From our reader survey last year, we know that 83% of subscribers read every issue or most issues, up from 70% three years prior. In case you missed some, below are a few of the leading 2003 articles accessed last year at Control Engineering Online. Factors influencing ranking beyond topical interest and usefulness include wider Internet searches, how many links to the articles are placed elsewhere, and how long each has been posted. For a top 10 list of 2003 articles and their links, read this piece online, at www.controleng.com, under archive, February 2004.

"Schematic Software—Look Inside Clean, Productive Designs," the February 2003 cover article, covers advances in software tools for designing electrical control schematics. This class of software is particularly appealing as readers seek ways to shorten product cycle times, incorporate links to other software, and preserve intellectual investments. Anyone crunched for time—and many are—can appreciate software tools that lower design and development costs, shorten time to market, and decrease training time. In this February 2004 issue, a "Technology Update" expands on that with "10 reasons to use panel or schematic design software."

PID (proportional-integral-derivative)articles: interest in "Loop Tuning Fundamentals" in July, and "PID: Still the One," the October cover story, show how PID remains the workhorse of industrial process control. Negative feedback has been used to control continuous processes well over 100 years and PID control for more than 60 years. With that legacy in place, there's a thirst for PID updates as well as primer-based examples, since tuning loops remains one of the fundamentals of process control today. (See also "Back to Basics," in this issue.)

Wireless: "Free at Last!" Those clicking into the July cover story likely seek simpler plant-floor connectivity, as wireless technologies gain reliability, are easier to implement, and are more unified by standards. The cover article in this February 2004 expands on that, looking at "World of Wireless I/O." While not every application is appropriate for wireless technology, in many retrofit situations and in some new installations, the advantages appeal to engineers, in part for ease/speed of installation. Updates on applications and technologies illustrate the value.

For items of interest prior to 2003, look at "History: 50, 25, 10 years ago," celebrating 50 years of Control Engineering in every 2004 issue.

mhoske@reedbusiness.com