Rant.biz

Seems like I'm always ranting about something. So here goes:

LA Times. I read your paper. For the Sports Section. Gotta follow my Lakers. And Dodgers. Not so much the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Even the Calendar Section (for the Comics mostly) when I'm in LA. But for the most part, I'm reading the Times online. And OFTEN from my web-enabled mobile device. Read: iPhone.

So here's the thing. I think everyone knows the LA Times isn't exactly the "paper of record". No, that's the NY Times. And the LAT has been trying to be the NYT basically since it's inception. And with every paper redesign, everything from the typeface, to the sections' looks have become closer inline.

Except for the online version. The online version maintained a unique LA feel. White background, blue article headlines (links), plus black text article snippet previews, plus a unique CSS style. It was easy to read, easy to navigate. Good show.

That all changed. Yesterday I think. The website has been redesigned too look more like the NY Times. Even the logo has changed. Gone is the "L" white, on blue background. Replaced is a script "L" in white on a black background. Very NY...

Then there's the articles. Gone is ease of navigation. In its place is black headlines, with black text article snippets underneath. Take a look. Here's my trouble. I'm all for redesigns, if it makes the user experience better. This one does not. On a computer the subtle difference between headline size and article snippet is navigable. Manageable even. Look at the "Happy Birthday Magic" article. There's not even a writer cred separating the article from the headline. And while this isn't really a problem on my laptop, the trouble starts brewing on my phone.

It is EXTREMELY difficult on a reduced size screen to see the difference between the article and the headline. On the phone, it really looks like it could be 2 different articles about Ervin "Magic" Johnson. In fact, I have to actually tap on things to see if they are a link or not. FUCK THAT. The trouble with the Times Sports Page has always been that sometimes the names of the articles are the same or similar to the first line of the article. I think this has to do with the lazy intern who uploads the articles. Anyways, it pisses me the FUCK off that I have to actually SEARCH around a page for the article I want to read. Why implement an UI that is worse for the user? Mostly to fuck with me I think.

Fuck.