I miss the EDUCATION header located as you scroll down the page. Seems as though it was the only one omitted in the version. Can you bring it back?

The website looks good but I would suggest that you make the website 100% consisent. When I go to travel news or other pages, I get the old page design.

Thanks,

Andrew

I have CNN as my homepage and when I logged on to check the news and it popped up, I immediately didn’t like it. It took me a second to realize where I was. Too generic and cold. Looks like a local, plain website with not enough CNN brand recognizion right off the bat. Too much writing on one page and not enough separation of areas. I think I’ll change my home page to msnbc.

I love the site!

Is there a way to view an html version of the site? My company blocks flash and I also block it at home (in order to avoid being distracted by annoying advertisements). Otherwise I can’t view the site at all.

I don’t like the new web site. Go back to the old one. CNN is news and that is what it should concentrate on, not other features. In addition, if you are going to have video, always have an article to read. Many times I want to know what is going one but I don’t want to watch a video.

Thank you.

…and BTW I agree with Doug—don’t force us to watch a video (mostly all the time with a ‘prelude’ of commercials) when we can just as easily read the story. It is nothing short of forced commercialism and I don’t (and won’t) subscribe. If I have only one choice (watch or not) I will always choose not.

I like the re-design a lot. I have always liked how CNN.com has kept a pseudo-minimalistic interface, especially compared to some other “fair and balance” networks whose website gives one the feeling of being on LSD.

The tabs for different content types i.e. video, photos etc. are also a welcome innovation, they keep a visitor’s focus on the story and not managing multiple popups. Now only if your broadcast department would take some clues from your web designers.

My only regret is the use of Flash to power the photos section. It could have been done with equal grace using Ajax+DHTML.

This new site is the bomb! Keep it up CNN!

I’ve seen so many iterations of cnn.com over the years. =)

It’s cool and all, and it always has loaded quickly. I have to say that it looks very much like the BBC News breakdown of the front page, which is good. I like it. Good job. But stick to something for a little longer if you get it right. =)

Summer.

CNN, nice job with the site. I don’t even turn on the national news on TV anymore. I now get all, 100% of my news from the internet, CNN, The Daily Show and the Colbert Report.

Oh, just between us, I hate the fluff with Robin and Co. No journalistic value on that show anymore. I understand you have to cater to the masses.

Rick Kamel.

I don’t like it at all. A number of features are just gone. I see no reason to stick that big weather section in the middle of the page. For all CNN’s weather capabilities their online weather offerings stink. Always have. I have no idea why they farmed it out to AccuWeather. For the new video player to work I have to completely shut off my ad blocker. That is something that may just make me go somewhere else for my news. I’ll ad my voice to those that want a text story to go along with the video.

still can’t see the videos - a photo comes on for a split second and then the screen goes all white. i get videos on all other websites and from emails — only having a problem with cnn.
i keep trying to get help with this but nobody answers.

I was able to view videos on the old web site. Not any more!

Is there any way I can view new material in the old format ?

I liked the old one better. This one has the feel and look of being a bit undeveloped.

Please go back to your old website. And put more readable news on — not videos all the time with commercials!

I’m guessing it’s designed to be iPhone friendly.

I don’t like it

The new site is too cold, too sterile.

I’m not suggesting going back to what you had, but I must honest and say that I want a warmer, more comforting feleing when I come to CNN — after all, the news itself is usually cold and sterile — why have the same look?

I honestly may not come back — and I’d HATE to go to FOXNEWS!

Bob

I love it as a frequent user. The videos work immediately for a change too!

After a year of development you would hope at least there would not be 134 validation errors on the home page.

Where is the education section?!

What was wrong with the old website? As it was, I saw too much video, when I would have much preferred to read the news. I’m not saying get rid of the video, but please, at least give us the option! Before, I could see the majority of my news topics in one glance - now I am forced to scroll or try to customize the page. While I know change is good, in this case…it’s not!

Sorry - I don’t like the “new look”. The old design was easy to follow - and the stories were listed in a clear, news-like fashion. I am speaking from 35 years of newspaper experience - that’s probably why I don’t like the format!

DR

Your new site looks tight yo….
Aight….
Peace Out…

Really don’t like it. Looks less like a news site and more like a magazine site somehow. Makes the info seem stale.

Fortunately for cnn, MSNBC is terrible looking and FoxNews is too skimpy.

I liked the old site better. It fit the news more. This seems a bit unprofessional and the colors are terrible. I like more polish and less flash–and the headers were always nice and helped you get where you wanted to go easily.

It is so bad that I removed cnn from my favourites. Just too much unwanted stuff in the home page.

It is a much needed update, but it doesn’t have that feel of the CNN International look. Getting there, but not quite!

Right now the front news story is about a flaming terrorist car crashing into the airport terminal at Glascow Airport, and the terrorist is caught on fire and throwing punches at people in the terminal. But this news story stop there for me because CNN.com has decided to launch some new, stupid design (when there was nothing wrong with the old one) and is forcing you to watch video of it, but the video only works if you’re one of the lucky people who have money to spend on constantly updating your computer software.

What a let-down. It’s unfortunate to think that people actually are getting paid to destroy a good thing. A shake-up in whatever people are responsible is in order.

Another ‘NO’ vote for the new site. I *MUCH* prefer the previous incarnation.

Would like to see the More News section directly under the Latest News, so I can see the headlines of each sub-section w/o having to scroll all the way to the bottom. Ditto comments on not forcing us to watch video to get the news story.

I am using Mozilla to view the cnn.com web site. Now it seems that many of the linked-to pages won’t let me use the Mozilla Back button to get to the main cnn page. I am not impressed.

I don’t like it at all. Nothing stands out or seems worth paying attention to. It’s a news site, why are all the news categories way, way below the fold? CNN.com has been my homepage at work, home, and on my laptop for 3 years - Not anymore.

The new web site design is juts awful.Navigation is difficult,the colours are dull.
It’s a big disaster.I wonder who allowed the geeks to take over the web site.
I don’t think I will ever visit CNN online.

Get back the old design,please! And fire the so-called talented web designers and journalists.
What a joke!
Toronto,Canada

Bring back the old version. It wasn’t broken, so there was no need to fix it. Now we’ve got a new website that isn’t the same and isn’t as easy to navigate.

Dislike it quite a bit, should have an option to allow the old one if preferred.

Sorry, folks - but I’m not fond of this. I liked the old presentation better, because there were more offerings on the first page. Also - as someone else said - if you do a video on something, for heaven’s sake - - please do a written or photo article as well! I *will* not wait for a video to load!

Offer more headers, please - at the very least. I appreciate your hard work, but I’m not so sure it was necessary.

Everything is too BIG and too WHITE. I find it hard to read the home page and I jerk my head back to read it all. I am NOT old and do NOT need glasses, either! All the content seems to run together. Frames would be good!

The site looks good! I agree with the above comments regarding video TEXT options. Please link an article that relates to the video, if any.

Thanks and keep up the good work CNN. I visit you several times throughout the day.

;=)

This is not an improvement. Foxnews.com did a re-design a while back and i started using your site. Now I will have to find some other site to get my news from that is easy to get the headlines quickly

I was rather surprised – and generally pleased – with the new layout.
It’s easier to read and to find the front page materials and is much less cluttered than before.

Congrats, the redesign looks fantastic! Still has your brand, much easier to read, clean, and very contemporary. Love it.

Don’t like access to TV details buried - liked the top banner on old site to easily click for details on shows like Larry King Live…

Well frankley I thought it was my brouser that changed the formating of the site but wow what a difference. Its interesting and will have to get used to it. The red formating at the top of the site makes a bold stance on the appearence of the site. Its time for a change and it generally looks great. Keep up the good work.

James

I do not like the new site at all. It has a lot of wasted space in it, thanks to the videos in the upper right corner, under which is nothing but space.

Moreover, the new version seems to have fewer headlines than the older version, and the older version already had too few. If you don’t have a headline on the front page, people are unlikely to ever see the actual article. You need to have more than two headlines per category. I’m serious as a heart attack about this.

Also, you don’t take power users into account. Power users want to get the news as fast as possible. Do you know how many times I watch videos on your site? Hardly ever. The reason is because it is much faster for me to read the news than wait and listen while someone tells it to me. This is why I hate news stories on your site that are video only with no text option. In such cases I will sometimes even google a phrase to get a story on the subject rather than have to load the video. It’s faster.

Text, guys, text.

Your front page should be as space efficient as possible, providing the maximum number of links to the maximum number of stories with the minimum amount of scrolling down and the minimum amount of having to go to subpages to find more headlines.

If CNN doesn’t provide a good news portal for me, as a power news user, well, there are plenty of sites that do. Until now, CNN has been my first destination for on-line news. But it needn’t remain that way.

I Love it!

I really dont like the new site. The old one was much better, and I liked how it looked much more. The new one is annoying me, so much so that I think I will be switching to foxnews.com or msnbc.com as my new internet news source.

Where are the Education and Science sections? I can’t find them anywhere with this new design.

I miss having the regular updated time-stamp indicator at the top of the page, showing how recently the page has been updated. Also, there seems to be quite a bit of wasted space along the left edge. Re the weather and local news area - please make some arrangements for connecting to a Vancouver BC service for the news portion - currently it is a big wasted blank area on the screen. Finally, you would never say ‘Los Angeles, USA’, and you should not say Vancouver, Canada either, given the size of the country! Let’s get some consistency here and put the provincial abbreviations in. Thanks - a longtime(Canadian) fan.

It looks like Time.com. I hate it.

Not a bad looking site, but I don’t like how most of the information is way down the page. Also, it seems ads that are unnecessarily large have replaced good content. Disappointed so far, but I will cope.

Mozilla is showing jibberish right under the video section. What gives?

CNN has been my primary news source for several years now, and the new home page has many improvements — thanks for listening to user feedback. Two changes I would like to see: Please, please, PLEASE provide a link for a text article every time you post a headline linked to a video. Some of us just aren’t into video. And one feature of the old portal I miss very much is the “last updated at” time stamp…it was enormously helpful since my system sometimes updates and sometimes get stuck on a cached home page.

The number of pop ups are excessive. Also, my compnay blocks video streem. Not to mention I don’t need everyone on the floor to hear it either … Why not have attached to your video pieces an article I can read. Granted sometimes you do have an article but it usual appears the next day!

Why is everything so big, and why all the white space? I also join those who would like to see a readable article alongside every video. I hate having a talking head tell me in two minutes– after a commercial, of course– what I can read in 10 seconds.

SORRY, BUT I REALLY DONT LIKE THE CHANGES. SO MUCH SO, THAT I MAY NEED TO FIND ANEW SOURCE FOR NEWS.

As a teacher I was surprised to find that “Education” is no longer a tab on the top of the page. I would hope that CNN, which produces great educational programming such as CNN Student News, would value education enough to continue to give it a tab link on the top of the page. Please bring it back - the world needs to value education enough to engage in active conversation about it.

The CNN site was already bad, and now it’s worse. It’s disgraceful that you continue to put every word out of that revolting Paris Hilton (only one example) on as “news,” and every day give more fluffed up non-stories an importance they don’t deserve. You have no respect for journalism. It’s mostly silly and gossipy. These have their place of course, and can be enjoyed. But they don’t belong right in the mix with Iraq, immigration, ‘08 politics, global warming, etc. Re-arranging the links is irrelevant, and adds nothing to the experience. I plan to switch to NYTimes or ABC, etc.

All in all, I really don’t like it. The new header is amazingly large - I would rather not have the gigantic Google search bar, have the tabs up there instead, and not have the Hot topics. Looking at CNN.com full-screen, between the browser header and the CNN header just under half of my screen is taken up by meaningless fluff.

I also don’t like the center justification. Typical UI design - especially for the web - shows that people look in the upper left hand corner. On the old site, I could easily look there and scan down just a bit to find out the main story. Now I have to find it on the page.

I also would love it if the main headline story was separated more from the other stories. I see it has a very light gray box around it, but maybe make the border more apparent, or something else so that it all doesn’t blend together.

As for the video-only stories - it’s one thing for the special or human interest stories (like the “Man has beef with too loud steer”), but when it is a real news story - especially a popular one - at least have the text version too. I very rarely click on the video version - I usually just do a Google search with the headline to find the local version of the story.

It’s always interesting to see what happens when site owners feel the need to change, and I hope that there were a lot of good changes on the backend that this is just one stage of. Even though I really don’t care for it, I’m sure it will grow on me (like I have much choice )

mm. Looks like it sure has been dumbed down.

I cant say that I’m impressed with the redesign.

I read CNN.com everyday, along with other news websites, but I liked Cnn’s page before the change. I don’t have much interest in watching videos, rather read the story. You should see how CBSNews.com handles the video/readable story, not to mention the cursor hovering above the title gives you a brief on the story itself.

I guess you folks think if you don’t look sleek, you fall behind with currents trends. Maybe you should have the people who decided to make the change go work for for Microsoft and on Vista.

Many people don’t use Internet Explorer, but Firefox or Opera, so we have accuweather on the task bar. Your weather section sure takes up a lot of real estate.

I’ll still continue to read CNN.com but I do think much less of it, but what the heck, your execs got rid of Aaron Brown for Cooper Anderson.

Any chance of getting rid of Wolf Blitzer?

Thank you.

i had a feeling you’d launch a day or two early.

btw- i love video…just keep the spots short and we got a deal.

afterall, in media 2.0 i am the boss, right?

I want to thank you very much for making your news videos free again. As a disabled-retired person living in Mexico on a barely-adequate fixed SS income, I had to choose between cable TV and the Internet. The latter was the best choice because it did more things. But it leaves me wanting for in-depth news videos. Pipeline curtailed that yet more.

My only source of news has just gotten a considerably better.

Holly B., in Chapala, Mexico

Hey guys, I think you forgot about something. The ability to have full screen video is now missing. I also liked how compact the previous site was. This place sends me scrolling all over the place. But really, please make it so we can have the option of full screen video. That was what was so great about Pipeline. May it RIP or be revived as an option.

I agree with some of the other folks here. I don’t like it either. Where is education?? It appears that CNN is continuing to “dumb-down” the news. I am very disappointed. I guess I will be using other sources from now on.

I don’t like it at all… to distracting….Go back to the old site!

Somehow I missed the memo and didn’t even know you were relaunching, so when I logged on today, it was quite a shock. Seeing all that white space, I thought my computer had frozen. An upgrade was needed, but not this. It looks sterile and cold. And, as others have said, please stick to the news. Be brave and go ALL NEWS! Believe it or not, there are people out here who don’t want to know the latest fashion trend or celebrity tidbit. For that, we look elsewhere. We are hungry for hard, cold news. You don’t even have to spin it. Just hang it out to dry. Also, please refresh developing stories more often. Thanks.

Good job guys, the only thing’s missing is CNN pipeline (free version). I’d love to see raw live video comming in from car chases, fires, floods, politics, …

I agree with everyone who wants a text article for every video story - if I wanted to depend on video alone I wouldn’t use the website, I’d just watch the television station. Also, it is MUCH more difficult to find something I want to read on the new site - the majority of the stories are down at the bottom of the page! Re-evaluate, please.

I love the new site. But I do miss the posting of the last time the site was updated. Now it only has the last day it is updated..

Bring back the update time, I like knowing whether this is latest news.

Please provide at least three options for larger font sizes and I also agree with Doug that providing video is great but the story is the key. I already have a TV, I go online to read the story.
CNN is my home page and I check it constantly, keep up the good work, but get those font options available.
Thanks

I love the new clean lines and uncluttered format - I gave this feedback somewhere else on the site but it did not appear here. I hated the old, cluttered look with the annoying, flashing ads (babies in your face, people being roped like cattle, etc. when you were trying to read news) and was always searching for a replacement that was as timely as your site. This is a big improvement!

I agree with the folks above who requested that you ALWAYS include a printed story, I too would much rather read than watch something (why I got rid of cable and read news online and in the paper!). Often I Google a story you only have in video so I can read it somewhere else rather than be forced to watch video I have no interest in watching.

I also requested in my earlier feedback that you limit your “news” stories to non-tabloid type articles. When I began watching Headline News with Lynn Russell years ago, it was excellent because I could get “headlines” in 8 minutes any 30 minutes day or night. (Then it got to be only about 4 minutes of real news, and now it has descended to the level of ET!) If you had tried to make Lynn interview Paris or report on Pamela’s or Anna Nicole’s lives, I bet she’d have quit in a heartbeat! If you must, put these stories under “entertainment” where they belong, not headlines. Nothing these people do is “headline” news, ever.

Thanks again for the upgrades.

Laura

Nice job copying the BBC! Imitation is the highest form of compliment

The primary reason I have used CNN.com is for one feature: I read a story, the name of the story significantly lightens. This saves me a lot of time in scanning headlines in the various sections to determine which stories I have already read, and which are new and yet to be read. Other sites do not offer this feature. While you are still lightening the headline of a read story, it is such a scant difference that it is worthless. Please fix this.

Honestly, I don’t like this new format nearly as well as I liked the other one. The old format was eye-catching and made me want to come back to see updates every 10 minutes. This format is dull and turns me away - Sorry!

Well, it’s different for sure. I will probably warm up to it more, very web 2.0 looking. I really think you should get rid of the gray area on both sides or put two more sidebars in those spaces. It looks like someone’s blog on wordpress or something. But congratulations none the less, I always like to see new things after reading this site for many, many years.

I agree with both those who want stories to go along with videos (which I won’t watch, ever), and who want “More News” after the main news section, and not tucked so far below. Is this CNN or a glossy faux-news entertainment weekly? I want more hard-hitting stuff, less fluff. And, while the new look is decidedly slick, all the other hit it on the head as well: too sterile, too cold. I prefer the older look, though this will grow on me I’m sure - but some things most certainly need tweaking.

I get bombarded with Javascript errors on almost every page. I am using IE6 on Windows 2000.

For each Javascript error I get prompted to debug because I have Visual Studio installed…

My immediate reaction was very positive. I love the re-design — it’s clean and uncluttered, and easy to find what you’re looking for. Change can be jarring, and I would think that a lot of people whose first reaction is negative will end up liking it once they’ve gotten used to it.

I will add my voice to those who would like the choice of text when you have a video story.

I do not like the new format. There are little red “x”s everywhere and right clicking on the mouse will not open them. Yesterday, the cnn.com website was colorful, large font, easy to read. Today, the website looks like msnbc.com. White and colorless. small font. No clear distinctions between the rows.
Prior cnn.com web site rating: 10
Current cnn.com web site rating: 3

Not crazy about the new site. I miss the schedule and the a quick click to the programs. I can’t even find a link to the programs. Everything blends in together. I also agree that not everything should be on video. Please have articles w/the stories.

Not impressed with the new layout. You’ve pushed minimally relevant content like the polls and weather to be higher on the page and larger, and reduced the number of headlines shown. I have to scroll down more to see them, and that’s the only thing I’m here for. The new dull layout makes the ads stand out more, which is irritating in and of itself.

Also, I agree with all the comments about making text stories available whenever videos are available. I have no interest in watching the videos, and will only do so if forced. I can’t watch them at work, for example.

I agree with WHM–this new site still fails to conform with HTML standards. See http://validator.w3.org. Sites that conform work better across different platforms and are less likely to be affected by browser upgrades. Don’t rely on browsers to hide your coding errors.

The design is a bit bland, but it is functional.

My wish list (in order of importance)

1. The new video aspect ratio is HD, but the content is regular NTSC video. DON”T EVER SQUASH NTSC VIDEO TO MAKE IT FIT INTO HD ASPECT RATIO. Always present video in its proper aspect ratio.

2. Fix the video feed so that I don’t have to turn off my add blocker in order to see it.

3. Always provide a text story in addition to the video story. Believe or not, I can obtain more details per unit time in a well written story than I can in a video.

4. Provide more international news. Your coverage is very U.S.-centric.

5. Provide more in-depth stories and more diverse points of view.

Pretty awful, the other site was much better, I’m not sure why it needed to change. Too much white space, its much harder to find information now.

Pleeeeease change it back.

The redesign is pretty nice, simple and clean. The best part is I see the search is now powered by Google. THANK YOU SO MUCH! I tried searching for a news story I had heard about on the CNN television broadcast on CNN.com when search was powered by Yahoo and didn’t get a hit anywhere near relevant to what I wanted. I went to Google and got page after page containing news stories of what I was looking for! That alone makes me love the new CNN.com!

I don’t like your updated website at all. When you go into a story, you have to first scroll to the right to see the story highlights, and then you have to scroll back to the left to read the story. It’s an annoyance and a waste of time. Overall, the main page is just ugly. I have trouble viewing the videos and often all I get is a message that says “buffering”. I also found it very interesting that when I filled out the original feedback screen that you had available from the CNN home page there was no “submit” button available to click on (which is what the instructions on that screen directed the user to do). The “quality” of this new website gives me pause to ponder the quality of the news you’re reporting.

I use CNN as my home page and have more than enjoyed it. The new looks good; however, there is one thing that I miss because I use it to check if my computer is working correctly–beleive it or not. That is the “update” notice. Previously you had an update TIME and date. Now just the date. Please reinstate the time of update.

Thanks

Hate it, hate it, hate it.

We want more story headlines on the first page. I liked the way the old CNN was divided into separate categories with the top stories listed under each category, such as World, Asia, etc. Now I have to go through several hits to find the top news. You are known for cutting edge news, give it to us on the first page.

I’ve tried to like the new site, but I just can’t. It’s absolutely horrid. It looks like it’s only half finished!

I also agree with the large number of people who have asked to please have text links to stories that have video. I never watch the videos and get thoroughly annoyed when I click on a link and discover that I’ve mistakenly selected a video instead of text.

I can’t believe you spent a year developing this - with that kind of waste you’d think it was government!

Attractive, workable, uncluttered and easy to navigate. Inviting color scheme. Nice section breakdowns on the page. Headings at the top include timely concerns for society, but “Education” is missing. Good link-ups at the bottom.

Mr. Payne - great new web design, graphics, and handling of text. Clear and easy to follow, and not over-powering.

Only one suggestion - place a small keyline around the photos to give them more emphasis over the grey/white background. This will give images with white or light areas more visual definition.

Thanks for great reporting and outstanding handling of everything considered news around the world.

Best Regards,

RC
http://www.rcmedia.com

After a year of research, you are still way off the gold standard: The Drudge Report.

Ugh. “News lite”. The new site looks like something I’d be capable of putting together, and that’s not saying much. Seems very lightweight, too insubstantial. I agree with a previous reviewer — the site has a magazine feel, rather than a news feel. (Dare I say, “where’s the beef?” Then again… that seems to be CNN’s trend over these past few years… less investigative hard-hitting journalism and more magazine style coverage, repeated endlessly throughout the day and week. I used to rely on CNN for my news, but with their extensive and annoying videos (rather than text coverage) and this new cheesy site, I’m boogying over to MSNBC.

I was wondering what happened to the Autos and Education section, I seem to be unable to find it, if it was omitted, I’d like it to be returned!

Blah, look like a bland local news website. Bad update.

I’m very disappointed in the redesign. I think one of the most vital things is missing–the time(!), which was always next to the date. Without the time showing, we have no way of knowing how current the content is. Of course, that may be the point. This way we won’t know how often the site is updated.

Ditto on the videos. I much prefer to read an article than be subjected to videos with commercials.

I know change is healthy and all, but I much prefer the previous site.

hate the new look.
old is gold.

Love the new site! It’s clean. Contemporary. Airy. The other site had the feeling of a repressed belch.

Pages, for the most part, will not load in Safari 3.0 Beta for Mac. Nine out of ten stories come up as a blank page, whether I try to “read” or watch “video.”

I liked the old site better. This one is harder to read and poorly organized. It’s too hard to find information about tv shows. I don’t want to watch a 90 second video which is preceded by 30 seconds of commercials. I prefer reading my news when I am online. If I want to watch something, I’ll turn on the tv.

The only plus I can think of offhand is that the new site does load faster than the old. Wish you’d lose the pop-up ad though which I block anyway!

I have mixed feeling about the relaunch/redesign. I miss the extended article displays under each category (used to display up to 5) now 2-3 article listings. Now it will take more clicks.

What is improved? Why is there a big chunk of wasted space in the middle of the page that you have to scroll past to get the rest of the news. You should never have to watch a video when something can be read much faster. Why do we have to move all over the page to see what was previously available at a glance? Why give the weather such a huge space on the page? We aren’t using CNN for our local weather. The National Weather Service and our local people do a great job of that for us. I also think you need to have much stronger contrast between the font and the background. Make it stand out. It is too soft and fuzzy. I hope this works better for you in some way because it really hasn’t improved anything on the user end from I see.

Why the switch in columns for the news sections? It changes nothing about the look, yet changes everything for trying to find things for those who regularly read there! It is generally a minor annoyance that seems to have no reason. Otherwise it all looks good.

There is too much unnecessary space everywhere.
The international edition doesn’t have the “more news” feature where bullets from different sections are shown.
Everything is too big.
Design-wise, I like the new one, but you should make it more compact.
Thank you for your making improvements, but I hope you also listen to the comments and suggestions of your viewers.

Someone mentioned the iPhone. It does indeed look fine on the iPhone, but the old version of the site did too (viewed last night, before the CNN.com relaunch). Videos don’t work as the iPhone doesn’t have Flash (not yet at least). But I’m a text guy (and thus put in another plug for the “text story for every video” request).

i like it a lot. no more pop up videos!!!

You asked for our opinions before the launch, and the most common request was to have text for all stories with the video part being optional. This was repeated over, and over, and over again.

Why did you bother asking if you weren’t going to listen?

See you later CNN.

Video DOES NOT work here. The previous videos used to work (and yes, I have the latest Flash installed). I tried on Firefox, IE 7 and Safari under Windows. The ONLY browser where the new videos did work was on Opera 9.

Please fix your video code, it asks for useless activex controls, and it doesn’t work for most people. It just doesn’t load (black screen). I don’t have any ad-blockers, but I do have “noscript”, which is the No1, most popular, Firefox addon but I *have* given all privileges needed to all of your sub/sites for the video pages. And yet, it still doesn’t work. Which makes me believe that it’s not my Firefox extension that’s the problem, but your code. Besides, IE 7 doesn’t see video either.

Sorry, this is not coming close to the old one, which is my home page…

I love the clean look of the Web site. It’s not nearly as cluttered as the previous incarnation. I also find that it’s easier to navigate. I don’t think the people complaining understand all the work that goes into doing something like this… Good work.

I miss the list of categories in the old video player. It looks like now I can’t just go to Jeannie Moos’ stores; I have to search for them first.

Very clean, simplistic, and professional looking BLOG. I’ll definitely be tunning into your RSS feeds!

Very confusing. Not simple nor straightforward. I’m having to scroll right, then left, then back again. The old format was much much better and well organized. Easier to sort out.
Remember the old saw:….if it works don’t fix it!’

I do not like the new site. If I wanted to go to a crayola site, I would do that. This new home page is not as easy to read as the old one. The new page just flat out stinks. I want news, not fluff. Guess there is always msnbc. I am changing my home page as soon as I click submit. I miss Pipeline, too. I didn’t mind paying for the site because then I did not have to watch videos, and I was able to look at many different videos that were available for my own personalized viewing.

CNN,

Did you really listen to what we had to say? There are only 74 comments right now (mine now included) that have said things before in the beta version but it did not get put into the new version. Your relaunch occured today, you have 74 the days in the coming I would assume you’ll be swarmed with comments. Next time, listen, be consistent and show some consistency.

Zachary

Where is the law section now? That was my favorite section, and it’s missing. Also, where is the time of updates>

I think the headlines are much harder to read now. Not dark or distinct enough, and a bit too small. I also agree with previous comments that it is quite annoying to have to watch a video to get a story. Please provide a written story option as well.

I’ve been coming to CNN.com almost every day, usually several times a day, for a decade. For the first time, I’m considering giving Google News a try. I just don’t feel like this makes it easy to get the news quickly.

Please please please move the “More News” section up above the Podcasts, Blogs, and Local sections. I come to CNN.com for the news, not that other stuff. Include it, fine, but put it below the important content. Having more than 2 stories per category would be nice, too. And yes, I’d like a text version of the video stories. Like others, I find it’s much faster to read a story than sit through a video, and if I wanted to watch the stories I’d turn on the TV.

Thank you for considering these and everyone else’s comments.

I cannot agree enough with the calls to have a text version of every video story. The videos never seem to load right on my home computer and my work computer doesn’t have speakers. So many times I’ve gone to click on a link only to see that darn video camera icon and no text alternative.

I love CNN’s “just the facts” approach, but this redesign seems to be losing that vibe (I’m looking at you, Funny News header!).

As far as the visuals, I can’t say I’m a fan. It might grow on me, but in the meantime I’ll be searching for a new home page.

The old site *was* broken, with all kinds of stuff that blocked stuff beneath it.
Hopefully that’s fixed now, and gone is that awefull horizontal stretched black advertisement that blocked text beneath it.

People who can’t see the video’s should go here:
http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/

There is one thing still missing, if CNN reports on something they should have links going outward to the source: reporting on the iPhone? have direct link to Apple’s iPhone page. etc.
Sad you merged science with tech.

Greetings from The Netherlands.

–
Rick

where is the science section?
and I agree with earlier comments, I like to READ the news, with the option to watch a video (which I usually can see OVER and OVER again on CNN cable channel anyway). Just the facts, fast.

thanks,

I prefer the old site in terms of layout and consistency… and the old site was way faster. The new site is SLOOOOOOOW. The heavy use of Flash exacerbates this greatly. As other posters have mentioned, AJAX+DHTML would be a better option, although you must make sure to optimize the AJAX as well.

I’d personally vote for reviving the old layout without all the Flash - it was faster and a more intuitive layout. But, if you must keep the new site, at least make it faster, as right now it is nearly unusable on my machine.

Where is the Education link? As a teacher, I always checked that first. Please give it back to us! It is so important.

The site works poorly with Mozilla. Hitting the “back” button causes a meta-refresh so to move back I have to roll back manually - either hit my Home button (which is cnn.com) or pull down the history menu and click back on the Cnn splash page.

I really like the new site, but I noticed that you changed how your video is presented. I used to be able to watch it perfectly in Linux, but it seems that your new way doesn’t work at all. I can see the flash play buttons, but they do nothing. Please remember that not all of your readership are on Windows!

Your new web site looks awful. It is hard on the eyes. Too much white space on the page, and what it with the off white shading around the articles? Have you ever heard that it is easier to read text when you have high contrast between the text and background? Your site does poorly with text\background contrasts. Your use of medium a gray text over off an off white background in areas is hideous.

I agree with others that I want to read about news, not be forced to watch a video. The site has a overall feeling of being “dumbed down”, it is hard to explain.

Your old site is much better; you should go back to it.

I am very disappointed with the “new and improved” design for the CNN.com site. I have used CNN as my homepage for years, but alas, I am seriously considering giving that up. From what I can tell, there has been a great deal of change, but very little, if any, improvements to the site.

If CNN wants to really make their website appealable to the masses, then they should make the page customizable. Let each user decide what they want to see and what they don’t want to see. However, I truly do not believe that would ever be done. Just think about how the Cable and Satellite companies force customers to have channels they truly do not want. Wouldn’t it be in the best interest of CNN to have the ability to see what sections the people really want, the sections they really add to their home page, and the sections that they simply delete? As appealing as that is, I certainly won’t hold my breath in anticipation.

Key things that I feel MUST be changed in order to appeal to more people:

1. Put a link for a text version of every video.
2. Seperate the main news topics better.
3. Put the main news topics further up the page. This is supposed to be news, right?
4. Get rid of all the “Fluff” that doesn’t belong on a true news website.

But hey, that’s just me.

Kudos. I have always been a fan of your site. The redesign is a further improvement— it is very clean, the information is divided and categorized in a very clear and understandable way. I’m also glad you have ditched the “locked left” layout in favor of a dynamically centered layout. It always places the content in the middle of the screen, best for avoiding neck strain, no matter the resolution of one’s monitor.

I didn’t read all of the comments, but after reading some of the first ones, it looks like some people need to update their flash player and allow flash content. It is completely free to update your Flash player, just go here:
www dot adobe dot com/products/flashplayer/
(Sorry, I don’t think that this will let me publish a link, so change the “dot”s to “.”

I would also recommend using Firefox

As for the new site, I love it. Nice job with it. The new flash based video player is great, and I love how the stories have a “Read” tab and a “Watch” tab. Can’t wait for the Live Video to be ready.

In general, the redesign is a good first draft. Now it has some editing to polish it up a bit. I like it. I am in the camp with the “please have a text link to video stories” and “bring back the date/time stamp” advocates. Very often I don’t have time for a video and just want to scan the text to get the details. And I like knowing if its the very latest version of the story or one I read when I got up 10 hours ago.

As with any changes, people get ruffled out of their comfort zones. Ultimately change is good and CNN is by far my choice for news, regardless of how the website looks. I enjoy the journalism provided by CNN over other news organizations so I will adjust to the site as required (which is minimal).

Thanks for the hard work!

Either the navigation bar along the top should have a fixed width or the news section should expand to fill the frame. The conflicting styles is a bit of an eyesore.

The content area is fine, although I don’t see a huge improvement over the old version.

The biggest problem with the new design is the BOLD RED LINE!

When I visit the site, I feel like I have to duck my head to read the content under the bar. It’s a strange sensation and CNN.com is the only site to ever actually make me have to bob my head to get “under” the header. Drop that line to 1 or 2 pixels and it will be a lot better.

Ya, I just photoshopped a screen grab of the site, and it looks a LOT better (in my opinion) with the red line reduced to 2 pixels.

Also. the flat gray background in the content area looks really bland in this version. perhaps a subtle gradient or a faint pattern fill would make it better. I tried both ideas and I think they both look better than a flat gray.

Wonderful! Keep it up.

The More news section shouldn’t be hung at the bottom of the page. You should have the basic headings as links on a sidebar towards the left of the page for easy navigation. Display the “More News” categories in a heirarchy, where the most important “categories” of news are 1st, and descend to least important types of news. My suggestion:

“More News”

World »
U.S. »
Politics »
Business »
Science »
Tech »
Health »
Sports »
Travel »
Living »
Entertainment »
Funny News »

And P.S. “More News” is a corny heading.

And one more thing. I really like the feedback option. It fills my eyes with tears to see Time Warner actually listening to their consumers.

I think CNN is the best news site on the Internet. Keep up the amazing work.

i dont like this new design cahnge back or allow to use the old one

the design isnt bad, i’ll get used to it in time, I’m sure - i’m just wondering what happened to your law section…that was the main reason i kept CNN as my homepage instead of BBC. And I definitely second the above opinions in suggesting that you provide links to articles to accompany all the videos - the video headlines often sound incredibly interesting, but I just dont have time to watch them. I’d love to read the stories though.

I’m lost without the CNN’s signature look of vibrant colors (especially red). Where did you leave the EDUCATION tab? Please add it back. Video feed is a great idea but please don’t overdo it. Although change is good remember to keep key elements on the site that sets CNN apart from the rest. CNN is by far the best news source. Old or new site it’s still my homepage!

Great new site, cleaner and easier to navigate. The old site was starting to make me a bit anxious… it was like you just threw the news at a site and just let things randomly land. This site feels more “peaceful” and not so random and overwhelming. Good job!

CNN always does it best!
Thank you.
George Vreeland Hill

I like it!

For people who are complaining, it’s most likely the fear of change. Like all other changes in life, this will take time getting used to.

And why are you guys complaining about less crowding and more white space on the homepage? A news site doesn’t have to be filled to the brim with news links. Less is better, and that is not to say that I think the CNN.com main page has any less links that it should.

And please, no more validation Nazis!

There should be a sort option for the Jeanne Moos videos like there used to be in the old video window.

i prefer the older version over the new one mainly because i liked the way it looked, but cnn being the only news site i can look at while I’m at work (everything else is filtered) gave me something to do during down time. Your new version just seems cold with not much going for it. It just seems to impersonnal to me.

Well, I wouldn’t take the criticism too harshly. Any change is going to be tough for people to take as you get used to where to find things. I would say so far that the site looks okay, maybe a little cleaner than what it was before, so I’m ready to adapt to the change. Here are some issues though:

1. I get numerous browser errors (object not found, a runtime error has occurred, this page is accessing information that is not under its control …), so you’ve got some security work to do (I’m using IE 7.0).

2. I’m not the type that customizes my web experience much, so I would count on you to give me only the information that I want. I don’t need weather or stock quotes (I go elsewhere if I’m curious about those). To have as much solid news as possible and less fluff would be good.

3. Like many others, I resent that so much of the news requires me to go to a video with commercials. I very much want a text option or I will definitely take cnn off as my home page.

Other than that, I’m okay with the site once I figure out where everything is. If you want one last odd suggestion, I’m starting to go to the goodnews network to check out what’s up. Are you really telling me that there’s just no good news around? Something like: Ohio had a bumper crop, or education scores in history have climbed for the 3rd straight year. These are all made up, but are you sure nothing good is happening out there? Like your Jeanne Moos articles, why not a section on good news? There’s got to be something out there that isn’t so dire and might give us some hope.

Good luck,
JF

It looks like Steve Jobs designed your site. It liked the old one better, but I’ll probably leave it as my homepage. But like others have said, please provide text with all your video stories of hard news cuz I won’t watch the videos even if I am interested in the story.

The new site layout is very good. This is by far the #1 news site on the web. Excellent job rendering video via Flash and the overal layout. Its alot less cluttered and it is easier on the eyes. A job well done CNN!

Hm, I like it. Still, it would be nice to be able to decide for myself what parts of the page I’m interested in seeing and what is just filling space and can go. If I don’t want the local section, or celebrity news, for example, I’d like to be able to filter out that information.

I also would like to be able to always see a text report instead of having only video. Video is pretty and sometimes nice, but it’s also noisy and flashy and not always the most direct and convenient way to get news, particularly when video advertisements are used.

The new video section doesn’t run on the computer, hung up on loading. I also agree that all video should have a story that doesn’t require to just view the video. I agree it is forcing to look at advertising and not all computers run the video. Good start to the new site, needs some work.

I greatly miss the Education secton on the front of the website. It is a section I visit daily, and though I see there is an RSS feed to an Education section, my concern is that your focus on Education news will suffer with its loss of prominence. Please add an Education section back to the front of the site. It is far more crucial than something like “Funny News!”

The new video changes (flash) are much overdue; thanks for taking a cue from Youtube. The previous requirements for video playback were just annoying. I’m not a big fan of the new layout, I preferred the classic design.

I think this is a move in the right direction. I believe that all the major networks should have news message boards with direct links for nearly every story they produce that are visible to anyone who chooses to see them. Why? This is the only way to prevent the news agencies from spinning the story in the way they want to, or the news editor wants to spin it or the corporate chief wants the stories spun. America does not belong to the few, but to the many.
Freedom of speech for both broadcaster and audience is absolutely necessary , and yet the majority of mass media networks, like AOL AND YAHOO for example, are moving in the wrong direction by doing away with the news message boards(at least in any meaningful way.) These internet based MASS MEDIA networks have chosen to cower, and to disengage their public from any meaningful imput. But they are being punished, to be sure, as their business is surely waning.

The real test is not going to be whether you put up a blog , but whether you are able to tolerate a real conversation, with real criticism and unlike AOL AND YAHOO are commited to upholding the right to free speech for all people, and not just for those who were rich enough and powerful enough to buy themselves a broadcasting network.
The future of the United States is in the balance I think. We need the majority of people to care about their nation in these troubled times:how can they ever do that if they are not engaged in the dialogue of their nation, If they are not allowed even to suggest solutions, however rough their tongue?

I hope that CNN stands strong for the first amendment, and if it does, I think it will prosper.

Your new design is not 800×600 compatible !
Please use the “liquid stretching” technique.

Thanks

I LOVE the improve video — FINALLY CNN joins the 21st Century with their new Flash format.

I HATE the design. Looks like it took all of 10 minutes to put together.

You have many javascript bugs. Making the site nearly unusable for me. Put your browser in debug mode and see how many.

Why do none of the videos work for me now? I try to access them with both FIrefox and Safari and they just don’t work. I had no problems with them on the old website.

You’ve really screwed it up, as far as I’m concerned.

I like the new site, however, what would really make it convenient is if when moving along the subject bar (U.S. News, Sports, Business, etc., etc.,) you could see a “flyout” feature, like on MSNBC, which would show you what articles could be read.

I think I like the cleaner, crisper design. It will take getting used to. I agree with many of the other criticisms, however. I especially don’t like the sense that you’ve lowered yourself to pandering to voyeurism like other news and entertainment sites.

What….? no Lou Dobbs?

ok, I like the new design. But please update the pic on the front page because it is there since yesterday afternoon. It’s getting boring. I mean the pic with the car in flames in Glasgow airport…it’s enough!

I’m extremely satisfied with the new look and layout - I have absolutely no problems whatsoever with it. Video also loads faster than before. Thank you guys for making my favorite Internet news source even better!

also, please dont give only video options for some news. They should be accompanied by a text option. I try to avoid videos as much as possible because of the advertisment. They tend to last 15 to 30 second and it is very annoying. Video advertisments sh