AOL has relaunched AOL News. And it looks like Download Squad's parent company has taken a cue from blogs. The new design lays out news in an blog-like fashion, with excerpts of all the day's main stories laid out chronologically from top to bottom.
Breaking news from wire services shows up in a box on the right column. Popular stories, comments, and a blog tag are on the left column. Each story also has Reddit-like thumbs up and down buttons, letting readers vote on stories. Presumably the top ranked articles wind up in the popular stories box.
AOL's sports page will unveil a new design with a similar look later this week.
This raise an interesting question though. The simple layout of most blogs works because blogs are dedicated to a relatively small number of topics, such as software (Download Squad) or gadgets (Engadget). Does it make sense to present mainstream news on hundreds of diverse topics in this fashion?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-26-2007 @ 2:07PM
Chris Moroz said...
I think it makes sense because most people that regularly use news sites visit them several times a day looking for the latest breaking or "new" news. The new layout sounds like it will make it VERY easy to quickly track what's new for those of us who don't do RSS.
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6-26-2007 @ 4:34PM
AJ Cann said...
It's all about loyalty (or otherwise). Blog design makes sense if readers are loyal and visit the site frequently, AND are interested in most or all of the stories. If they want to dip in an out and read what interests them, the design will piss them off quickly, and the (highly successful) BBC News website is a much better option.
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6-27-2007 @ 8:52AM
daproject said...
They have completely ripped off the Guardians new look!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
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