Tag Archives: UserInterface

Google Fast Flip – News Visualization

Posted on by

I’m sure the newspapers are hating Google Labs’ new Fast Flip user interface but at least they are sharing revenue .  I like visualizations.  The current user interface of search portals and websites in general are certainly in their nascent iterations.  For Fast Flip, Google went for the grid user interface hey… it really works for tastespotting.

googff

It remains to be seen if it works for Google.  Here’s how Google explains the site:

“Google Fast Flip is a web application that lets users discover and share news articles. It combines qualities of print and the Web, with the ability to “flip” through pages online as quickly as flipping through a magazine. It also enables users to follow friends and topics, discover new content and create their own custom magazines around searches.”

Using Alexa and Wordle To Improve News Site Performance

Posted on by

Is your newspaper doing what you think it’s doing?  Lets say you operate in New Jersey and run NJ.com.  That site pans itself as “everything NJ”.  Does this hold up looking at the data?

ALEXA:
I did the breakdown for you below.  Click the field you want to change for your publication.  We’re using my home state of NJ so we’re using the following:

Top > News > Newspapers > Regional > United States > New Jersey

We find out that there are 44 newspaper websites in this category and they are listed by popularity below.  I show the first 5 as an example.  Clicking the title goes to the Alexa data, clicking the url goes to the site. Continue reading →

Readability Cleans Up The Clutter

Posted on by

I’ve been guilty of reading the “print view” version of long interesting articles on news sites to remove all the noise and clutter of those sites. Sometimes I’ll even use the Web Designer’s Toolbar to disable javascript. Some smart people at arc90 labs have gone several steps further and created the above “browser bookmarklet on steroids” to improve the reading experience.

Purists will say I’m not supporting the site by avoiding their advertising, but you know what? In the 14 years I’ve been using the internet, I have never intentionally clicked on an advertisement. If in the last 14 years, the only thing those sites can come up with to grab my attention is a Pop Under ad, then they fail – not me. Continue reading →

New York Times Article Skimmer Prototype

Posted on by

Grid Format User Interfaces All The Rage?

Navigating the home page of most newspaper websites stinks.  There are literally hundreds of links scattered about with very little thought toward user engagement and ease of use.  In the 14 years that most news sites have been in use, it still seems easier to navigate a printed newspaper than a news site.

Personally speaking, I can skim through an entire Wall Street Journal in about 5 minutes before going back and reading entire articles that interest me.  Try doing this on a news site and you will quickly realize that there is no seamless way to recreate the speed and effectiveness.  The New York Times article skimmer and others below attempt to solve this problem.

The New York Times is working on the new user interface prototype for their content called ‘article skimmer’.  Below is a screen shot of their Dining & Wine section in Article Skimmer. It’s a nice clean layout, good for scanning.

Continue reading →