Interesting design and function plans by the UK's The Times

http://www.thetimes.co.uk

July 2016 update

http://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2016/07/28/times-editor-john-witherow-how-its-paywall-paying-and-why-he-thinks-guardian-will

In his 11th floor office at News UK, Witherow, who became editor of the Times in 2013, immediately references the Rusbridger 60,000 prediction and notes that the Times and Sunday Times now has more than 182,000 digital-only subscribers “and we charge quite a lot of money”.

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March 30, 2016 post:
http://www.niemanlab.org/2016/03/the-uks-times-and-sunday-times-are-structuring-their-new-apps-and-website-around-peak-traffic-times/

Other commentary:
http://mediagazer.com/160330/p13#a160330p13

Excerpts:

The Times of London and Sunday Times on Wednesday launched new phone and tablet apps, and a new website, all focused on publishing online in editions that will be updated four times a day.

There will be a fresh issue early in the morning, followed by updates at 9 a.m., noon, and 5 p.m. — all times when the Times’ traffic tends to peak as readers wake up, arrive at work, eat lunch, and commute home.

The bulk of the content will be published in the first early-morning edition, but stories will be added and updated as needed throughout the day.

“Hitting these times gives us a great opportunity to report more in-depth, to get things right, to provide analysis on the breaking news that happens throughout the day, but also to serve readers at the times they want it,” Hunter said. “They want a package of news so they feel up-to-date. We recognize that people might check their smartphones a hundred times per day, but they’re not checking for news a hundred times per day.”

The Times and Sunday Times are both published behind a hard paywall, and it’s difficult to read their content without paying for it.

The Times spent a year and a half developing its new products. Working with a consultant, it conducted 12 weeks of interviews and discussions with staffers, current readers, and potential future readers before it even began coding any of the products.

On average, readers spend about 45 minutes with the Times’ tablet app on weekdays, and spend more than 65 minutes with it on Sundays. The Times’ website averages 1.2 visits per reader per day.

“It’s finite. It’s finishable. It’s a clear package that contains a breadth of content, but also depth where appropriate. It’s easy to navigate, clearly delineated,” Petrie said.

Other news organizations, such as Quartz and The Economist, have created finite products, because readers often say they’re overwhelmed by the unending stream of content found online.

“We’re a paid-for proposition in a market where practically everyone else is free,” Hunter said. “We think breaking news is commoditized. It’s very difficult to make people pay for breaking news, and we’re emphatic in our belief that quality journalism should be paid for.”

The Times’ research also helped it decide to emphasize its slower, edition-based approach. It will be ditching features like live blogs, which analytics and interviews suggested readers weren’t fans of.

The Times also commissioned a new font — Times Digital — for the apps and site, which is meant to be read on screens. (Fun fact: The Times actually commissioned the creation of Times New Roman in 1931, when it was looking for a font that was easier to read on newsprint.)

Web design thought from the NL article:

• Reader feedback led the Times to design its website as one long scrolling page instead of a homepage with separate section pages. “Readers told us they wanted to find things very simply and easily, and that was the most important thing,” Hunter said.

Simple and easy, which translates into user-friendly. Good design can do that.

Another article about this:
http://digiday.com/publishers/breaking-news-commodity-times-adjusts-digital-news-metabolism/

“Readers don’t come to us for breaking news; they can go to the BBC and Twitter for that, which are free,” said Alan Hunter, The Times head of digital. “They come to us for the authority of our reporting, opinion and analysis. Breaking news has become a commodity, and it’s hard to charge people for it. We believe in the power of digital editions.”

While The Times has run live blogs and other forms of breaking news, they haven’t had good uptake, according to Hunter. “People talk about content shock and the feeling of being bombarded with a torrent of news day in, day out, hour by hour. There’s a feeling they can’t keep up. We want to help them make sense of it and ensure our readers know what’s important,” he added.

Slowing its digital news metabolism to spend longer producing in-depth articles for the Web, comes along with a radical design overhaul of The Times and Sunday Times Websites, which have been separate (and unresponsive) since 2010. The previous reader experience was somewhat disjointed, with different designs and branding on each of the sites, compared to the tablet and smartphone apps. “We had a complicated estate,” said Hunter.

The new website has been designed to give a cleaner user experience

A website that is cleaner, simpler, and easy to use. All positives for creating a reader-friendly experience.

Yet someone who works in media and who apparently does not understand good design tweeted:
https://twitter.com/movingpicturetv/status/715164106119098369

New site design for 'The Times of London' is so dull. May appeal to older subscribers - but what about under 50s?

A nonsensical statement, unless that person believes that only people over the age of 50 understand good design. That media-tweeter does not understand that articles that are mainly text should be served simply.

The limited view of this article:

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/britain-willing-to-bomb-isis-in-lebanon-says-hammond-mc28hgl97

... shows a clean, simple design. How can easy-to-use be dull?

The webpagetest.org results for that limited view article:

From: Dulles, VA - Chrome - Cable - 3/31/2016, 1:18:45 PM
Fully Loaded - First View:

• 7.351 seconds
• 72 requests
• 1,326 KB
• cost = $$$

Wow, only three dollar signs. That's impressive.

Stunningly, only 72 requests contained within that single article page. Maybe the full article for a subscriber would contain more.

Relatively speaking for media orgs, those webpagetest.org results are amazing.

Media people who do not understand web bloat should not have a say in how a website is designed because they would only make things worse.

#media #design #web #mobile #app #business