Posts Tagged ‘msnbc.com’

NewscastStudio commenters disapprove of MSNBC.com redesign

MSNBC.com’s new story page design isn’t going over well with NewscastStudio readers.

Our June 28 report on the new look has garnered 23 comments — all of them negative. It’s also worth nothing that 23 is a record for number of comments on a NewscastStudio blog post.

Many of the comments also include sentiments about switching to an alternative news site, says as the user “Marco,” who writes: “I dislike the new design because it appears like a cluttered mess and forces me to click more than needed just to read a story. I’ve decided to switch to another news source website instead but will miss MSNBC.”

Other key comments:

• “I liken the new MSNBC layout to that of the Ford Nova. Huge blunder and hopefully short lived. Did they skip the end-user testing?” (”Jasmin”)
• “The whole top of the MSNBC.com page is a waste of unwanted real estate. When I first saw it I reported it as a bug, I couldn’t believe it was intentional.” (”Charlie”)
• “Was my home page won’t be much longer.” (”HPO”)
• “The left-hand major news menu (U.S. News, Business, etc.) and fly-out topic headlines that appeared on every page is gone. I can no longer select a story from another topic quickly; nor can I see all headlines without clicking even one. Another big peeve: the “show/hide more text” story feature requires constant clicking; the greatly enlarged font requires much scrolling back to previous content in a long article.” (”Bajeha”)

Read all comments here or leave your own thoughts. You can also quickly share your opinion of the new design in our live poll.

Vote: What do you think of the new MSNBC.com design?

MSNBC.com unveils new story page design

UPDATE: MSNBC.com has posted a tour of the new story pages.

MSNBC.com has rolled out some changes to its Web site, including a slightly modified graphical look and a dynamic new layout for story pages.

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MSNBC.com rolls out slick new TV page

MSNBC.com recently launched a newly updated section for its various TV shows.

The section features a large Flash rotator with all the MSNBC show hosts. Each hour this graphic changes to the upcoming show.

The page also uses many social media tie-ins including links to various Twitter profiles and live tweets.

MSNBC.com page goes through ‘time warp’

Browsing MSNBC.com this afternoon brought back a sense of deja vu; one of the stories featured on the site’s main page appeared on the site’s old template for an unknown reason.

Update: MSNBC.com has fixed this and the page is now displaying on the Elkhart Project’s standard layout.

MSNBC.com adds ad options to video player

MSNBC.com has added advertising preferences to some of its online video clips, giving users the option to see fewer ads or shorter ads, as shown above.

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MSNBC adds social media toolbar to some stories

We noticed MSNBC.com has added a floating social media sharing toolbar to some story pages.

The toolbar provides one-click access to share content via Newsvine (an MSNBC-owned property), Facebook, Twitter and via e-mail.

MSNBC upgrades online video player

MSNBC has unveiled some upgrades and a new look to the embedding and sharing portions of its online video player.

The new tools allow users to embed video clips at different sizes and adds integrated Twitter, Facebook and Newsvine sharing tools. Users can also trim clips to custom lengths using sliders similar to those seen on Hulu.

The size options provide a good level of flexibility for bloggers and other online publishers who may require a certain size to fit their layouts.

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New CNN.com adds some clutter, emphasizes photos better

The new CNN.com rolled out over the weekend, but today seems to mark the site’s official debut.

In this incarnation, CNN has stayed on the simpler side of news site design, though this version is a bit more cluttered than the old site.

One of the most significant change is the switch to a bold read header bar with reversed CNN logo that is centered rather than left aligned like logos on many sites. This header sometimes seems a bit distracting since its visual weight is increased by the use of such a bright color across the entire page.

I’m glad to see CNN kept the “story highlights” bulleted summary of stories, though its new location on the left column is a bit hard to find at a glance.

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MSNBC.com revamps stock quote pages

MSNBC.com is touting a new look to its stock quote pages, a change the site says is “long overdue.”

The new pages include expanded stock quotes, charts, company profiles, financial information and analyst ratings, according to the site’s announcement.

The new layout includes a tabbed panel that displays a wide range of information, ranging from current quotes to historical data and a company profile (see Google’s page for an example).

Despite the new design, MSNBC.com’s stock pages still lack the sleek look and cool features that many other sites offer, such as Google Finance, which features a helpful interactive stock chart that pairs news stories with historical data.

MSNBC acquires hyperlocal news site EveryBlock

MSNBC Interactive has announced its second acquisition, purchasing EveryBlock, a site that, in a limited selection of cities, provides local news that’s drilled down to the block level.

In 2007, MSNBC purchased Newsvine, an interactive, community-driven news site that still operates independently and powers several features on the main MSNBC.com site.

MSNBC needs to update Hardball homepage

Looks like the “Hardball” graphics makeover hasn’t hit the Web site yet.