This week, INQ7.net marks its third year as the the Philippines’ largest news site. The service now boasts 30 million page views per month, attributed greatly to their in–depth coverage on local politics and the entertainment business (and don’t confuse them despite their countless parallels).

The anniversary’s special section mentions the need for balancing tech innovations and providing better services, something I find rather contradictory. For quite some time now, they have been serving “light versions” for mobile devices and WAP browsers, aside from the main site for desktop browsers. Instead of using this aged, costly approach, the site and its visitors will be better served by embracing web standards, minimizing the need for multiple versions. The benefits can be very impressive.

Another article proudly praises the site’s gains in online advertising, a fact too hard to dispute looking at the frontpage cluttered with ads, twelve of them as of my last count. Should they really reduce their frontpage ads? Maybe, but a little organization might help; this allows users to really “see” the content and let advertising stand out.

Why do I keep hitting on scrutinizing them? Simple—because it deserves to be made even better. It has been every Filipino geek’s news source, probably the only one at that. Making it more accessible would allow it to serve more people, which is really what online publishing all about.

In retrospect, there is one thing that cannot be ignored—content is king.