Before we can productively consider the optimal format for the Meridian, we must identify its purpose, its goals, in order to measure the best way to reach them.

The goals of the Meridian include:

• Disseminate useful information
• Provide an advertising opportunity to highlight our sponsors
• Make the MRA look good

Now let's consider the pros and cons of our current PDF format:

• It looks nice
• It cleanly separates articles per edition

And now, consider the additional benefits which we would gain by ALSO posting articles online in individual posts at mra.org/meridian, for example:

• A nice look and article separation may also be designed
• A more modern look and format which many users expect
• Ability to share individual posts on social media, email, etc.
• No need to download PDF in order to read, which may be a barrier for some readers
• Enhanced readability - especially when reading on a phone - in a browser rather than PDF
• Search Engine Optimized
• More likely to be read beyond the initial days or weeks after each edition gets released
• Greater visibility may encourage more articles submitted
• Greater flexibility for advertisements - some may be placed permanently in articles, and others could be changed any time we like, without editing each article
• Ads can link to sponsors (the PDF could also do this, but people may not expect it there, while they certainly expect it from a website)
• Very little work for editors, who simply paste the article and any images, with no complex formatting and shifting everything around to fit things on the page
• Editor workflow may also be streamlined with multiple contributors and fewer editors who check each article and decide when to release them in an edition
• More traffic at mra.org means more opportunity to highlight other offerings there

When I've suggested this in the past, the primary objection was that some people believed the PDF version looked more official and respectable. I suggest that we can easily enjoy the best of both worlds, and that we would be foolish to miss out on the many upsides of modernizing our presentation.

NOTE: THIS PAGE IS ONLY SET UP AS AN EXAMPLE. Please do not get hung up on its exact design, as we can make it look much better than this.