5 ms·

As side note: gif with nytimes article headlines are totally useless on phone, not readable at all

by cryptozeus 9y ago

figgis 9y ago
What gif? I only found a couple and they were at the bottom of the page in the related article stuff.
- allenz 9y ago
  There are graphics simulating push notifications of 1968 news every few paragraphs, captioned "Photo: Associated Press". They animate only once, so try reloading? I agree that it animates a tad too quickly, and that the animation really isn't needed.
  - godot 9y ago
    I think figgis may be responding in a sarcastic way and trying to point out that those are not animated gifs, but are actual HTML page elements, animated with CSS. If you view on desktop and use a browser DOM inspector (like Chrome Dev Tools) you can verify that this is the case. To be honest I'm quite impressed that NYTimes went this length to create these technical widgets. Do they have software engineers or web developers working in conjunction with journalists on articles like these? Seems like a relatively high cost of production. Although I'm not a fan, I have to say in this case it does do its job quite well, which is to demonstrate how having twitter news would feel like back in the 1968s~ time.
    - ambrosite 9y ago
      >> To be honest I'm quite impressed that NYTimes went this length to create these technical widgets ... Seems like a relatively high cost of production. That's because the article is really just an advertisement for TimesMachine, a subscription newspaper archive. I didn't notice it at first, either.
    - juliendorra 9y ago
      Yes, they have newsroom developers and newsroom web designers. That’s how they managed to create well integrated pieces like the 2013 Oscar trailers article [1] or the many d3js interactive dataviz. [1] http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/02/19/movies/awardsseason/oscar-trailers.html http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/02/19/movies/awardss...
    - figgis 9y ago
      > I think figgis may be responding in a sarcastic way Was not intended, just curious. But that would be why I couldn't find it.
  - lostlogin 9y ago
    The speed is part of the effect - big news happening fast and before you have had time to digest the previous event. At least, that was my take.
rebuilder 9y ago
Not just that, but for me they also cause the actual article text to jump around, making reading the article quite frustrating.
gumby 9y ago
You had to say “a side note” because it’s technically not the semantics of the page, but thanks for making the comment. We need to call out functionally crappy design, especially when it interferes with good content
ambrosite 9y ago
Ironically those graphics are the whole point of the article. It is supposed to simulate what the year 1968 might have looked like if there had been a Twitter feed back then. There is very little original content in the article text itself. Edit: On further inspection, I am coming to the conclusion that the article is really a thinly veiled advertisement for TimesMachine, a subscription newspaper archive. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com https://timesmachine.nytimes.com
dominotw 9y ago
Side note to the side note: I remember reading here that someone had a scriptlet that removes nytimes stories from hackernews. If someone has such a thing, would you mind sharing it?

As side note: gif with nytimes article headlines are totally useless on phone, not readable at all

figgis 9y ago

What gif? I only found a couple and they were at the bottom of the page in the related article stuff.

allenz 9y ago
There are graphics simulating push notifications of 1968 news every few paragraphs, captioned "Photo: Associated Press". They animate only once, so try reloading? I agree that it animates a tad too quickly, and that the animation really isn't needed.
- godot 9y ago
  I think figgis may be responding in a sarcastic way and trying to point out that those are not animated gifs, but are actual HTML page elements, animated with CSS. If you view on desktop and use a browser DOM inspector (like Chrome Dev Tools) you can verify that this is the case. To be honest I'm quite impressed that NYTimes went this length to create these technical widgets. Do they have software engineers or web developers working in conjunction with journalists on articles like these? Seems like a relatively high cost of production. Although I'm not a fan, I have to say in this case it does do its job quite well, which is to demonstrate how having twitter news would feel like back in the 1968s~ time.
  - ambrosite 9y ago
    >> To be honest I'm quite impressed that NYTimes went this length to create these technical widgets ... Seems like a relatively high cost of production. That's because the article is really just an advertisement for TimesMachine, a subscription newspaper archive. I didn't notice it at first, either.
  - juliendorra 9y ago
    Yes, they have newsroom developers and newsroom web designers. That’s how they managed to create well integrated pieces like the 2013 Oscar trailers article [1] or the many d3js interactive dataviz. [1] http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/02/19/movies/awardsseason/oscar-trailers.html http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/02/19/movies/awardss...
  - figgis 9y ago
    > I think figgis may be responding in a sarcastic way Was not intended, just curious. But that would be why I couldn't find it.
- lostlogin 9y ago
  The speed is part of the effect - big news happening fast and before you have had time to digest the previous event. At least, that was my take.

rebuilder 9y ago

Not just that, but for me they also cause the actual article text to jump around, making reading the article quite frustrating.

gumby 9y ago

You had to say “a side note” because it’s technically not the semantics of the page, but thanks for making the comment. We need to call out functionally crappy design, especially when it interferes with good content

ambrosite 9y ago

Ironically those graphics are the whole point of the article. It is supposed to simulate what the year 1968 might have looked like if there had been a Twitter feed back then. There is very little original content in the article text itself. Edit: On further inspection, I am coming to the conclusion that the article is really a thinly veiled advertisement for TimesMachine, a subscription newspaper archive. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com https://timesmachine.nytimes.com

dominotw 9y ago

Side note to the side note: I remember reading here that someone had a scriptlet that removes nytimes stories from hackernews. If someone has such a thing, would you mind sharing it?