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The New Yorker has done a lot to try, for good or ill, to make the digital experience as similar to the paper one as possible. My guess is the enormous page is

The New Yorker has done a lot to try, for good or ill, to make the digital experience as similar to the paper one as possible. My guess is the enormous page is part of this effort. I think it's pretty misguided in the browser -- or, at least, that they've pushed well past the point of diminishing returns on it -- but they are to be commended for the consistency and depth of availability. Another factor is probably (again, I'm guessing) that their preferred method of digital consumption is their own apps, where issues are rendered digitally exactly like their paper counterparts, with ads and all. Given the primacy of text at the New Yorker, this actually works out really well. (It's probably worth noting that the New Yorker NEVER does that thing where an article is "continued on page 102" or whatever, which probably makes this work better.) It's definitely cool that this whole-magazine rendering is available (for subscribers) not just for current issues, but for the entire archive going back 95 years. That's neat.

gwern 6y ago
> I think it's pretty misguided in the browser -- or, at least, that they've pushed well past the point of diminishing returns on it -- but they are to be commended for the consistency and depth of availability. They haven't even gotten dropcaps working right; I don't think the issue is having gone too far into diminishing returns, but that their reach exceeds their grasp.
- ubermonkey 6y ago
  I definitely have my gripes about their technical implementation, but I mostly read either in paper or via the iPad app, so the web presentation is only rarely relevant to me (i.e., when I share a story with someone). At any rate, the implementation is just that: the package the excellent writing comes in. As long as the words are there, I'm happy. And I _do_ like that they've spent so much time on the wrapper, so to speak, even if it falls short in some respects.
  - gwern 6y ago
    My point is that it's odd to praise them for having gone so far and spent so much time on the wrapper when they haven't gotten the basics right, like dropcaps. Dropcaps are a little fiddly to get right, but they are not that hard. Even my website has correctly-implemented dropcaps, and there are no fulltime web devs maintaining it, shall we say. If you've piled on a mountain of crap in the name of typography and you can't even get dropcaps right, then you aren't making a pretty wrapper (because a pretty wrapper is at least pretty) - you're just making a mountain of crap. The NYer's website, IMO, is as ugly as their reporting is good.
damontal 6y ago
their ios app is frustrating. if you increase the text size it goes from default to huge to ridiculous. those are your only choices.

gwern 6y ago

> I think it's pretty misguided in the browser -- or, at least, that they've pushed well past the point of diminishing returns on it -- but they are to be commended for the consistency and depth of availability. They haven't even gotten dropcaps working right; I don't think the issue is having gone too far into diminishing returns, but that their reach exceeds their grasp.

ubermonkey 6y ago
I definitely have my gripes about their technical implementation, but I mostly read either in paper or via the iPad app, so the web presentation is only rarely relevant to me (i.e., when I share a story with someone). At any rate, the implementation is just that: the package the excellent writing comes in. As long as the words are there, I'm happy. And I _do_ like that they've spent so much time on the wrapper, so to speak, even if it falls short in some respects.
- gwern 6y ago
  My point is that it's odd to praise them for having gone so far and spent so much time on the wrapper when they haven't gotten the basics right, like dropcaps. Dropcaps are a little fiddly to get right, but they are not that hard. Even my website has correctly-implemented dropcaps, and there are no fulltime web devs maintaining it, shall we say. If you've piled on a mountain of crap in the name of typography and you can't even get dropcaps right, then you aren't making a pretty wrapper (because a pretty wrapper is at least pretty) - you're just making a mountain of crap. The NYer's website, IMO, is as ugly as their reporting is good.

damontal 6y ago

their ios app is frustrating. if you increase the text size it goes from default to huge to ridiculous. those are your only choices.