What is Digg?112 Comments
- dbpigeon, on 10/12/2007, -4/+31Here's the old layout from archive.org.
http://web.archive.org/web/20050401084821/http://www.cnn.com/ - Wabin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15Well, one good thing is that they changed the "watch" flags to just camera icons. It prevents them from the many horrible headlines like these:
"Watch Hundreds die in earthquakes"
"Watch Modern day genocide"
"Watch Stranded kids cry out for rescue"
"Watch Graduate student raped and murdered"
So many times I wanted to laugh if the damn stories weren't so depressing. - aaryn, on 10/12/2007, -6/+17Looks nice but why is there a huge white blank space on the right?
Oh yeah, adblocker... - mwales, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9I hate sites that make strict assumptions as to what the size of the browser window is. If you make the window to small, you get a horizontal scroll bar. If you make it to big, you get a big white space on the right hand side.
- chrisdoan, on 10/12/2007, -15/+23It may still be *****, but hell, it looks a lot better than it did before.
- Spazkake, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8This looks like every other conjumbled POS news website.
- digga, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Oops... http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com
- msipes, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7basically ESPN layout all over again.
- shortcircuit13, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6It's better than their old design, adding much-needed whitespace. It looks more busy than cluttered, which is a very good improvement, considering how much CNN needs to cover.
I don't see any AJAX effects, unless we're talking about the Prototype-based accordion effects. That's just a nice bit of Javascript.
They really could've changed their color palette for rollovers. The main linkbar links looks only semi-readable when rolled over, and I'm only 20. I very much like the elimination of the sidebar menu. The wide horizontal menus are refreshing.
What's particularly jarring to me is the completely different grid that below-the-fold news is based on.
@mwales: Though I definitely agree that this site could use dynamic scaling, I don't see how they could change the width of any element without horribly breaking the layout. Of course, they could use the UX Magazine technique is realigning elements according to page scale, but with something as far from a strict grid (or any consolidated grid design, for that matter) as CNN.com, good execution of such is just about impossible.
They obviously built their site around a 1024x768 screen, (as evidenced by the fixed width and fold placement) which I think is a pretty good idea, as I personally don't think many people still use 800x600 monitors.
Personally, I think it could be improved a lot more, but it's also improved a lot. Those damn rollover colors are just bad, though. The main above-the-fold links could be less striking, too. That could help a lot with the clutter. Also, it doesn't support any text resizing. Shame on them. - sluggoo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7So, if CNN is designing their site at 1024px wide, does that mean that we can officially stop accomodating 800px monitors? (For those of us who are still asked to do so...)
- steponsnyder, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4This is no redesign. The advertisements are placed in even more annoying places then they were before, and all they really did was shift the links that used to run along the left side of the page to the top.
- Lewisham, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4It's probably done fixed width to prevent it looking weird to the "Mum and Dad" audience if they surf at a weird resolution or window size: people understand to make a window bigger if there's a scroll bar, but a fluid CSS design might just cause all the window elements to look out of place with no obvious reason why.
- Konquest, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Still has annoying popup... I know I browse with Firefox, but I hate having the yellow bar when I surf...
- binky79, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I like it. Of course it looks busy, its an all encompassing news site (U.S. International, Entertainment, Sports, Tech, Financial), Its SUPPOSED to look busy.
- Tufriast, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4This is exactly why I do not watch CNN, or goto their website. Not only is their reporting way past slant, but their ***** site sucks donkey balls. It makes my eyes hurt, and has so much content I could puke.
Get a ***** good graphic designer CNN before you lose out totally. - Foofy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4It doesn't have ads because it's already paid for! UK citizens pay $17/m for a "TV license" that goes to pay for all that good stuff.
- madjo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3it wanted to open a popup even before the page was even loaded... no digg from me. (thank god for Firefox)
- evanm, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4its only their front page that was updated...
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3It's not that much different. Fox News are the ones who really need to update their site. Videos don't work well at all, ugly ass Geocities-ish background. They couldn't even get the angled corners right.
- Dradis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3It is better than their old one, but I agree with many of the above comments that there's just too much. They're trying to push too many stories, videos, podcasts, etc. on the front page. Digg and similar news sites work well because they're simple, the top stories are all right there, and you don't have to scan the page for 15 minutes to figure out what is going on.
It's interesting to note that in the various subsections, they've retained the blue left navigation bar, and it's pretty much unchanged.
Overall, the layout hasn't changed that significantly; the greatest change is the colour scheme. - mike_c, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3the only problem i have with the website is the million attempted pop-ups that were launched. (firefox blocked them, but exiting out of that yellow box is just as annoying as a pop-up.)
- MalDON, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Why do they have popups? And this new design loads a lot slower.
- deepsub, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3There's too much emphasis on links and too little on layout refinement and usability.
- CelticWarrior, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4"much cleaner" Laughable.
Some of you "designers" need to go back to design school me thinks. - mrnephilim, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Way to busy. The first box contains everything you need on the first page.
- Machine, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Neocons have this odd idea that CNN is liberal... if it doesn't have an animated American flag somewhere on every page, it must be "communist".
- smroge, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I am confused about the difference between "Top Stories" and "Most Popular".....What designates a top story?
- jbond03, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3their "best video" section includes
"Having sex while asleep (4:24)" - artman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Hmmm. Compared to Fox News it's a big step in the right direction. Fox's News site makes my eyes bleed.
- Goner, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It looks much better with adblock and adblock filterset.g updater extensions.. I don't mind a big white space as long as the alternative is some ad selling tampons or something..
- alc0h0lic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I just luv it when a sites pops up 2 big-ass ads in front of me...
- Protoss, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Very nice...not that I'll ever visit it on a daily basis, since if it is important to me, it will show up on digg, engadget or lifehacker.
- vertino, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6...and this made digg frontpage?
- mirunit, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Yes FoxNews should learn from CNN here and fix their site. I like the new look.
- xiongchiamiov, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Nope. My mom and my best friend still use 800x600. If your site doesn't fit on my screen, I'll never come back.
- deadbaby, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This page is WAY to busy. Looks like they just redesigned so they can spam TIME magazine on 1/3rd of the page. Cable news is for idiots.
- cheez, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I wouldn't mind pipeline... if it were free!
- ChrisLowder, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2i see no difference... it is marginally better graphics wise... but, it is still a cluttered ugly mess (there old site was slightly better in this area)...
they also need to work on there layout... fixed layouts are annoying... i don't want to have to scroll horizontally, the web page should take care of that... - bedouin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3No, because it's moronic to be forced into maximizing your browser window if your display only goes to say, 1024 x 768 (like my 12" PB).
- sluggoo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"I think is a pretty good idea, as I personally don't think many people still use 800x600 monitors."
I agree. I'm getting around 5-6% (and steadily dropping) at 800x600. Most are 1024, with 1280 coming in at a respectable second. On the other hand, I also get the odd IE 3.0's from time to time...
With 19in lcds coming down in price, I bet we'll see a 1280 standard within the next 4-5 years. From a designing perspective, that's a mixed blessing. It'll be great to have all that space, but the risk of clutter just multiplies. - jk_baller23, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The layout is a bit better, but it doens't seem to be completed implemented, only the home page has been update. Maybe just a beta...
It can still be made better. Top article, the one with the pic showing, should take up about half of the screen. The advertisement seems to be the main focus since it is the largest image. - dslabuser, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1So thats what broke the CNN script for XBMC hope they update it soon.
- jimb0, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2ok, I guess.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1a pity that the other sections' pages arent updated with the new look yet...
well, the look has changed. but the blue/red sidebar is still there, and that doesnt fit in with their new graphics - conorryan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1CNN international edition needs the new layout, I'm up for a new look
- melmyfinger, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1That's exactly what I was thinking too. And if I remember correctly, that sneak peak screenshot of Yahoo's redesign is 1024 optimized too.
As a designer, I'd just LOVE to see 1024 become the minimum standard. But looking at the log files of my sites, I still have 15% of my visitors running 800x600. - raniya, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1not so great...BBC news still looks a lot better...I am glad they made the videos free again....
- Nicholas, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Like the redesign of their TV theme, this does have a simple/elegant aesthetic, and is at the same time simpler but somehow more effective than the older, blocky, too-boring style they used to have.
- MaxxDamage, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I am in the process of switching all of my sites to wider format. I am glad to see it is catching on.
- weiran, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It's nice that they're moving away from table based design, but not completly there yet. And I still think they try to cram too much information onto one page.
Nevertheless, a step in the right direction :). -
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