New BBC News

I mentioned it late last night and it seems to have already happened - BBC News Online has got it’s new look and my first reaction - it’s a stretched version of the old look.

Don’t get me wrong I think it’s an improvement but there’s so much more you could do with that screen real estate than just have larger right hand promos.

But this IS the first phase in the development. Lately the BBC seems to have been moving from a hold off until finished, launch a big thing in one go approach to a steady as she goes piece by piece approach.

You can read more about the new look on the BBC Editors Blog. There Steve Herrmann suggests that, after user feedback suggested they didn’t want much changed - a refresh was decided on.

“Our designers embarked on a mission that they have called a “site refresh” - they say it’s “like gardeners doing a bit of pruning and weeding, but not digging it up and starting from scratch” ie it’s not a fundamental redesign of everything – many of the basics stay the same, because we know they work.”

I think it’s come out a bit piecemeal and feels like a stretched version of the old site but the Sport Editors Blog on the same subject suggests there is a LOT more to come - so I’ll wait and see.

“The second key point is that this is not a one-off relaunch. It is the first phase of a work-in-progress, and one that is based on the foundations of extensive audience research. There will be more improvements to come as we build up to what promises to be a superb summer of sporting action.”




Above is the new homepage - it has pretty much the same number of features available but with more white space around them. There is a new masthead that looks cleaner and there are less annoying blue buttons but it does need work.




The story page is also a stretched version of the old one - it has the same right hand objects, the same text layour and the same social bookmark buttons at the bottom.

In fact this story even has a css error - the quote is showing in a different font to the rest of the text - unless this is done on purpose in which case it looks crap.

I’ll write a full review when I’ve had a chance to look around the site properly and played with it. I’ll also give it time to bed in and any extra features to be added - the embedded video isn’t there for all stories yet.

Oh and Sport has gone live as well which is clearly where the ugly blue buttons come from.



Of course here’s one of the real reasons for the big change - from the Sports Editors Blog:

“Incorporating adverts - For our international users, who already see advertisements on our pages, we wanted to do a better job of incorporating them into the page design. The wider pages make that easier.”

Sphere: Related Content

Share This