Sleek and Informative

Cnn.com is the homepage I have set on my laptop. When I opened it up this weekend I was at first startled and then amused we had replicated the old web site design only a couple weeks ago. The red header was the first thing that jumped out at me. At first I thought it was too bold, but then as I glanced down the page I realized the redesign as a whole was pretty well done.

The website is much more effective now (although it wasn't exactly bad before) that they have streamlined all of the important information. The three columns showcase a lot of the same information that you had to scroll and click around for before. Now the most important information is where it needs to be, allowing the viewer to get to what they want with hardly a click of the mouse.

I like that their Highlights and Editors Choice section include a mix of different types of news and that these sections are easily accessible to the viewer. In the past I clicked around the different sections of CNN and enjoyed all of them. As a user of people.com and Entertainment Weekly, I was aware that CNN had a partnership with them. Highlighting this partnership in a better way works for CNN and People/EW and is a smart business move.

I used to be one of those people that felt news was news and everything else was separate. However, the way things have changed with both technology and culture, its clear that people want different kinds of information presented to them in multiple formats all at once. Incorporating different facets of new media is necessary for news agencies today and I think CNN has taken a great step in doing so.