4 ms·

"Online editions offer a 'less-than-satisfactory' reading experience, she writes, cluttered with intrusive ads and hampered by poor design." Our local newspape

"Online editions offer a 'less-than-satisfactory' reading experience, she writes, cluttered with intrusive ads and hampered by poor design." Our local newspaper's Web site is terrible. It's not just lack of investment; they rolled out a new HTML5 Web site that demonstrates to me that bad HTML5 is the worst-yet flavor of bad HTML. But this doesn't mean that the strategic error was digital news; it means the strategic error was making a terrible Web site.

mathw 10y ago
In that the author is entirely correct. There's some kind of publishing platform used by a number of local papers in the UK (including mine, and that of the nearest other city) and it's absolutely terrible. Pages jitter around as various bits load, adverts push the content around, performance on Chrome for Android is absolutely awful (and this is hardly a niche platform) etc. etc. Even discovering stories you want to read is nigh on impossible due to limited or just utterly incomprehensible categorisation and browsing facilities. You can't just put content on the web, you need to put content on a website which is usable, fast and easy to read and browse.
angry-hacker 10y ago
So what is bad about it? It sounds strange thing to say htnl5 has anything to do with it...
- chc 10y ago
  If your website is bad, and you create a new one that keeps the same core ideas but has new, fancy features from HTML5, you now most likely have a site that is both bad and baroque. Very few websites are bad because they were lacking the features HTML5 adds — they're bad because their creators want to do the wrong thing.
  - angry-hacker 10y ago
    I think you don't understand what html5 is. I understand your frustration about changes the sites do, but it has nothing to do with html5 per se.
    - chc 10y ago
      I think you're either being needlessly pedantic or seeing more blame directed toward HTML5 than there actually is.
- panglott 10y ago
  HTML5 just gives you lots of scope to overcomplicate the UI with animations and effects. I'm talking about this: http://www.courier-journal.com/ http://www.courier-journal.com/ News stories are displayed in internal pop-up windows—unless they don't. Why are there arrows at the side to navigate to News or Opinion sections? I actively avoid trying to get my news through this site.

mathw 10y ago

In that the author is entirely correct. There's some kind of publishing platform used by a number of local papers in the UK (including mine, and that of the nearest other city) and it's absolutely terrible. Pages jitter around as various bits load, adverts push the content around, performance on Chrome for Android is absolutely awful (and this is hardly a niche platform) etc. etc. Even discovering stories you want to read is nigh on impossible due to limited or just utterly incomprehensible categorisation and browsing facilities. You can't just put content on the web, you need to put content on a website which is usable, fast and easy to read and browse.

angry-hacker 10y ago

So what is bad about it? It sounds strange thing to say htnl5 has anything to do with it...

chc 10y ago
If your website is bad, and you create a new one that keeps the same core ideas but has new, fancy features from HTML5, you now most likely have a site that is both bad and baroque. Very few websites are bad because they were lacking the features HTML5 adds — they're bad because their creators want to do the wrong thing.
- angry-hacker 10y ago
  I think you don't understand what html5 is. I understand your frustration about changes the sites do, but it has nothing to do with html5 per se.
  - chc 10y ago
    I think you're either being needlessly pedantic or seeing more blame directed toward HTML5 than there actually is.
panglott 10y ago
HTML5 just gives you lots of scope to overcomplicate the UI with animations and effects. I'm talking about this: http://www.courier-journal.com/ http://www.courier-journal.com/ News stories are displayed in internal pop-up windows—unless they don't. Why are there arrows at the side to navigate to News or Opinion sections? I actively avoid trying to get my news through this site.