Tom Whitwell and Michael Moran
Read what the bloggers are saying about the new Times Online
.
The Good:
Daring Fireball "Nice layout, good on-screen typography, and some interesting use of color. The Times’s own coverage of their redesign includes interviews with the graphic designers, Tomaso Capuano and Jon Warden (including the question as to whether the site uses Times New Roman; it doesn’t) and Melissa Fleck, the information architect."
Laurel Papworth "The rest of the site looked pretty good. A comment option on EVERY page... What I do find interesting is that they are driving user generated content on travel - a really easy thing to do -by offering a holiday as a competition incentive. The business model is that this section is brought to you by BMW. No, you are not bombarded with banners and popup ads - think more of product placement like in the movies."
Nik Silver "Late last night (UK time) the Times Online launched their new design, and jolly nice it is, too. It’s clean and spacious, and there’s an interview with the designers who are very excited about the introduction of lime green into the logo. Personally, I like the columnists’ pictures beside their pull-quotes. That’s a nice touch."
The English Guy "The Times Online has refurnished its website. I say refurnished but I think I really mean invigorated. It looks great, what a change it has made. Browsing the old one was fine but this one is a lot better - clearly they got some web design experts in. I’m not so sure about the green colouring of the letters, but I suppose that will grow. Not quite certain what they’re trying to aim for there."
5 Tracks "Times Online has had a major re-design and I have to say it looks fantastic. It’s clean, clear, user friendly and easy to navigate - but by god is it slow this morning. I get the feeling everyone in the world has descended on the new look newspaper site at the same time. I waited nearly three minutes for the ‘comment’ page to launch this morning but it was worth it. OK so the content on the site hasn’t really changed but this is one of the first new British newspaper sites to re-design itself around the new wealth of content the papers are creating. The old site worked really well for the standard news, comment and features that a newspaper would traditionally publish online but when they started squeezing podcasts, video, blogs and more into that template it didn’t really work. The new site has moved to a top menu system instead of side which gives them more freedom to play with the primary content area (the body) and more freedom at the top. This means that you can easily change the template to incorporate new services like blogs, webcams, videos and anything else that might come along in the future. Love it but it needs to speed up a bit."
Thoughts of Nigel "It will take some getting used to but first impressions are that navigation is a lot clearer. The switch between the Uk and the global edition is more immediate and obvious"
Techscape "They’ve put lime-green in the logo, which will hopefully make the more buffer-ish element of the Times’ readership splutter over their keyboards"
The Bad
Gadgetizer "One of the most notable differences of this drastic change is the new logo and its color – lime green – which sucks (in my opinion)."
Lewis360 "Another day another exciting re-launch... with all manner of new and interesting features. Not to mention a new modern lay out and the inclusion of new media guaranteed to whip even the most mild mannered of news observers into a frenzy. But it seems that we are not the only ones who are thrilled at this news, and for large parts of the morning the site has been unavailable citing server issues, causing much outpouring of frustrations, furrowed brows and smacking of foreheads around the office."
YouthNet Blog "Anyone who has struggled to launch a new or redesigned website could have been forgiven a smile this morning if they clicked onto The Times Online. At time of writing the homepage looks fine, albeit painfully slow to load. The section homepages are OK. But dig a little deeper and you get pages like this... Perhaps it's the latest low-fi design chic. But I think something's not working quite as it should."
The Ugly
A few bloggers saw the site while it was having a poorly day on Monday, when the site design wasn't working correctly - with the CSS files which control layout, fonts and colours not loading.
Greg Bowers wrote a lengthy and 'baffled' review of the site while it was completely broken: "I don’t mean to be condescending to the designers, but did someone skip their colour theory class?" before updating his post: "I’m now seeing the proper, quite a bit more lovely, redesign on my end."
Des Traynor was similarly harsh, writing "How is it that professional web designers can go through all the motions of site design...and no one even thinks of saying 'Lads, blue on blue probably isn't a good idea'", but later said "this morning everything seems to be working well and looking legible"
Rachel Campbell-Johnston at Tate Britain for the new Hogarth exhibition
Are Rugby fans getting the game they deserve?
2003
£27,999
Inside M25
2005
£26,995
The Midlands
2006
£96,995
SE England
1997
£29,995
Inside M25
£30-39,999
London
£60-70K + benefits/bonus
North Yorkshire
£
£83K + benefits
Wellingborough Homes
Northamptonshire
£35-40K
Langley Grammar School
Berkshire
A much improved character cottage
£
£595,000
Two bedroom Victorian conversion
£
£275,000
Residential development site with planning permission
£
£1,500,000
Prestigious apartment close to Regents Park
£
£1,000,000
Graythwaite Manor Hotel - now under new ownership
Winter breaks from £40
Stunning, spacious 3-bed villa on West Coast
POA
4-bed ski chalet
POA
Luxury private villa in beautiful Kalami Bay
POA
Contact our advertising teamfor advertising and sponsorship in Times Online, The Times and The Sunday Times.
This service is provided on Times Newspapers' standard Terms and Conditions. Please read our Privacy Policy. To inquire about a licence to reproduce material from Times Online, The Times or The Sunday Times, click here © Copyright Times Newspapers Ltd
Bloggers - if you've commented, post your links below, or send them to feedback@timesonline.co.uk
http://ianapplegate.co.uk/?p=49
ian applegate , Sheffield, South Yorkshire
Love the new look to the site. Sooooo very user friendly and a bright and friendly look to it too. I will visit this site first now ahead of the BBC website.
Susan Crispin, Reading, England
I read Charles Bremner's blog regularly and I must say that it reads much more poorly now. The typeface is just not as elegant and the text is just crowded to the left of the frame even after refreshing the stylesheet. Even the photo is not as interesting as the previous one. As a photographer and designer I feel the other one was more expressive, not just some standard head shot.
Please, re-think this design.
Peter D, Starvation Falls, USA/ NY
I like the new layout, sort of, but where has the news gone? There's very little of major news on the front page, and I seem to be spending masses of time looking for it.
Plus the blue buttons don't work, for printing, for email.
Puzzled, Confused, I'll say
Anita Rieu-Sicart, Lorgues, France
I thought I had somehow gone on the wrong site at first! It looks great though - very professional and clean.
Destiny , lethbridge,
It looks better, more modern and more high-class. also it's better arranged. A big disadvantage: where are the old coloums? Especially the ones of jeremy clarkson? Please help me out...!
Daniel Nottrott, Hannover, Lower Saxony, Germany
The new format is very clear and attractive.
However there now seems to be far fewer articles than in the previous format.
That wide variety of articles was where the Times scored heavily over its rivals
howard barnett, London,
I think I like the new look. However, I'm handicapped and living abroad so I trust your 'Today's Choice' as a guide to satellite viewing, but at 5pm it's still showing last night's choice. Good luck with all teething problems.
(p.s. More A.A. Gill, please!)
Sue Markham, Alaró, Mallorca
Having commented yesterday on Su Doku I can now see 1176, 1177 and Killer 430. But on printing it I lose half of killer(although the numbers are clearer I still can't do the puzzle). Did anyone user test this?
Also are you going to put up the missing Su Dokus from 1160 to 1176?
Margaret Jennings, London, England
Personally, I think it's lousy! Go back to the original please!
r Platten, Paris, france