New BBC Website
My usual mornings begin with me reading news for an hour or so everyday. One of my favorite website for news usually is BBC.com. Usually I skim through the headlines on my Firefox RSS Feeds. This morning I click on on the links for BBC.com and I find a new website. Its interesting how all the new website are moving to a very similar magazine style grid look with clear typefaces, making it very easy to read. The website structure seems to very similar, the only things that seemed to have changed is the way the page looks, the color scheme, more white with grey fonts. The navigation bar structure and content seems to be same, its simply replaced by new colors. The right side bar also seems to be the same except the link are font color are different. The bottom navigation column seems to look the same again, a different color scheme. So, it seems that the major changes in the new BBC website seems to the be color. I personally think having a white background with grey fonts makes the site look much clearer and easier to read, and I love the fact that finally the website is centered. I prefer websites that are centered. Oh, also the the website width seems to bigger then before. More and more websites are now keeping 1024 x 768px as the standard screen sizes.
Overall, I like the BBC new website, they changed the look and feel of the website without changing the site structure. This way the reader don’t have to worry about getting used to the website, and making it easier for people to read. I think I will come back more often.
PS. I think CNN.com and Time.com are two of the best News website, and I think next will be BBC for me.
My Ratings for BBC.com (Out of 5)
Rate of User Errors: 4
Since the site structure remains the same, the users don’t have to worry about getting used to the website, hence its hard for them to make mistake. The site structure is well organized with a heading so, its easy to find what you are looking for.
Speed of UI Performance: 5
The website loads fairly quickly. Even with high volume of readers, the website works fairly quickly without any time lag. The search responds fairly quickly, so my guess is the backend is fairly fast.
Time to Learn: 5
This the best thing I loved about the new BBC website if the fact that people don’t have to learn where their navigation or other things they are looking for in the website. The site structure has remained the same, so the readers don’t have to spend time learning, but rather enjoy the new color scheme. Even for new readers, the information is fairly organized making it easy to learn.
Retention of Skills: 4
As mentioned before the website is fairly organized with a great structure so it is easy for anyone to get used to the website, and they don’t have to remember how to navigate through the website. Most of the information is right in front of you, and there is a search bar if you can’t find what you are looking for.