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.