# Does anyone like or understand the new NBCNEWS.com web site? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 7, 2014, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-or-understand-the-new-nbcnews-com-web-site/680773 "2014-02-07T17:57:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-or-understand-the-new-nbcnews-com-web-site/680773/1 "2014-02-07T17:57:28Z")
[MSNBC.com](http://MSNBC.com) was my primary news source for 12 years. Last year it became [NBCNEWS.com](http://NBCNEWS.com). It was the best formatted and organized news web site on the web. I typically was on there three or four times a day checking the headlines. Yesterday they went to this new format. It’s just a disorganized mess. Huge pictures with one line in the middle. WTH have they done? 😕 It just scrolls and scrolls with these huge ass pictures. Such wasted space for a tiny link and finding or comprehending what stories are published is difficult. Does anyone like or understand this new web site format? Is there any way to just get a list of the links? What if I turned off flash? > **[NBC News - Breaking News & Top Stories - Latest World, US & Local News](https://www.nbcnews.com/)** > > Go to NBCNews.com for breaking news, videos, and the latest top stories in world news, business, politics, health and pop culture. ---
**Author:** ![RogueRacer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@RogueRacer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RogueRacer)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-or-understand-the-new-nbcnews-com-web-site/680773/2 "2014-02-07T18:19:06Z")
I am not a fan. It looks like they are going for the tiled look that you find with mobile devices and Windows 8. That said, it’s just really hard to find anything. I liked that news was grouped into sections. It was easy to find what you wanted or wanted to ignore. Not so much now. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-or-understand-the-new-nbcnews-com-web-site/680773/3 "2014-02-07T18:19:58Z")
It sucks. Here is what I emailed to them: > [@](#): > > new format of the NBC news site is terrible > > Biggest gripes: > > 1. Only 6 stories appear on the screen at one time (5 if one is an advertisement). Result: Low information density on the screen. Looks like a entertainment webpage, not a news webpage. > > 2. No organization on the home page - of the 6 (or 5) stories, one might be national news, one health, one entertainment, etc… Previous site was far better, I could scroll down and read 5 headlines that were grouped by topic. New format make finding a story far to hard. > > 3. “First Read” format is also terrible - no clear indicator when the topic changes. For instance, today the first two paragraphs were about health insurance and the location of the uninsured. The third paragraph was about climate change, but there was no indication that it was a seperate story from the first two paragraphs. I was mystified as to what climate change had to do with health insurance. Then I realized that you finally fired any editors that may have remained at NBC News in order to pay for the redesign of the site. You might end up regretting that move. > > All in all, it looks like you are trying for a format that works equally well on both mobile and desktop devices. What you have up today doesn’t work at all on desktop, and on mobile devices it’s not an improvement over your previous mobile device format. Not worth the trouble trying to navigate it to find anything useful. Even Yahoo News is easier to use, and c’mon, you know how much they suck. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-or-understand-the-new-nbcnews-com-web-site/680773/4 "2014-02-07T18:37:10Z")
It’s really awful. Works better on a mobile device but still not great. I’ve already switched to using BBC and CNN for news updates through the day. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-or-understand-the-new-nbcnews-com-web-site/680773/5 "2014-02-07T18:42:54Z")
> **[Reuters | Breaking International News & Views](https://www.reuters.com/)** > > Find latest news from every corner of the globe at Reuters.com, your online source for breaking international news coverage. reuters is nicely laid out. It’s organized into sections. A few pictures but they aren’t huge like nbcnews. I rely on reuters for international news and some US news. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-or-understand-the-new-nbcnews-com-web-site/680773/6 "2014-02-07T18:43:57Z")
looks like it’s designed for tablets ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-or-understand-the-new-nbcnews-com-web-site/680773/7 "2014-02-07T18:58:46Z")
it is better to have a computer screen website and a mobile device website. if there is one website many are shifting to a mobile device layout which sucks if you’re on a computer. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-or-understand-the-new-nbcnews-com-web-site/680773/8 "2014-02-07T19:11:49Z")
I agree it sucks, and I also agree that the old site wasn’t broke (at least on a computer). I have gone to it over the past couple days mostly out of habit. Now that I hate the layout, once I remember that I hate it, habit broken. Now I gotta work on finding another news source I like. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Ed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Just\_Ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Ed)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-or-understand-the-new-nbcnews-com-web-site/680773/9 "2014-02-07T19:13:15Z")
Ugh. I can’t stand big honking images with minimal tag lines; I don’t even like mobile apps that use that format. It’s just much easier to get an overview of the important headlines with a good headline and a smaller image. Reuters does have a better presentation (both on the web site and their mobile apps). [BBC News](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/) works well on their site, but their mobile app tends toward the image-grid setup, though it’s somewhat customizable. [Yahoo News](http://news.yahoo.com/) (slag them if you will) does at least have a concise presentation of headlines and thumbnails, as does [Google News](https://news.google.com/). I understand the trend toward mobile-friendly tile/grid presentations, but I don’t understand why they’re always so damn big. It’s much easier to get a sense of the story and its importance or interest factor if I can tell what it’s about from a headline and maybe a line or two summary. (Yahoo News actually has a [Digest](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/yahoo-news-digest/id784982356?mt=8) app on the iTunes store that does this quite successfully.) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-or-understand-the-new-nbcnews-com-web-site/680773/10 "2014-02-07T21:10:53Z")
NBC, formerly msnbc, was my go-to news site just because I liked the comics and sudoku. They got rid of those, so I used other news sites. Now that they’ve uglified their webpage and made it much less usable, I won’t go there anymore. I’ll delete the bookmark when I get round to it. I should put a nastygram on their facebook page. ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-or-understand-the-new-nbcnews-com-web-site/680773/11 "2014-02-07T21:13:52Z")
Another “ugh” vote for the new format. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-or-understand-the-new-nbcnews-com-web-site/680773/12 "2014-02-07T21:17:47Z")
I sent them a note asking them to go back to the old format, or at least make it so I could use the slightly less annoying drop-down menu as a default home page. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-or-understand-the-new-nbcnews-com-web-site/680773/13 "2014-02-07T21:18:26Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > I agree it sucks, and I also agree that the old site wasn’t broke (at least on a computer). I have gone to it over the past couple days mostly out of habit. Now that I hate the layout, once I remember that I hate it, habit broken. Now I gotta work on finding another news source I like. This is exactly how I feel. It was a fine habit, but I hate the updated site. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-or-understand-the-new-nbcnews-com-web-site/680773/14 "2014-02-07T21:31:52Z")
I wish someone here would use Greasemonkey to create a useable view of [nbcnews.com](http://nbcnews.com) Greasemonkey was designed exactly to do that. I’ve got the plug in installed and have run greasemonkey scripts. I’ve never written a script myself. ---
**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-or-understand-the-new-nbcnews-com-web-site/680773/15 "2014-02-07T21:37:19Z")
It is like a news site for four-year-olds. I kept expecting to hear different sound effects as I clicked on the pretty pictures. The Sochi fireworks go “boom!” The hijacker’s plane goes “whooosh!” To America, Snowden goes “Thhpppttt!” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-or-understand-the-new-nbcnews-com-web-site/680773/16 "2014-02-07T23:10:04Z")
> [@JKilez](#): > > The Sochi fireworks go “boom!” > The hijacker’s plane goes “whooosh!” > Snowden goes “Thhpppttt!” 😃 Reflexively my brain went: “What does the fox say?” ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-or-understand-the-new-nbcnews-com-web-site/680773/17 "2014-02-08T00:16:38Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > [MSNBC.com](http://MSNBC.com) was my primary news source for 12 years. Last year it became [NBCNEWS.com](http://NBCNEWS.com). MSNBC has it’s own website now: > **[MSNBC News - Breaking News and News Today | Latest News](https://www.msnbc.com/)** > > MSNBC breaking news and the latest news for today. Get daily news from local news reporters and world news updates with live audio & video from our team. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-or-understand-the-new-nbcnews-com-web-site/680773/18 "2014-02-08T00:17:28Z")
I tried to look at one article. It was the one about Leno’s farewell. Clicked on the video, and a little spinny thing came up and never went away. Total waste. Never again. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-or-understand-the-new-nbcnews-com-web-site/680773/19 "2014-02-08T00:45:44Z")
I don’t see what the problem is, click on the little “Menu” thingie in the upper left hand corner. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-or-understand-the-new-nbcnews-com-web-site/680773/20 "2014-02-08T01:15:05Z")
> [@JKilez](#): > > It is like a news site for four-year-olds. Or lab monkeys learning which icon to press for a cookie. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-or-understand-the-new-nbcnews-com-web-site/680773.md?page=2)