It’s too white. Not enough color. print is too small. Make it more colorful like USA Today. com or MSNBC.com

Thanks

I like it already. As a Mac user, I was pleased to see the video format change. Also, you have made the site much simpler to navigate and scan quickly for news and videos. Great start for the fresh new look.

Congrats on a very clean and crisp look. Keep the important news above the fold; resist the temptation to sell more ad space there. (To have to search for the news on a news website, well….)

Please forgo “flyover” ads, the ones that do everything except put on a musical right in front of your eyes. If you go that route I’ll rarely visit CCN.com. They are maddeningly intrusive.

CNN.com has become my place to go to be assured of the latest news or updates. I hope you “keep the main thing the main thing.”

Congratulations, CNN.com web team. I really think you’ve nailed it on this one. From first impression to deep diving, the polish and attention you’ve given to the presentation of the news is top-notch.

I mentioned this in a feedback form, but one thing I’d like to see (and should be relatively easy to roll out) is globally-remembered text-resizing — which, by the way, are implemented very nicely.

From the grid, to whitespace, to typography, to color; this design is a home run. Well done!

I’m not impressed with Beta version over old version.

Seems like a lot of time and effort just to clean up website and install lots of white space.

Thank you for the upgrade! Many time I just want the text of the story not the video. Your new layout offers me much more stories in text. I will watch CNN for the videos

Overall, I like the layout, but the color scheme hurt my eyeballs. The blue-ish color links overwhelm the front page. The articles are much easier to deal with.

I await the day that news sites realize it’s a lot easier to read light letters on a dark background. As it stands, the world is staring into a lightbulb.

The changes are excellent. I love the re-emphasis on the text news articles as opposed to this recent trend of videos replacing every story. The old pop-up window and player were dysfunctional and tacky. But the new videos section and flash player are clean and easy to navigate. The site overall is clean and inviting. CNN.com has won me back as a frequent visitor. Thanks!

David,

Thanks for the in depth analysis of the CNN beta redesign. It looks very good and I’m looking forward to it becoming a final product.

Like the new ’softer’ layout, although I do take issue with the light blue text of the ‘latest news’ portion to the right of the top story picture. Very hard too see and hurts the eyes after prolonged viewing.

Otherwise, the new look is great!

The new look is slick and modern, but, it’s harder to read.

Perhaps a closer look at the choice of fonts????

For those of us who are nearsighted with astigmatism,
a plainer font would be more readable?

Wayne Olmsted

Fantastic work. I love it, very functional and leading the way with full blown video apps. The future of the web is already here and it’s great to see you harness the technology correctly.

I sent in this suggestion earlier, but I wondered what others thought of it. Wouldn’t it be great to have a section called “The Crawl” that lists the info on that never ending crawl with links to the full story? I hate it when I see a story and then look for it on CNN.COM and can’t find anything on it. I’ll look for about a minute on CNN.COM and then I’ll end up on google looking for it and reading the news somewhere else…or worse…never finding anything on it…asking my friends about it…and they have no idea what I’m talking about.

Please help

Your “more news” section has deleted some topics (e.g. “science”)
that are now on the bottom of the first page. I scan the bottom
of the first page regularly for news stories and would not
like to have its scope diminished.

I disagree with folks who say this is hard to read. This is very well done. I might quibble about the light blue font. I took CNN off my default tabs. This change should make me bring it back.

I do not like that you have taken away the links and top stories for all the other news categories like (science, education, legal etc..) Now it is just three categories that you are choosing to highlight – hidden in the bottom half of the page under “more stories”.

I like to scan all the categories and then choose what I want to read about. You have taken away user choice and that is never good. I don’t want to navigate to different sections just to see the top stories.

I do like that you are pulling away from video on every story. I like the test links for a quick read and video when I have time – again it is about user choice.

I am not so impressed but better than nothing. Please follow BBCNews.com and take a clue of the news there. Your reporting is not timely and some news gets front page like terrorism but important news like death and destrucion of Iraq does not make it. Only the good news but the actual news from other sources like BBC is better balanced.

Please add this comments place without sensor after any news so public could write their opinion so you know if your reporting is good.

Like washingtonpost they let public leave opinion and hope CNN will do it, if not eventually CNN will loose ground with other news channels that interact with audiances.

Thank you and hope CNN will be more just and fare not just speaker of a few that controls the media and free information.

I like it. It is more responsive and better organized. In short, it is “keeping up.”

I guess I’ll be the devil’s advocate.

1.) Too hard to scan the news.
2.) Too much white space, and the font choice does not make the news easy to read.
3.) Science and tech areas seem to be missing, and I really liked those two areas.
4.) That new block that shows my local weather info? Useless. I’m going to the CNN site for news, not local drivel.

I really, really like the older site. As most sites that start up the “look at our new beta site” quickly drop the original version, I’m already wondering if I’m going to have to find a different site. I’ve relied on CNN as a source of news.

May I politely suggest that you fire your redesign focus group, en masse, and try again?

Robert Juliano

I disagree. I really think that CNN.com has got something here with the new beta design – it’s clean and much easier on the eyes. I am missing the bottom sections (Tech, Education, Science, etc.) but I know that that content is still available, just in a different way. I love the local block with news and weather, and I think this should be expanded to a personalized page option much like My Yahoo or My MSN.

I love the lightweight construction and all of the white space. It was much to heavy before and did not encourage reading for long periods of time.
Kudos so far, hope to see some Web 2.0 features down the road.

I agree with Richard Huggins uptop; keep the rollovers in the space that the original image is, don’t have it popout, zip around, or anything. It’ll cost a lot of visitors once they start to get annoyed, and that will happen quickly.

Also, try to keep a more uniformed view on things; some sections on your homepage have titles and some don’t. Also, the way you group things seem odd at time, like “Your Chance” being right below the top story. Aren’t there more top stories that should be listed here? Maybe make a new section for Beta feedback and such. The same goes with a lot of the other groupings.

I like the simplicity and the colors. You guys have a boatload of content and simple design and simple colors help chill out the page while you’re taking in a lot. The new look isn’t as busy and my eyes greatly appreciate that .

All in all, a good start. Keep up the good work. And I’m looking forward to your more creative and dynamic content you promise us

There’s nothing worth scrolling for. Weather not even in your area, blogs, white space, feedback, links to sponsors. I would reevaluate the content in this area. Why not bring your gorgeous new video to the front. It’s the largest format on a high traffic area and redone extremely well. Don’t stick the video in a postage stamp window like every other site does, if you’re going to stream, you might as well stream the larger size you are set up for on your standalone page.

There is nothing dominant when you scroll past the main story and advertisement for that matter. I would address those concerns with full frame video on the front page.

How about streaming the stock market indexes while the market is open? That will be a nice feature. I personally do not care much for sports but a sports ticker will be surely appreciated by fans.

I miss having access to a bunch of stories available at a quick glance on the front page. It was great being able to just scroll down and see 25 stories at one time, organized by rough topic. Now, I have to click through the little minibox seeing only three topics at a time.

There’s something to be said for it being simpler (and I like much of the site), but this is sort of a portal-like news site, and I miss having more *news* available at a quick glance.

Love the streamlining. Lighter and less crammed… this is good.
No assaults from popups. I like this.
Letting me customize to my zip (in the page and not in some prefs window or popup), I like this.
May we please have a + – font size option?

The light blue could be darker.

It is far better to be less on the page than more.

I agree with the other comments re: A lot of the time, I DON’T want to watch the video. Can I read a transcript instead?

Thank you for making the video aspects more compatible with more types of operating systems.

Customize like iGoogle?

I prefer your previous font, and font colour. (this new blue, is just to pale)
not as crisp as your present site.

I find the whole site just too pale.

I wish you had easier ways to do the blogs, or comments from your viewers

also, how about allowing zip codes from Canada, or cities from Canada
concerning your weather broadcasts, would appreciate it !!!

Thanks

Looking good! I like how ther is less cluter and less ads.

Nice job! It has a more cleaner look and everyone can go straight to any topic without getting lost.

As a web designer, I have to applaud your new design. The .com desk is really doing something looking towards the future after all. The organization of the site seems much more natural – and posesses a sort of international airport feel to it. It’s great.

My biggest gripe is code validation. Sure, I’m being picky but valid code is important for a website like this.

Other than that, nice work.

I really like the new look. It’s sleek and modern — really sets CNN.com off from the rest of the news sites. It’s not as nearly as cluttered as the rest. Keep up the good work.

I love the new UI, wider format and grid, the design is subtle and minimal (as it should be for an information rich site like cnn.com), and I like the video format change. I think you could use some new title/column headers w/ a little more design, color, etc (like the old site), and take out the gray divisions of each section… makes it more boxy than necessary. And for the love of God, PLEASE REMOVE THAT RED LINE AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE!!! Its very distracting and causes the eye to continuously scan the top of the page instead of looking into the body… I have to scroll it out of view just to read anything. I suggest changing it to gray or reducing the height of the line to 1px. I’m a web designer and I can tell you that beauty is in the details. Other than that, good job on the beta.

The CNN site really needed a facelift and a cleaner look is moving in the right direction. However, there were some previous comments made with which I agree.

1) The “CRAWL” needs some kind of interfacing between what is seen on television and finding the story on the website. I too have had trouble finding a story on the website when I saw a blurb in the CRAWL. Also running the crawl on the site would be a nice option, however, not everyone likes seeing that additional interaction, and for some people running slower computers, or on slower internet connections, all those great bells and whistles just becoming annoying while waiting so long for the site to load the features. Which brings me to my next topic….

2) Make it something that can be personalized. Enable the user to set up preferences for showing a crawl of new and/or sports, or not having a crawl at all. Perhaps allow the user to set up the site to show all the “old” new categories such as science and technology, education, politics, etc. all on the front page so they can take a quick glance at the topics without having to become a mouse-clicking jockey.

Also, for those that don’t like the font, make that something that can be personalized as well.

3) Make sure there is a transcript or article written for every news story that has a video posting. Where I work, my program does not allow me to play videos, and I really do not care much to run the videos in a quiet environment, or to wait for the video to load.

4)Lastly, there is an increasing number of people being set up with mobile devices to view the web on the go. Consider setting up a mobile version of the site that allows users of Windows Mobile operating systems to more easily navigate the page and to view it on the small screen. Also, keep in mind that most versions of Windows Mobile and the mobile version of Internet Explorer do not support Flashplayer or Java, with the exception of programs set up with Adobe Flash Lite 2.1. Therefore, consider setting up videos on the site so they can be played on a smartphone or pocketPC.

Sorry for the long post…

Overall I like the new page. (FYI, browsing via Firefox 2.0.0.4 and Cable internet). Pages load quickly. Thanks for putting a Beta version out first, unlike USAToday, who alienated a lot of its base customers by dropping a bombshell. The new video function is a drastic improvement! I would never watch video clips on the old CNN site because they just didn’t work very well.

A few small gripes:

1. I agree with other people that have posted about the blue text…. a darker shade of blue would make it easier on the eyes.

2. I have about 2 inches of gray margins on the left and right side….. I would drop them down to an inch…. wasted real estate IMHO.

3. I would move the stock market info up from the bottom right to the top right…. Its nice to be able to instantly see the market info without scrolling (ok I’m lazy) =)

4. I would make the “Home World U.S. Politics Entertainment Health Tech Travel Living Business Sports Time.com” menu at the top have a solid background color (maybe dark blue, but definately not red)…. It would add more “weight” at the top and stand out more.

5. I would lose the thumbnail pics under the “popular news” section…. it doesn’t make me want to read the story just because there is a 1/2″ x 1/2″ jpeg beside it…. they are so small it doesn’t add any value

Overall it is a good layout. Someone else suggested going the Web 2.0/USAToday route and add a comments section for every story. Please do not do this. I come here for the news and know that CNN has professional correspondents that hold journalistic ethics and standards in the highest regard. I can’t say the same for Billy Bob in Podunk USA.

Thanks

This is great. We love the honest and direct feedback — the kind you can only get from those who know you too well. Couple of thoughts.

Presentation: We agree that the current link colors and rendering can make the headlines hard to scan and read – particularly on certain browsers. Over the next few days, we’ll be testing new shades and also new formats for the home page to address this concern. With respect to the comments about how “white” the site is, there are a couple of things to consider. First, because we are double publishing CNN.com and this Beta Site (meaning our team is simultaneously programming two sites at once), we actually have less content on the Beta site than we will at launch. More content will mean less white space. Second, there is some padding in the behind-the-scenes code work that needs adjustment and which will tighten up the page. Third, some of the separation of content and white spacing is intentional to bring more focus on the content and to let the site be more readable. Frankly, we’ve crammed a lot into the current site architecture, and we’re striving to give the headlines and sections some more breathing room.

Video vs. Text: We’ve received a lot of comments thanking us for providing more text stories than video — at least vis-a-vis the current site. Interestingly, we’re actually providing much more video in the new site. We’re just apparently doing a better job of surfacing the choices between text and video. I would encourage you to click on the “Video” tab at the tops of stories which let’s you launch the related video in wide-screen format directly in that page. No annoying pop-up players. It’s really a great and easy way to “see” the story as well as read about it.

Vision: Our vision is to create the world’s most substantial yet intuitive news platform. More than anything, we want you to be able to quickly and easily find out what you want to know about the news, whether it’s directly from us or from anyone else on the web (see Dermot’s post about being a good web citizen).

Our team is hard at work keeping up with the news and simultaneously building this great new site. We pause at 4pm today for a well deserved Happy Hour at a local pub in Atlanta. We’ll drink a toast to you and ask that you please keep the comments coming!

The education section is not on the beta site. Will you still continue that section, especially CNN Student News. I use it often in my classroom and would hate for you to discontinue it.

Video issues (fussiness of player, delay loading–even with broadband, commercials that had no face value to my buying interests & no text version available) were making an old favorite (CNN) an adverse experience. Thanks for increased text.

I can now change font sizes (Firefox CTRL+ & CTRL-) on the front page without loosing the lower two or three headlines. This is GOLDEN!!

Your ‘international’ page will still share the stage with the RSS feed of latest headlines from BBC — much better though than where you were headed in my hierarchy of bookmarks.

Well done! ……… Paul

No worries Jeff – CNN Student News isn’t going anywhere! The CNN SN page has not been added yet to our beta site, but will be soon. You will also be able to find CNN Student News through placement on our new Living section.

At first glance, I wasn’t a fan, but it did grow on me. Still, there is a little too much white space, and I liked how the nonheadline stories in travel, education, science, and the other news sections had a promenant spot on the old layout.

I like the current website better than the beta- the beta is too white/plain and empty. Maybe with a little more content it would improve the over-all look.

The support for Firefox 2.0 is problematic. Scrolling leaves all sort of vertical stuttering that even a refresh won’t fix. It is very reproducible. One example is what happens to the US and World heading under the main stories. I can provide a screen capture if asked. Ot

Regarding the “From Our Sponsors” links near the bottom of the home page: I think it would be nice if you could include in the bottom right hand corner of each sponsor’s box a small logo, such as “Time” or “People” etc. That way, folks would know where they’re going to be taken when they click the sponsor links.

I love the “whiteness” of the site. It makes for a clear, uncluttered appearance — much like Google’s home page. I noticed that someone made a comment on one of your blogs that you need more color, like USA Today or MSNBC. Please…please…do not go that route! I think too much fussiness — whether color, repeated content, etc. — is a distraction and a turnoff. You’ve got it just right, in my opinion!

Love the new site…can’t wait to see the final product!

I like the layout but not the color scheme. Not enough contrast between colors, kind of washed out.

Likes
- Less emphasis on videos; feels like there are fewer even if there are more (hate when there are video-only stories, I don’t always have the ability, time, or desire to watch a video)
- Links are cleaner, no lines beneath
- Video in-page
- Living section addition, breakout of sub-categories
- Hot topics along top
- Menu at top on articles
- Layout of sub category pages
- Next article link on articles
- Tab feel on articles that also have videos

Dislikes
- Very pale, main story fades into the background even with the picture; entire page runs together, very little distinction between the sections on the main page and each of the sub category pages
- Find images on Popular News to be unnecessary
- Red at the top is the main thing my eyes draw to, instead of the content; very distracting
- Has the feeling of fewer headlines, I like to scan the headlines for the different groups and the More Stories section isn’t very accomodating anymore
- Text resize on articles doesn’t apply to the highlights
- Left-right layout of headline and highlights on articles
- Yahoo search selector doesn’t highlight well which choice you’ve made; I didn’t realize right away that was what the “Web | CNN News | CNN Videos” was for – bold/coloring seems backwards

At first, I didn’t like the combination of Tech and Science, but I’m actually ok with it. Offbeat stories don’t appear to be tagged as offbeat anymore, and that section was great for when I was tired of the predominantly depressing news – one click to something that would generally make me smile or laugh.

It feels like I have to scroll a lot further on the beta site, even when comparing against the current site, I am not scrolling any more. Think it’s a combination of the paleness and the condensation of the sub headlines into the More Stories box.

I prefer it the way it is. The Beta looks more like Time.com and I don’t like it as much.

To white, I have always favored the darker pages but this looks washed out, the older site had some blue on it that warmed it up some (yeah I know a contradiction, blue being a colder color) but just the white with little traces of red and black text makes it feel sterile. Perhaps it would be good to offer a themed stype that woudl allow users to choose a darker option, doesn’t need to be white text on black but soemthing to add a little depth, the new tabs all look flat.

It is very clean looking which can be good but with the amount of information you are trying to pack onto the page with the huge adds and all the sections this type of color scheme is a little hard, my eyes are often drawn away from what I am looking for.

sorry for the poor grammar I am supposed to be working.

Too white.

Not enough news on home page. You dropped the section headlines. Sure there are a few more top stories, but now there are no headlines for each section.

I always thought the current look was one of the better sites. Don’t go a changing just for the sake to change things.

I come to cnn.com for the NEWS! The old page gave me 50 quick links to headlines. The new page only 27. I really didn’t like that I had to scroll through the “more Stories” section to see the other topical headlines.

Markets, Weather? Why do you give them so much real estate?

Add another 25 headlines and I may be able to learn to live with the new format. Sure it’s Web 2.0 cleaner, but do I care? It looks more like a blog page than the home page of the largest network news organization. Focus on your core product, reporting the news!

I forgot to mention, the Offbeat section was something I liked, as Michelle wrote above, the news is often depressing and offbeat generally had some stories that were interesting without being depressing.

I think the lack of definition around page sections is part of the problem for me. I see the gray borders but they fade out after a few seconds, maybe if they had a small blue pinstripe in them or a slightly 3d look to give the pages a bit more depth.

Where is the Science Section!!!???!!!

Worse:

- Too much whitespace. My laptop screen is 900 pixels high and actual story content doesn’t start until well over halfway down the page.

- It seems more natural to associate highlights with the story text than the title. Did you move the highlights so people would be forced to make their browser windows wider to see everything related to the story?

- Viewing video isn’t working for me on my MacBook Pro. No errors, just black and nothing is moving in the controller. Beta issue?

- Way too much space devoted to the ads on the right side of article text.

Better:

- Pictures are a little larger.

Overall:

- Looks different, but I prefer the current version. Big waste of resources IMO just to get a different look. Maybe your design people should spend some time using it as we would instead of focusing on the new look in their testing. Lots of stuff that looks cool on web sites ends up making sites less useful.

- Is there a subscription option that eliminates all the banner ads?

This is a great improvement. Visually, there is a level of sophistication now that is missing in the current design.

Layouts, design elements, colors etc are all consistent in the beta which makes every page much more cohesive.

You guys have a tough job. How do you give visitors a primary headline/story plus quick links plus video plus satisfying advertisers plus create consistent navigation across all the pages plus branding….the list goes on.

I think this new solution is a great mix of everything that needs to be shown on one homepage.

I LOVE the top of article pages now, particularly the story highlights area pulled out as it is in the new design. The contrast of the white boxes against the gray background really helps draw my eye around the page(s)

Congratulations. I used to visit once a week, now I will be there every day.

1. The BBC comments are spot on here — BBC’s site is excellent, and there’s clear differentiation between BBC News vs. Radio vs. TV vs. Sport, etc. Just because I go to CNN.com doesn’t mean I watch CNN-TV. CNN.com is a major advertising vehicle for CNN-TV, which greatly reduces the content-to-noise ratio, in my opinion.

2. BBC News website is content-rich, especially at the top of the webpage, which is what hooks the reader. CNN Beta has way too much whitespace, too much fluff, and far too much screen real estate given to video (BBC News’ video section does this well).

3. Focus on text for the website and only include a video link if available. Personally, I don’t want to wait for the video to load, watch a commercial, and then finally watch the video just to get a story. I’d rather read text and see a few jpegs — 20-30 seconds to read vs. 2-3 minutes to watch.

4. Agree regarding font color — make it darker and clearer. A resize link would be nice for those that don’t know how to do it natively with their browsers.

5. Would like to see link rollovers bring up a brief synopsis of the link, ala sportsline.com.

6. Bring back the all the categories on the current homepage — Sports, Tech, Science, Health. I like seeing a brief run-down of each category’s news topics on the frontpage. If I don’t see it on the frontpage, I’m less inclined to go looking for it in the rest of the site.

7. Would like to see a small stock/sports/news ticker at/near the top of the homepage. Make this configurable (stocks, sports, news, other, all of the above, none of the above).

8. May want to consider language-based versions for the main site (not just int’l) if this is to become a truly int’l news website. Wikipedia’s method is good — en.wikipedia.org, jp.wikipedia.org, etc….

9. Can the header be reduced to “CNN.com” instead of “CNN.com — Breaking News, U.S., World, etc….”? Makes finding the link in my bookmarks easier.

For those of you talking about the amount of ads, there are actually less ads on the beta site than there are on the current site! The current site features a flash advertisement up top, a “featured sponsor” area to the lower right, and a “advertiser links” to the lower left. In the beta site, there are two ads – one large one like before and one that’s hardly noticeable in the middle of the page.

Too much white background. I like the current one better.

I think it’s a bit too white – needs more definition between the different sections. It almost looks too bland. Also, although I like the short videos that is offered on CNN, it would be great to also have the printed article as well. Sometimes the video captions sounds interesting but I would prefer to read the article/ look at the picture than watch it.

Not a fan of the beta — sorry. It almost looks unfinished to me, or like a site template my website host would provide for free. Kind of generic looking.

I like the format, but have been unable to view the videos as yet! They just don’t work! I am using Windows Vista Home Premium, and have tried both Internet Explorer and Firefox, both in the latest editions. Neither browser will play the videos.

With the regular site, both browsers work perfectly.

Sorry guys, but I am truly turned off by the new format and will go elsewhere for news from now on:

1. WHERE IS THE NEWS? Did you guys really just unveil a page that spend about 30% of the page actually providing news and the rest of it on useless stuff like the local weather? If I wanted “fluff” I would go to Yahoo.

2. Too much white space and too much wasted space. How much do you think I want to have to scroll down to get to the “meat”??

3. Too much space pushing mobile updates and all other ways to get the news. If I wanted to do that, I would sign up for it and never come to your site. There’s a reason I’m visiting the site – because I’m online. When I’m not, I get mobile news, video, etc.

3. You took away the top news stories by category!! I come to check top law, technology and business stories and I do it quickly several times throughout the day. I do it because I can quickly scan all the top headlines across all sections and I can get 1 click updates from your home page. If you’re going to make me dig for it, I won’t do it. I hardly ever go to the main sections to see anything that’s not top stories…

I could go on, but I’ll leave it at that. I won’t be using this site if this is the new look.

Too plain. I like the old one better.

I like the beta site, however I would like to see something that the current website has… the date and time that an article was updated. It lets the reader know how fresh the news item is. The current beta only shows how many hours and minutes an article was updated. I like knowing that I’m getting the latest news, and date and time stamping helps me realize this.

Too much white space, and really, too much white… the margins are too wide, also. I don’t care for it over the old format… yeah, it needs more color and the bold categories are gone… that was a nice way to find content… also, I wish you wouldn’t use sans serif fonts… sans serif fonts make words shapeless, and harder to read… slowing down reading speed. I’d say it’s back to the drawing board.

As a web designer, I think there a few issues, the most noticeable is the thick red horizontal line near the top. Since it doesn’t provide content or information, it competes with it.

Thank you for opening up the discussion and sharing, that process should make your site better and more informed, if you want to further the dialoge, email me!

Jeremy

I don’t like the new look. I like having the differect sections and article previews at the bottom of the screne. I didn’t see any section related to education in the new format at all. The current format offered many more and varied choices for getting information. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

I have to agree with those who say they are not fond of it and that there is too much white space. It made me think where is all of the news that there used to be. I really liked seeing the headlines for every category on one page. The main thing that I am (and have been concerned) with in regard to CNN.com is this: I am only interested in watching a video about 1% of the time. I only want the print story and I want it fast (on one page). Thanks for considering our opinions.

I prefer the old site since it has more categories as you scrool down. the format of the new one ok but as Phil wrote, it looks unfinished. Jeff also has a lot ot good comments. Hope the final product is MUCH better than the beta.

I’ve been using cnn.com since 1995 and what I like about the site it that it shows two or four headlines of stories from the major new sections. That gives a quick snapshot of the news on all fronts outside of the headlines up top. With this new beta site, one must dig for the news in the major new sections listed up top. Even with broadband, that takes too much time and makes the site less useful. Other competitors to “cnn.com” have the same mistake as the new beta site and I’ve stop going those sites for news as well. I’m all for a new look, but from a content display point of view, if it is not broke, don’t fix it.

Love the thought that I will get to read the video stories, cause I can’t watch them at work! And, it is a real pain to have to try to find the link to the original network story to read the text. My boss knows I’m a CNN junkie and you are always on my screen when i”m not using the computer, as a matter of fact he relies on me to let him know what’s going on! Like the thought of a crawl, especially if I have just missed something on CNN at home…so I don’t have to go searching for it, cause at work I just don’t have time…Need a few more catagories, maybe with a link that lets us go back to the archives to find a previous story. I’ll be watching to see how things develop….Looks interesting!

Wow I’m blind! Just kidding but seriously the white back ground is way to bright and it washes everything out making it uncomfortable to look at. As to the format looks very clean. Just change the back ground and you are good to go!

LOVE the new look. Unlike a previous poster, I think white space is good. And you’ve done a brilliant job of balancing the need for content and eye pleasing design. Kudos.

I’m going to have to agree on a previous comment that it’s too white. For a person like myself with sensitive eyes and a high-resolution computer setup, the white glare is aggravating. I suggest integrating a flash menu with a similar color theme to the original CNN site, but make sure that you maintain the ingenious simplicity of the original page. Remember, the newer generations are emerging deep within an electronic revolution and love interactive menus that provide emphasis. CNN has focused on an adult audience for far too long, it’s time that the younger individuals become informed.

It’s always refreshing to see companies deciding to take risks and change their look.

Hi, much improved over the original. I do have a bit of a beef with your videos. Most, if not all of your footage is in the 4:3 aspect ratio format. However, your video screen stretches that aspect ratio to fit a 16:9 aspect ratio to make it “look” widescreen. This has the effect of making everything too fat. Wouldn’t you agree?

Let’s not jump on the 16:9 bandwagon too soon, shall we? You haven’t even begun to show *anything* as far as I’m aware in true 16:9. The vids simply look awful when stretched the way they are. Has anyone bothered to notice this?

For some reason, my ‘Back’ buton doesn’t work on this beta version, so I have to manually go into my breadcrumb list to get back to where I was. And when I do this, I notice your new beta leaves multiple breadcrumbs such that, even if my Back button worked, I would have to press it multiple times to get back to the previous page. This is a trick used by sleazy web pages to make it more difficult for you to leave. I would think CNN would be better than that.

And I still hate the way my screen flickers all over the place because of the multiple ad pages/popups that are fighting with my ad-blocker and popup blocker software.

On the plus side, I really like the new look – less clutter (= more white space) makes it easier to find stuff I care about. Being able to easily find the news that matters should be your mission. Why else do people come to CNN.com?

Thanks. You’ve been my sole source for online-news (and my homepage) for almost a decade.

Wow, I really dont’ like the new site. All white and washed out. Nothing draws the eye to it. I like the subheadings on the old page (technology, entertianment, etc. I feel like I’m looking at a web site that someone does in their part time, not a major news organization

I am having difficulty reading the Beta site with IE7. The Graphics overlapse whereas IE6 is okay. no problem with IE6! Site very clean compare to the original. Nicely done!

i dont like it.. i use cnn.com because the layout is so straightforward. now it seems like all the others. dont like it at all. why does it need to look like web2.0? its horrible. please stay with the classic look that you have now. maybe add some more features or something, but dont redesign it.

KEEP CNN.COM THE WAY IT IS.

Hi-

Just a quick request as long as you’re modifying the site. Would it be possible to offer the stories both as video and text, instead of only as video? Sometimes old computers don’t want to play the videos and it would also be nice to have the choice to just read the story.

I have CNN as my home page to have the most information on screen at one time so I can scan what I may want to read and get on with my work.

The CNN Beta looks like its competitors – a waste of time as one hunts around looking.

I already have email overload. Keep the news handier than what is here at the Beta.

Conrad F. Cropsey

CNN Beta side hurts my eyes. Lay out looks messy, definitely less organized than it is now. Blue-ish color is just too electric for eyes.
Please make it more organized than what the Beta version looks like now.
Thanks.

PLEASE ADD MORE CONTENT, DONT TAKE CONTENT AWAY!!!!

You are removing about 14+ links of news on the new BETA site, for the world leader in news this is a sickening trend. You need to provide us with more depth, content and clairity, this new site DOES NOT CUT IT. Keep the section links, ie politcs, law, education, etcc.. or My.Yahoo.com will be my first news stop in the morning. This new design is unnacceptable for its diminished news content.

I basically like the new features. However, I liked the look of the old site as well, and I do not, frankly, see the need for a complete makeover. Adding or modifying features of the old site would have pleased me as well, and without the added learning curve of figuring out how the new site will work.

However, since you are redoing the site anyway, I may as well ask for a bit more flexibility and user friendliness in the matter of background colors and text colors. Those of us who are a bit older and have vision problems might find it easier to read text if the user is allowed to choose something other than glaring white for the background and black for the text. When I read standard HTML files with my NetScape Browser, I usually have a light blue background and a brown color for my text. It is very convenient when the web files do not insist on a pre-designated color, but allow the user to select.

Anyway, thanks for a truly wonderful site. CNN.com is my home page, has been for years, and will continue to be so.

I like the crisp new look of the beta version and also the ease with which I found the podcasts and blogs.

My two concerns are that I don’t see the same number of categories (I especially miss the Science and Education areas) and it seems there are not as many text stories.

While I like the new, more up to date design it feels like there’s more ….fluff, and somewhat less content.

Nice work, cnn.com. Don’t worry about the “I like the old site better” feedback. That’s normal. Any change will incite that. It could be the best design the world has ever seen and you’ll always get the whiners who don’t realize they are just a slave to the familiarity bias. And don’t sweat JimmyMist’s feedback. Taking away 14 links is actually a good thing.

When you get feedback like “it’s too messy” and “it’s too white” you know you’re just getting reactions based on emotion, not based on actual usage. The users complaining of too much whiteness are the ones you can never please. If you make the design dense with content, you’ll please that user, but piss off 10 more. You guys are on the right track. Users that threaten “this sucks, I’m going to use a differnet” – don’t even sweat it. They won’t leave. They’ll continue to use cnn.com. If they do switch, they’ll be faced with an even greater familiarity curve then they face with just sticking with the new beta. Plus you’ll gain more traffic anyway as you’ll likely attract users that prefer a news site with a nice clean grid.

I work in the .com design group of a large worldwide TV network as well. I wish I could convince our executives to move in the direction you are moving in but all they want is more more more and the result is awful. We have every piece of content you can imagine and the people who think they know the web want it all on the front page and insist on over 300 links in the nav menus. Ridiculous.

Well done. Particularly the way you’re handling video content as they relate to stories (on your story page). Your video index page is also excellent and easy to interact with.

PLEASE read comment 81, by Aaron – it sums up my thoughts exactly. OK, it might take some people a while to get used to the new site, but once they do, they’ll see why CNN once again has the best site on the web. I especially love the new ‘tabs’ on every story page – it’s fresh, intuitive ideas like that that really make the new CNN.com so great.

Another thing I’m looking forward to is the start of free live video from July 1 – again another great, fresh idea on the site. Is there any chance of you tellling us what sort of content will be on this new service?

Well done for such a great site. It’ll be great seeing the final release rolled out on July 1. Please don’t be put off by all the negative comments from the people above.

Me Likey!

I really like the way article pages are setup with “read”, “vdeo”, and “photo” tabs. Overall the site is very clean, simple, and easy to navigate.

Aaron wrote: “Users that threaten “this sucks, I’m going to use a differnet” – don’t even sweat it. They won’t leave. They’ll continue to use cnn.com.”

Not true at all…. I used to read USAToday but haven’t been back since their website was “redesigned”. If you look, USAToday’s site ratings have been steadily dropping as they have alienated quite a few people.

Although there are some similarities between the new USAToday and CNN.com sites, I think that CNN went about the changes in a much more professional manner. USAToday had a similar ‘Comment on our new look’ page and it the vast majority (I estimate that it was close to 85-90%) of comments were negative. I am not seeing the same here. There are some minor issues that have been brought up here, but overall the majority like the changes (granted there are only 83 posts at the moment out of potentially millions of readers).

Andy

I’ve taken several days to look over the redesign and unfortunately my opinion has not changed. I just don’t see enough news to keep me coming back. I can get more news than this on my cell phone! My opinion of videos – 1) I don’t need them and 2) primarily a great venue for ads. Thanks!

My wife and I usually go to FOX NEWS on the internet but have switched to CNN on the net.

We got tired of all the mistakes and bad spelling that shows up off and on not to mention almost all of the articles show up some where numerous times on the many screens. Some of the articles say one thing the first day but change names and locations many times on the following days. Evidently they don’t check things out very closely before showing them on the net. Thank goodness their TV NEWS is much better.

Thank you for doing a much better job on the interner news, both USA and International.

I want my education section! Please don’t get rid of it!

I do like that now I can watch the videos (I am a mac user)

Not impressed. Takes a long time to scroll down thru all that white space. What a shame to lose the (what is now called) More Stories section–that’s the best part of the current site. And that slow fade from one More Stories sub-page to another is truly annoying.

I LOVE THE NEW LOOK!!!!

I also love that now I can finally view all the video content easily. I have a new imac (running OSX 10.4) and couldn’t view video on the old cnn.com. But the new site is just structured well. I love the way it looks and works so seamlessly.

THANK YOU!

PLEASE darken the light blue ink headlines on your column of news headlines. It is difficult to make it out clearly, especially with the type so small. The darker blue ink on your main site now works much better. Is much clearer and easier to read.

Frequent reader, R. Becker, Ogden, UT

The infrastructure changes may be good, but the first page suffers from not enough information in too much space (more scrolling needed)..

Too much of the information that is on the first page is non-news promotional type froth.

I particularly miss the topical news index at the bottom with bylines and links.

Are you leaving the news site business for something else?

If you are, I’ll drop you from my news category.

Fred Goepfert – Webmaster of several websites
Pensacola, FL

Eliminating the news category sub-headings and story links is a mistake. I want to see at a glance what is happening and then decide whether to read about it. I am not going to hunt and peck through tab after tab to see if there is something that interests me. Otherwise, the site looks more contemporary.

Wayne wrote (#11): The new look is slick and modern, but, it’s harder to read.
Perhaps a closer look at the choice of fonts????

Two fonts that are popular in print media, Times New Roman and Arial/Helvetica (which CNN.com uses), are not considered the best choices for PC displays. From what I have read, the best choice seems to be Verdana.

Noticed the print is smaller and you use less color. Why? You need to be user friendly or users go elsewhere.

Why did you drop sections such as Education and Law and give so much space to Popular News and videos? You need to continue to give all the news weather it is popular of not and expect the users going to your site are able to read. News web sites are a dime a dozen that report popular news and for the non readers I would like to suggest one of many TV stations that offer video reports day in and day out are doing this very well.

One more comment…

A lot of viewers have commented on the beta’s washed-out look, excessive white space, and elimination of the familiar news subsection headlines. Increasingly, sites are using color and contrast more than ever and CNN seems to be going in the opposite direction. When looking at a site that uses white space conservatively, switching to CNN.com can be glaring and annoying. CNN should look to its partner site, SI.com, for an example of great contrast, along with ESPN.com, for an example of great organization.

Missing are the “Education”, “Science & Space” categories, and possibly others.
I liked being able to see the top stories in all these categories on one page.
Now with beta, I have to go to the “site map” to find these.

Otherwise, not bad.

I think the look and ease of browsing through the site is better on the present site. The new site looks very amateurish. We have hundreds of news sites now available on the internet and the only way to attract people to your site would be making it look more fancier(maybe using flash stuff) and also making sure that it does not complicate navigation of the site.

To those of you complaining about the fonts…they’re the same size as the old site. Different color, but same size.

IT LOOKS GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHITE SPACE RULES!!!!!!!!!!

Simple is better! People need to understand there is too much clutter in life. Being organized doesn’t mean less content. Content is king, but design is what keeps us from being bored with the content. I want a simple organized pipe to my desired content. I don’t need a dancing button with flashing clowns to tell me I’m going to the right content. PLEASE don’t listen to the “add more color” “add more buttons” “add more,more,more………” Keep it simple, user friendly and MORE WHITE NOT LESS:> OSX loves beta also.

EXCELLENT WEBSITE – the “old” website was becoming boring…to mumbled…
this beta site is clean, crisp and refreshing. Great surfing….

..oh and the white is AWESOME!!

There was no “Law” section link like you have presently, and I really like that link as I am a law school student and therefore is one of my main interests of visiting CNN, so if you could keep it that would be great!

Thanks…

I hate any use of miniscule type and photos with a scrollbar so you have to squint (boomer) and can only see a few things at a time in a mini window within the site. Example, the USAtoday.com redesign. It sucks horribly and has eliminated a lot of content. Please don’t use that design feature. There seems to be some contest about how invisible everything can be made online, and no, I don’t want to change the resolution of my screen so its all 48 point type.

I really like and appreciate the way segments are laid out now with a few leading headlines and the ability to drill down to other stories in those categories. There seems to be so much content on the existing site. If I click on your advertising links more will you please leave it the way it is?

I love reading CNN news every day, especially in the morning, to begin my day. What doesn’t interest me so much is so much coverage about Anna Nicole Smith and Paris Hilton. Perhaps you could have more on other subjects instead on focusing so much on the celebrities who are famous for nothing . So artificial and superficial. Why should they deserve so much attention?

I think the change is excellent. Easier to read and the videos are set aside for those who wish to view them. I think you have done a great job. I enjoy watch the news on the net. Again, a great job. Love the site….Thank you. John

I love the new look…….FRESH – Crisp.

I’m not a fan! The old format was easier to follow and the color and photos made it much more intriguing.

It’s wonderful to know that CNN has this option, most of the time the public thinks you don’t care what we think. How super to know that you do.
I agree with the woman who said enough with Paris Hilton already, stories like that are why I don’t have a TV up here in Alaska!!!

Something different has been an ongoing suggestion – fortunately, i’ve ’something different’ to offer – I don’t update with new ideas very often; you’ll find something different every time you cruise through though – After a good round through CNN – try something ‘actually’ different – Thank you CNN – for excellent news coverage, and now this…….aks