I have two strong preferences:
YES on EMBEDDED IMAGES. There's a LOT of good information that can be conveyed with one image, and when you have to click a link to view it, the message loses cohesion and immediacy. Some classic images come to mind -- like the epic failure non-call of Stepfan Taylor's crossing the end zone at Notre Dame (which, by the way, is also my logo), or the ESPN tweeted image of empty seats during a home game.
NO on GIANT EMBEDDED ARTICLE CAPSULES (Links?). They are way too big and they are a distraction. I can understand why they fit elsewhere. On many sites, like Facebook, a major source of fresh content is people linking to interesting (funny/compelling/novel) articles all day. Facebook becomes a graphical front page of news and entertainment. I'd like to think here at the CardBoard, linked articles are only one form of content (and a relatively infrequent one), and even then often the main benefits are the observations the Cardboard members make.
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Other preferences:
Especially thinking of the future, YES on EMBEDDED TWEETS. Remember many ESPN analysts (and others) share their thoughts and breaking news via Twitter. And many players and former players use Twitter to share thoughts or announcements, like a high school player choosing to commit to Stanford. Or an ESPN analyst learning about a staffing change. I think Twitter will become a bigger and bigger source of sports news, and in size, Tweets shouldn't be too intrusive. It delivers one nugget (usually), which is often complementary to the text/analysis around it, like an image.
And since someone else brought up animated gifs, PREFER YES on ANIMATED GIFs. I've seen some really good football highlights packed into gifs. Who wouldn't want to be able to see this animation on every page?
https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/mdvXrF4C...caff.0.gif
UNCLEAR on EMBEDDED VIDEOS. Do you mean like embedded Youtube videos? I lean toward not embedding those because the embeds can be large and clunky, and a text description can tell me what I'm going to see. Unlike images and Tweets, which can be complementary to the Cardboard user's text, embedded Youtube videos (like giant article embeds) are large and invite readers to leave the Cardboard site. It's more of an optional excursion -- maybe you click the link to delve more deeply, maybe you just want to stay on the Cardboard to read the poster's summary. But it's an optional departure, even when it's a fantastic, uplifting video like this: Coach Shaw announcing a scholarship for 5th year walk-on Craig Jones in 2015:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJLWCHOlujE
YES on EMBEDDED IMAGES. There's a LOT of good information that can be conveyed with one image, and when you have to click a link to view it, the message loses cohesion and immediacy. Some classic images come to mind -- like the epic failure non-call of Stepfan Taylor's crossing the end zone at Notre Dame (which, by the way, is also my logo), or the ESPN tweeted image of empty seats during a home game.
NO on GIANT EMBEDDED ARTICLE CAPSULES (Links?). They are way too big and they are a distraction. I can understand why they fit elsewhere. On many sites, like Facebook, a major source of fresh content is people linking to interesting (funny/compelling/novel) articles all day. Facebook becomes a graphical front page of news and entertainment. I'd like to think here at the CardBoard, linked articles are only one form of content (and a relatively infrequent one), and even then often the main benefits are the observations the Cardboard members make.
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Other preferences:
Especially thinking of the future, YES on EMBEDDED TWEETS. Remember many ESPN analysts (and others) share their thoughts and breaking news via Twitter. And many players and former players use Twitter to share thoughts or announcements, like a high school player choosing to commit to Stanford. Or an ESPN analyst learning about a staffing change. I think Twitter will become a bigger and bigger source of sports news, and in size, Tweets shouldn't be too intrusive. It delivers one nugget (usually), which is often complementary to the text/analysis around it, like an image.
And since someone else brought up animated gifs, PREFER YES on ANIMATED GIFs. I've seen some really good football highlights packed into gifs. Who wouldn't want to be able to see this animation on every page?
https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/mdvXrF4C...caff.0.gif
UNCLEAR on EMBEDDED VIDEOS. Do you mean like embedded Youtube videos? I lean toward not embedding those because the embeds can be large and clunky, and a text description can tell me what I'm going to see. Unlike images and Tweets, which can be complementary to the Cardboard user's text, embedded Youtube videos (like giant article embeds) are large and invite readers to leave the Cardboard site. It's more of an optional excursion -- maybe you click the link to delve more deeply, maybe you just want to stay on the Cardboard to read the poster's summary. But it's an optional departure, even when it's a fantastic, uplifting video like this: Coach Shaw announcing a scholarship for 5th year walk-on Craig Jones in 2015:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJLWCHOlujE