It is a huge splash page, but
MSNBC.com has redesigned to put almost all of its content there.
It is a distinctive approach. Where most others encourage --- and require --- click-throughs to launch photo galleries and most of the text content (to garner page views to serve up ad impressions), MSNBC.com has determined its strategy will be to focus heavily on the front page and to attract advertising and sponsorship support to it.
In other words, the site has gone retro, with few layers and much available on the spot.
There are easier search functions, plenty of large-format ads and a more prominent video player. But there are also some click-through functions, particularly to move content to social networks but also to generate a dashboard.
In his latest Monday Note, writer Frederic Filloux observes: "To put it bluntly, most home pages suck."
Filloux discusses the central tension in most news website design: Reconciling the warmth of the print experience with the coldness of the online one.
He correctly observes identity and personality are unclear and serendipity is limited. He then articulates what he'd like: something that searches more effectively, ports across devices better, and identifies what you want readily.
Then it will be possible to unfurl a full console.
Jacet Utko, the Polish architect-turned-newspaper designer, believes there is no particular reason technologically for the print edition to endure. To make it relevant, it has to capitalize on its design advantages.
Utko has a basic message: Give the designer more power inside the paper and the audience will come. His track record is impressive. Utko has taken some of the dullest-looking eastern European papers and turned them into Society for News Design winners.
He spoke recently to a TED gathering. His eight-minute presentation is attached.
Scott Karp, the prolific and often profound writer for the Publishing 2.0 blog, spends a lot of space making a nevertheless sound point: Design has to work or nothing else will. In his words, if your users fail, your Web site fails. He is critical of sites that require registration without making the case that it is in the user's interests. Whether the user succeeds is everything, he notes.
RSS Feed
