What Do You Want on a News Website?

SomethingBig asks: "The BBC is asking people to redesign their homepage, with the best design winning an Apple laptop. With news websites becoming ever more crowded and cluttered, what is really the most important information for a news organization's homepage? Should it contain local news? Traffic? Weather? What type of information would you want on the BBC's homepage (or CNN's if you're in America)?"

What would I want?

[grogdamighty]

"Should it contain local news? Traffic? Weather? What type of information would you want on the BBC's homepage (or CNN's if you're in America)?"

I'm not a coder or in web design, so I can't tell you how to make a simple but elegant interface. I can tell you what should be readily apparent to anyone asked these questions: I want exactly what I want, when I want it. That's what I like about Google News - if I want sports news on top, that's where I put it; if I want a custom search for all new pharmaceuticals, I can do it. Major news websites should take note that people want to be able to decide what news they see.

There's a reason why most people flip directly to a specific section of the newspaper. It's time the newspaper flipped for us.

Less bloat

[iriefrank]

I load and reload news sites hundreds of times a day. Strip the bloat out, and let me do it quickly. The new NYT layout is fine as layout goes (though I still like the old site better) but all the Flash and proliferation of tables upon tables makes the site load at a crawl.

In short: strip Flash out. Video in links only. Make it snappy.

I want news

[Johnso]

I want news, not sensationalism. Drop the misleading headlines and transparent opinion pieces.

I read the news to make my decisions, not to have them made for me.

Re:Make it divisive and exclusive

[Unski]

It's the Car-Crash TV factor, nowadays, which keeps me watching. I admit, I didn't always hate it, but lately, yeah..you do have a point Mr Chips.

"Microsoft Dalek: Embrace, extend, and EXTERMINATE!"

I would add that your sig is completely what is fucking wrong with this place - I mean, it's both lazy and derivative, but a crowd-pleaser - like so many posts and article submissions. Thank God for that pragmatic minority of Windows evangelists (& I have no real affection for MS) who, once in a while, stick their heads above the parapet to try and provide a different opinion. Thank God for the Republicans and Tories (& I am a liberal politically, and not an economic laissez-faire kind of liberal either) - closet & otherwise - who occasionally challenge the mindless liberal consensus around here.

You shouldn't really have even dignified my post with a response, because I have nothing to lose in speaking my mind. Except my account, and if 'they' take that away from me it would confirm every single aspect of the crapulence I have come to frequently observe here.

You carry on writing easy, crowd-pleasing sigs - for your next one I would suggest writing something about Bush or Cheney, or Dvorak or Cringely, or if you wanted to try even less, perhaps a witticism about MS's ... no no no, sorry, forgot where I was for a moment..I mean, M$'s ongoing anti-trust case. You can have this (unrelated) one if you want William - 'My House is Castle; No Windows, No Gates' - I chose not to use it 'cos bashing Microsoft on /. is like shooting fish in a barrel.

So, I've been thinking of going on hiatus for a while, because you do have a valid point alongside your facile sig. STFU and I will stay away for a while, and stop criticising your friend. Respond - please, respond - and I will happily continue this conversation with you.