In my California experience, publication in a newspaper or medium of general circulation is pursuant to an order of the court, and is not done ad hoc by whatever means the noticing party feels like doing, in a manner not calculated to reach the party being noticed (e.g. for example, those who do not use computers or know there is anything to even look for on the computer). After the court order, this is considered actual notice, not constructive notice. The settling parties here, based on the online docket, got no such court order.
Constructive notice (deemed by law notice) is for example when someone records a lien against a real property, and the person who puys the property is "deemed" to have seen the lien (because it was of record in title) whether the buyer saw it or not.