New Design of the SF Chronicle

Chit-chat, current events
Post Reply
User avatar
Lzcutter
Administrator
Posts: 3149
Joined: April 12th, 2007, 6:50 pm
Location: Lake Balboa and the City of Angels!
Contact:

New Design of the SF Chronicle

Post by Lzcutter »

I know that I'm one of the few people here that read the San Francisco Chronicle on line. It's a hold-over for me of the three years I lived in SF working at the Walt Disney Museum. Even though I returned home last summer, I still browse the Chron on a daily basis.

Old habits die hard, I guess.

Yesterday, I went to the site and good Lord, what have they done?

They took a fairly clean and easily defined home page where you could see headlines and click on those that were of interest and turned it into an unholy mess of HUGE text, pics and no organization to the the way the page is laid out.

It now makes finding and reading the news hard.

Which is not supposed to be what a newspaper is all about.

Or maybe I'm just too old school when it comes to that.

It reminds me a bit of the overall that Entertainment Weekly did about two years ago. I stopped reading that site because I could no longer easily navigate the site or find stories that interested me.

I fear my days with the Chron may be numbered.
Lynn in Lake Balboa

"Film is history. With every foot of film lost, we lose a link to our culture, to the world around us, to each other and to ourselves."

"For me, John Wayne has only become more impressive over time." Marty Scorsese

Avatar-Warner Bros Water Tower
User avatar
Rita Hayworth
Posts: 10068
Joined: February 6th, 2011, 4:01 pm

Re: New Design of the SF Chronicle

Post by Rita Hayworth »

The same with my Seattle Times and now they are charging $$$ to view their web page and I used to browse the headlines and in order for me to read it; I have to pay an undisclosed amount of $$$ to view and read their articles. Now, I took it off my bookmark and glance at the newspapers at my local coffee shops of where they have newspapers laying around.

It is getting kind of ridiculous of not getting any free news around here and now I'm forced to watch the news these days on my Television Set of which I just can't stand at all.
User avatar
movieman1957
Administrator
Posts: 5522
Joined: April 15th, 2007, 3:50 pm
Location: MD

Re: New Design of the SF Chronicle

Post by movieman1957 »

I think I have an old edition of The Chronicle I got when I was out there just a kind of reminder of the visit.

I haven't read the online version but it is getting more complicated on other websites. Navigating isn't so much an issue for me as the little videos that start to play automatically somewhere on the page. You hear it. You can't find it. (It interrupts me music.)

I've seen some sites that have the same story accessible from different locations. Oh, you can't watch a one minute video without sitting through a 30 second commercial. Granted these are more for national news websites but it is just as annoying.

Well, there's my rant. Sorry it doesn't have anything more to do with your complaint but....

The Baltimore Sun is but a shell of its former self in print. Don't really go on the website. You get a few free looks but after that you pay. I don't think it's worth the money.
Chris

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
User avatar
moira finnie
Administrator
Posts: 8024
Joined: April 9th, 2007, 6:34 pm
Location: Earth
Contact:

Re: New Design of the SF Chronicle

Post by moira finnie »

The New York Times online keeps undergoing these remodels too, each time looking less like a paper and more like a site that doesn't want me around. I began to wean myself from the actual newspaper some time ago when it got to be over $5 for the Sunday Times, but occasionally break down and buy a daily one to enjoy.

I do read the SF Chronicle online occasionally, esp. Mick LaSalle's work as a critic and his Ask Mick LaSalle column, in which he demonstrates a notable amount of poise as he fends off insulting comments from readers asking rude questions. I suppose the days when I can chuckle at those parts of the paper are numbered too.

BTW, if you see a headline in a newspaper online that you would like to read, but don't have $$ for the subscription, you can often find access through the portals of Google News and through your local library system, many of which now offer access to newspapers through their websites too (you do need to have a library card).
Avatar: Frank McHugh (1898-1981)

The Skeins
TCM Movie Morlocks
RedRiver
Posts: 4200
Joined: July 28th, 2011, 9:42 am

Re: New Design of the SF Chronicle

Post by RedRiver »

I watched DARK PASSAGE this weekend. Great San Francisco footage in that classic. Some of the best, in my experience. I live in a small town in the middle of nowhere. Even our online paper is by subscription only. I can't blame them, though. Almost nobody buys the "hands-on" edition anymore.
User avatar
Lomm
Administrator
Posts: 719
Joined: September 5th, 2013, 9:14 am

Re: New Design of the SF Chronicle

Post by Lomm »

My local paper is owned by Gannett, who owns USA Today as well (and countless more around the country). They recently took our easy to navigate website and converted it into a clone of the USA Today site, full of sliding animations, huge pictures, and more popup ads than you can shake a stick at. It's also paywalled, but I get full access as my parents still get a physical paper at their home and gave me the online activation since they don't even know how to use it. :) Paywalled sites make little sense to me. If they block me from reading I'll just go elsewhere for my content. There are advertising dollars to be made without having to block everything behind subscriptions these days.
User avatar
Lucky Vassall
Posts: 272
Joined: January 27th, 2014, 2:40 pm
Location: San Francisco, CA

Re: New Design of the SF Chronicle

Post by Lucky Vassall »

Couldn't agree more. It's my guess that they're hoping esubscriptions will be the future of publishing.

But, what do I know? I was sure Cable would never catch on, at least not unless the kept advertising off all the pay sites.
[size=85]AVATAR: Billy DeWolfe as Mrs. Murgatroid, “Blue Skies” (1946)

[b]“My ancestors came over on the Mayflower.”
“You’re lucky. Now they have immigration laws."[/b]
[i]Mae West, The Heat’s On” (1943[/i])

[b]:–)—[/b]
Pinoc-U-no(se)[/size]
User avatar
CineMaven
Posts: 3815
Joined: September 24th, 2007, 9:54 am
Location: Brooklyn, New York
Contact:

Re: New Design of the SF Chronicle

Post by CineMaven »

Sad The Newspaper is going the way of the dinosaurs. ( I like dinosaurs. I AM one, I s'pose. ) I suspect the sliding animations and all the doo-hickeys and bells and whistles is to entertain engage young folks into reading. Ugh!!! On the SSO's FaceBook page Moira cited a post by Citizen Screen who did a lovely write-up on her obsession with newspapers in the movies. You can check it out here at Aurora's GinJoint: http://aurorasginjoint.com/2014/09/03/g ... my-system/ . She covers the waterfront in how newspapers and their headlines help move a story along.

I add two suggestions of my own with "Bye Bye Birdie" and "Five Star Final."

Image

I like the look, touch and feel of it. I think Society is losing out.
"You build my gallows high, baby."

http://www.megramsey.com
Post Reply