Newsroom tools atThe Globe and Mail

Tom Cardoso

Graphics Editor,The Globe and Mail

@tom_cardoso

What tools has the Globe built?

A simple rule:

If it’s something annoying and complicated that we’ve had to do at least five times in the last month, probably worth automating.

Newsroom tools are weird

Things we care about

Consistent branding

UX and ease of use

Uptime

Mobile, tablet, desktop, apps, print

Things we don’t

Speed

Browser support

Code review and testing

HTML < 5

Example time: Chart Tool

Charts are a pain to make

10 to 30 charts being made each day

Digital and print requirements are different

Data requires human interpretation

45min to make a chart by hand

Responsive LOL

The options

Only generated static PNGs

No way to archive old charts or data

Absolutely no print support

Hard to style and customize

Confusing user experience

Our solution

We’ll just make our own ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Backend uses Meteor to archive charts

Library uses D3.js to draw charts responsively

Exports PNGs and PDFs

Generates embed codes for our CMS

Philosophy

No iframes!

All data lives in the embed code

Charts can’t be deleted

90 seconds from nothing to final chart

Exports PNGs (social media) and PDFs (print)

Absolutely no pie charts

More on Chart Tool

github.com/globeandmail/chart-tool

Contribute! Break things!

Thanks!

@tom_cardoso

github.com/tomcardoso