Comments on: How an NYT developer built a new way to read the news online

By: How an NYT Developer Built a New Way to Read the News | Nieman Lab « Predicate, LLC | Editorial + Content Strategy

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:44:07 +0000

[...] How an NYT developer built a new way to read the news online » Nieman Journalism Lab » Pushing to … [...]

By: Flow » Blog Archive » Daily Digest for August 18th - The zeitgeist daily

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 08:22:49 +0000

[...] Shared How an NYT developer built a new way to read the news online » Nieman Journalism Lab [...]

By: NYT threatens news aggregator over use of logo; Newser’s reply: “I’ll put a skull and crossbones in its place” » Nieman Journalism Lab » Pushing to the Future of Journalism

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 18:33:40 +0000

[...] online, known as Article Skimmer, is a “theft” of Newser’s grid layout. When I spoke to Andre Behrens, the creator of Article Skimmer, he said that he had seen Newser but didn’t use it as an [...]

By: Mediablogi - links for 2009-02-19

Mediablogi - links for 2009-02-19 — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 20:02:10 +0000

[...] New York Times – Article Skimmer Uusi tapa esittää ja navigoida uutisia selaimella. Ei hullumpi vaikka en vaihdakaan iGooglen uutisselainta NYT:n Artitcle Skimmeriin. (tags: news online innovation) [...]

By: Ryan Sholin

Ryan Sholin — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 03:07:08 +0000

“…every Web developer whose experimental UI for news I thumbed my nose at A DOLLAR” of course is what I meant to say. And I’m now that guy making a second comment to repair the error in the first one. [sigh]

By: Ryan Sholin

Ryan Sholin — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 03:05:44 +0000

If I gave every Web developer whose experimental UI for news I thumbed my nose at, I’d be a much poorer man than I already am.

Which is to say, thanks for including my opinion, but I’m difficult to please.

Nicholas Cook, from the NYT crew, saw my complaints and asked for my suggestions. You can find that bit of conversation here: http://bit.ly/u0eCG

By: NYTimes’ “Article Skimmer” Ideal for ADD Nation « No More Paper

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 22:02:45 +0000

[...] 18, 2009 · No Comments The New York Times has beta launched its creatively titled Article Skimmer, allowing “readers” to glance vaguely at Times content even less committedly than [...]

By: Zachary M. Seward

Zachary M. Seward — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 21:40:13 +0000

Thanks for the comment, Joey. I did ask Behrens about that, at your suggestion, and he said Newser wasn't an inspiration. "I mean, there were no conscious efforts on my part" to emulate other grid designs, he said. In any event, they do seem to take a similar philosophical approach. —Zach

By: Joey Baker

Joey Baker — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 21:34:56 +0000

The ‘new’ interface is a great move for the Times. It does distinctly reminds me of http://newser.com and I think corrects one of the major flaws of current online newspaper design: the lack of pictures.

Any print designer will tell you: the eye goes picture → hed → cutline → deck. Why, when we’ve eliminated news hole problems online, have we mostly dropped the most important, eye catching, part of the story!?

By: Joshua Benton

Joshua Benton — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 20:13:45 +0000

I just think the number of people who regularly want to read the Times (a) on a laptop but (b) in a place with no Internet access is pretty small. Commuters on Amtrak are just about the only ones who come to mind — you certainly don’t want to be whipping open your laptop on the subway or even on Metro North/PATH/LIRR. Maybe on planes, but wouldn’t you rather just pick up a print copy?

By: Dan Kennedy

Dan Kennedy — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 19:27:42 +0000

The most valuable part of Times Reader is that you can download the whole thing and take it with you to non-WiFi locations. Other than that, I prefer the Times website.

By: Joshua Benton

Joshua Benton — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 19:19:51 +0000

I was just saying that yesterday — although I actually like it more than Times Reader, which I think is a mishmash of good print ideas with not-as-good web ones. I have trouble imagining who, exactly, Times Reader is for. Whereas Article Skimmer has a sort of Bauhaus/formalist feel that makes me want to speak French.

By: Dan Kennedy

Dan Kennedy — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 19:14:58 +0000

Don’t you think it looks a lot like Times Reader, only less attractive?

http://is.gd/k0ag

By: Joshua Benton

Joshua Benton — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 19:06:16 +0000

A couple thoughts:

– If it’s built on RSS, that would mean it would be easy to open source this and use it as a sort of visual RSS reader. It’d be like a more visually pleasing (and less power-user-friendly) Google Reader.

– I wonder how advertising would fit into this. I see five current ad slots on the front page of nytimes.com (plus other inhouse ads that could be converted into ad slots). It’s harder to think of ads in this self-consciously clean layout. Just as a lot of publishers are wary of full-text RSS feeds, fearing they reduce ad impressions, I could see a similar worry here.