Online news interface design.

Here at Cliptec we have been working hard update our software over the last few months from a pdf based production system to a completely online system.

We have put our reading system into test recently and there is something that I really never noticed before and really has just smacked me in the face. Its really hard to read online!

Its ok in small doses but try a reading a whole paper online, its awful. at Cliptec we have to read an enormous amount of online news and I am beginning to think that it might be a health and safety issue. Its like trying to read at a disco.

The first thing to do is ban animation from your advertisers. It is terrible trying to read while some little whirligig is bouncing around on the edge of you vision. Second, ban click through advertising. Go back to advertising being advertising not some kind of siren call to the reader. Click through advertising is selected for its ability to stop you reading and click on some bouncing, speaking, click through advert dancing and gyrating insanely on the edge of my vision

Believe I am no design nazi. I wear the first thing I find in the clothes draw, ask my daughter but man does your site need to look like cross dressing hamsters having a fight. Newspapers need to take control of the paper and if an ad looks like transvestite on the page then take it off.

At the end of the day you want people to read your paper from cover to cover, like I do with the print version when I go to cafe. It is almost impossible to do this without wearing some sought of eye protection on most online new sites.

It is obvious that advertisers and online news sources have contradicting desires.  New sites want you stay put, advertisers want you come with them. However, long term survival requires the survival of the news site. So no more click throughs. You managed without them for centuries, I am sure you will be fine now.

Another benefits to getting rid of click throughs. It will return your rate card to the well understood but inaccurate science of marketing, away from the exact but completely bewildering cult of website measurement.

So in brief, I know you need to earn revenue but think of the poor online media monitoring readers who actually have to read every single page of your site every day, try it your self some time!