Sunday, June 01, 2008

The Washington Times gets a new on-line look

I've worked in Human Factors in nuclear power for many years and it never ceases to amaze me that people just don't understand the need for what is known as "white space" on the page. I haven't been to the Washington Times on-line site for sometime but it used to be my major source of news. I just went there and was astonished at the clutter. It is practically unreadable, nevermind trying to find anything. Clutter, clutter everywhere - black background and yellow lettering which is fine but the design is so small it all runs together, especially when the titles go from yellow to a murky grey. Sometimes change is not good and this is one of those times. No doubt, if I am still going to try to get news from what I considered the best newspaper in America, I am clearly going to have to work at it and the objective of any newspaper, on-line or off, should not be to make it difficult for readers to read or find the news. So, once again, a great deal of money spent for a nearly un-usable, once fine, news source... I'll have to try to work with it but my goodness - taking something that was user-friendly and turning it into a user's nightmare is not the way to go. My apologies to the web-designers but really, all the clutter? Must be my fault, right? Some of the second level pages are better but still cluttered...this is gonna take some work.

4 Comments:

Blogger MathewK said...

Change for the sake of change is usually not a good idea. It's not too bad once you get used to it though. I don't understand why they changed it. Maybe they did a poll or something and most out there wanted the change.

7:16 AM  
Blogger Rommel Bandeira said...

Hello, I am a conservative and just moved to Virginia Beach. I had a home delivery of the Washington Times, but had to cancel it. The mail delivery is just too expensive to continue it. I still prefer the printed paper over Web, for among other reasons, the reason described in your post. I was able to stand it when they had the free, ad-free, version. And had also done away with that before this overhaul.

My question is… is there a conservative regional paper that will deliver here?

2:14 PM  
Blogger Beach Girl said...

MK - what I've found is the ones who want the change want the change to match their inability to hold a thought for more than 10 seconds. The paper version has changed as well and is the new USA Today with more clutter because they actually try to include news. Sad, when all some of us want to do is sit in our local restaurant, have breakfast, coffee, and do our blog prep. So sad. Now we have to fight the blue tabs and purple tabs. They've just taken the on-line digital mess and reduced it to print. Guess I'll have to get used to it.

Rommel - sadly NO! The only newspaper within 24,000 miles of us worth reading was the Washington Times - period. All the news in Section A along with the editorials. No more. Now you have to search for the edictorials. As my friend MK points out, once we - the consumer - adjusts to the changes perhaps we will be able to find the news we used to enjoy so much.

Welcome to the neighborhood! The Virginia Pilot is okay but the closest you'll probably come to a "conservative" paper is the Richmond Times Dispatch. You can get that at your local 7-11.

Rommel - good name! Come back and visit often. And hop over to A Western Heart as well as Crusader Rabbit - plus Gates of Vienna and Eternity Road. Just check out some of the blogs and sites in my sidebar - you can't go wrong adding some of them to your list of favorites to keep you up to date - the 910 Group Headline news is international.

MK, you don't mind the plug?

9:24 AM  
Blogger Rommel Bandeira said...

Ends up that the Washington Times is sold on the sidewalk paper dispenser on my same block. As close as it gets to home delivery. Best wishes on your ventures BG.

4:00 PM  

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