Straits Times New Look

After the experience gained from the navigation menu fiasco of ST701, I expected the people at SPH could do better with the Straits Times new look.

Today, by accident, I read SimplyJean’s Makeovers – the new dirty word. Go read hear blog and find out why she got “peeved”.

When Straits Times first got their makeover about less than 2 weeks ago, I was lost. “Breaking News” merely linked me back to the first page which features only 5 “top stories” that rotates on its own; sometimes leaving little time for you to read the abstract. They have since kept their abstracts to one liners but that’s not the only peeve.

She represents just one of the many people who are not happy with the changes at the Straits Times.

I was confused by the rotating “top stories” too. What am I supposed to do to read the stories in detail? Where is the clickable link?

I suspected that the purpose for the “new look” is to make more space for banner ads rather than to improve user experience.

Whenever you make a major change to your website, expect your existing users to complain about not getting used to the new layout. They might learn to use the new website or just abandon it. Yet, SPH doesn’t seem to care about their existing readers.

SPH doesn’t seem to have learnt the importance of web usability.

Let me summarise here the salient points of web usability:

1. Consistent

2. Predictable

3, Relevant

If you are from SPH and reading this blog, please go get a book on usability before doing any “new look” so that you can keep your existing readers and your pageviews!

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