USAToday.com prepares impressive relaunch
Cory Bergman March 1st, 2007
We’ve been hearing a lot from Gannett over the last several months about “crowdsourcing” and “networked journalism.” Now the company is gearing up to relaunch USAToday.com with an incredible array of social functionality — in fact, more than I’ve seen on any newspaper site in the country. Now, the design isn’t spectacular, but let’s focus on the features. First off, users can create their own profiles, add friends and start their own blogs. You can vote for stories, which pushes them up a recommendation list on the home page. You can comment on any story, and the most-commented stories are also ranked. And the recommendations and comments are shareable with friends. Users are also encouraged to upload photos, which will have “report abuse” links. USAToday.com’s “On Deadline” blog is available front-and-center on the home page with a click of a tab. And perhaps the most surprising feature is USAToday.com will display aggregated lists of their competitors’ headlines, via RSS, which link directly off the site. Bravo. Of course, we still have to put the site through the motions when it launches this weekend, but it looks very promising. Jeff Jarvis reports on some of the background behind the redesign, as well as more details. Home page screen grab follows, which is available full-screen here.
So, what do you think so far?
Adds Aidan in comments: “Very impressive — looks to be perhaps the most interactive design I’ve seen from a major mainstream news org. I love the RSS element — says someone in management actually gets it. Of course, anything would be a step up from the current site.”
Adds Rex: “I’m impressed with the functionality, but unimpressed with the presentation. I would be worried that the cool features get lost in the messiness.”
14 Comments Add your own
1. Anonymous | March 1st, 2007 at 7:27 am
The design and layout is a total mess. What about User Experience? Emotional design? What about develop a product that feels good when you use it?
2. theanonymouschannel | March 1st, 2007 at 7:39 am
how about taking credit for your observations, “anonymous”???
3. aidian | March 1st, 2007 at 8:26 am
Very impressive — looks to be perhaps the most interactive design i’ve seen from a major mainstream news org. I love the RSS element — says someone in management actually gets it. Of course, anything would be a step up from the current site.
4. Luke | March 1st, 2007 at 9:50 am
I really like the design and looks like it will be pretty friendly as well
5. Shawn Honnick | March 1st, 2007 at 10:09 am
“social functionality” is a very good idea for news publications if they want to lead the field and the layout of the site looks good, easy to read, well organized, etc.
6. Rex | March 1st, 2007 at 11:01 am
I told Cory this last night: I’m impressed with the functionality, but unimpressed with the presentation. I would be worried that the cool features get lost in the messiness.
7. Steve Safran | March 1st, 2007 at 7:00 pm
I’m pretty strictly RSS these days. The design won’t matter much to me. I’ll be focused on functionality.
Having said that, I know the power of the shiny bell and the colorful ball of yarn. I look forward to playing in the USA Today sandbox.
8. Anony Mouse | March 1st, 2007 at 9:06 pm
Yeah, and where’s the pie chart that shows how much pie we eat?
9. David Johnson | March 2nd, 2007 at 8:45 am
i think as far as newspaper derivitive site design goes, this is looking pretty good. it looks cleaner and more simple due to added breathing room and whitespace, which sort of fits with USAT’s whole intentionally casual approach (anyone remember when it first hit the streets, the racks looked like TV sets?)
but, generally speaking, i think we’re really getting locked into certain types of wireframes/grids that are creatively limiting. blogs are blogs, but professionally produced broadcast and other news/feature/current event sites –especially magazines– could really blow up the modular boxes.
there is the everpresent yahoo creep, but I think many sites have been heavily influenced by nytimes.com, and thusly by khoi vin’s earlier treament at theonion.com. check out time.com and even the new usnews.com - pretty much the same approach.
now, let’s nod to safran and the growing RSS mob who are infosnacking their way through multiple sites on their daily surf through the news. my own personal experience, on my public focused news sites, i’m seeing anywhere between 80 and even 90 percent of my traffic never touching the main index. i employ a purposeful SEO and viral-only marketing strategy with no branding campaign, so my traffic is coming from engines, aggregators, and rss readers just like any other garage/grunge site.
so, what i am starting to miss in this sea of aggregated text and unbundled design elements is the power of images and elegant packaging on index pages. in fact, i get practically nothing from visiting MSM home pages. i expect newspapers to be a cluttery in their index page design as long time aggregators, but I hope magazines can remember what bold and elegant image-oriented cover design did for them. i hope broadcast sites find new ways to focus their index pages on teasers and montages and use editorial selectivity to create refreshing, comforting, and engaging experiences before hitting a table of contents.
i’m not just talking about 300 pixel wide flash slide shows stuck in the middle of a sea of text and links. take over the whole screen and play your text with care. this would create a different value and experience for the home page visit and help differentiate products based upon the core strength of the content. professional content can be differentiated from mob content by presentation logic. you can still allow them to skip the intro, and you can still allow them to hit a personalized page too.
take heed of rosenblum’s why the tv news sucks post, it all looks the same and there is no courage to blow up conventions. then go look at cbc radio 3’s outstandingly well designed site. i love how espn.com takes over their whole page with one current, killer image during live blowout coverage of major games. think about seth gitner’s incredibly cool job ad, Curley’s onBeing interface, and then ask yourself, why is that kind of presentation not being used front and center every day on home pages? Before you answer, you may want to read Jarvis’ recent focus on what you do best and link the rest post.
if we bury the best work of our multimedia designers and developers and are using flash only as a tv player, we are selling our potential and the potential of the medium short. sure, tell me your focus group and heat map stories about where the eyballs go. yeah, i know your CMS is really limiting and your designers hate it. but did you ever really give your focus group a truly alternative design? and can’t you really hack around your cms’ default index page and do device and browser detects?
man, my comments are getting more robust than my posts. but i just don’t think i can put this one in a post, becuase i don’t want to write a headline that says “index pages pretty much suck,” but the more I type, the more I think they do. maybe we should try to lead with jab and then follow up with the haymaker like pugilists instead of trying to punch everything at once like amateur street fighters.
10. Michael Thomas | March 2nd, 2007 at 10:49 am
Geez — Get Creative Will Ya?
Looks like a hundred million other sites…
DId you Join the Ridiculous Ranks of the Stupid IAB…
Clones and Drones…
Dress the same, talk the same, walk the same…
Fire the Guy In Charge!
11. Sigerson | March 9th, 2007 at 11:12 am
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.
12. Rob | March 15th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
Man - the new usatoday really sucks. they took the web 2.0 too far - it’s a pig - and even on broadband the dang thing is SLOW. Nice job - looks like CNN got a new user.
13. joe cooke | March 27th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
The new layout totally and completely sucks. What bunch of dumbasses came up with that abortion? I don’t even buy the print edition anymore. Screw USA Today.
14. Barf Monster | October 19th, 2007 at 6:11 am
The new USA Today is a turd, and not even a polished turd at that. Far to laden with obtrusive ads and garbage that just crush your browser. If you’re using a mac and firefox don’t bother… That and every comment thread after a story turns into Republicans bashing Democrats and Democrats bashing Republicans. Utterly retarded. The new site puts so much between you and the actual content…and for that it deserves to get barfed on.
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