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A List Apart: A Review

By VJ

A List Apart (ALA) is a webzine or web magazine, exploring the web designing methods. It came to existence in 1997, as a mailing list, established by web design engineer, Jeffrey Zeldman and Brian M Platz. The most attractive thing about ALA is that it allows you to submit your articles for publication. And accepted content earn $100 on publication.

This completely voluntary review of ALA was written after seeing through their site’s charming design and their professional standard. This CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) designed website is almost a standard for webzines. Their contribution guidelines have some words, which stuck with me. “Present a clear argument via a well-balanced structure, while keeping your readership of working professionals in mind.” Most of the articles they publish there are like that. They have clearly distinct look and feel, with ample creativity embedded.

The only thing that may let you down in it is the review process. It may well take more time than you expect. The review process, though they promise might take only a week, they have made it explicit that it may take longer—“sometimes a lot longer.”

And the most important thing about writing in this site is that it will give you a lot of exposure. It is already a site recognized by Wikipedia (which is reluctant to recognize ordinary sites and being recognized by them is an honor). ALA is regularly watched by media people, hundreds of thousands of readers, and even some publishers. So, being published by them is a great way to open up a broader pathway to your writing career. The fact that the site has a PageRank of 8 is itself an indication of the traffic it gets. If you feel so, write for them not for the $100 they are giving, but for the kind of exposure your article will lead you to.

History Today

RK Narayan, foremost Indian novelist died in 2001. He is believed to be one of the greatest Indo-Anglican writers. The World of Malgudi, Malgudi Days, The Financial Expert, etc., are some of his great works.

My tributes to this great genius.

Copyright © Lenin Nair 2008

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