasts, and a sort action that sorts all the related podcasts.
The search field lets you search for podcasts based upon the text you enter into the field. After entering the text, tab to the magnifying glass to initiate the search.
You may separate search words with "OR", "AND", or "AND NOT". "OR" is assumed. Put exact phrases in double quotes. You may end words or phrases with "*" (asterisk) as a wild card. You may also use parenthesis. The Search is performed against the podcast name, description, and any assigned keywords.
The Sort Action contains a sub-menu of different sort options on which you can sort the related podcasts. The sub-menu is reached either by putting the mouse over the Sort action, or, pressing the right arrow if you have tabbed to the Sort action.
Up to eight podcasts are displayed at a time in the Related Podcast panel for the current podcast. At the bottom of the panel are controls that let you page forward and backward through the related podcasts, eight at a time. Alternatively, Alt 7 jumps to the next page of related podcasts, Alt 6 jumps to the previous page of podcasts.
The title, author, and the last time the podcast was refreshed are displayed for each podcast. Each podcast also has a "Show" link which shows the stories from the podcast in the Story Panel, making it the current podcast. Each podcast also has a "Share" link that lets you share the podcast with a friend. Finally, each podcast has a "Subscribe" link that lets you subscribe to the podcast.
Subscribing to a Podcast tells NewsworthyAudio you are interested in receiving the podcast and lets you indicate to your preferred podcast aggregator that it should download the podcast whenever you start the aggregator program on your computer.
Example aggregators include iTunes, Zune, Google, Yahoo, AOL, Newsgator and more.
There are two different ways to subscribe to a podcast.
The first involves subscribing without initially indicating a podcast aggregator. In this case, the Podcast Detail tab is opened and you are presented with a form of podcast aggregators. You must pick the aggregator by clicking on the aggregator’s link. There are two links per aggregator. If you do not have a specific aggregator and just wish to use RSS, simply pick the aggregator labeled RSS.
The second way involves subscribing to the podcast via a specific podcast aggregator. In this case the action you are performing includes the aggregator. An example is picking the option to "Subscribe to the Podcast via iTunes".
Once an aggregator is chosen, in either way above, a dialog box is presented with two buttons: the "Confirm" subscription button and the "Cancel" button.
If you press the "Confirm" button, two things happen. First, we launch the aggregator in a separate window. You must follow the aggregator’s instructions for subscribing to the podcast.
For iTunes and Zune, we can typically complete the subscription process and you should not have to perform any additional functions in their applications.
Second, the Podcast Detail tab opens up and a confirmation panel is presented. This confirmation panel contains a link that you can press which will re-launch the aggregator just in case there was a issue when we launched it earlier. The second link copies the aggregator subscription URL to your clipboard just in case you need it.
The bottom of this panel contains a link that lets you view the details of the podcast in the Podcast Detail tab and, based upon the type of podcast, edit and personalize the podcast.