Tour our new homepage

MSNBC has always had the best web page over other news sites such as CNN, FOXNews and USATODAY.  I am looking forward to this new roll-out.  

Will this new homepage work with Safari?  

I have always been very frustrated that MSNBC didn't support the mac.  

Thanks

Excellent, but let me make one suggestion...

Can ya make webcams accessable to us and stuff?

Christopher

Looks fantastic, I look forward to using it!

Sweet....you guys are not afraid of new tech and to try new ****, thats neat a new way to get your news.

I dont like it. TOo much like CNBC and MSNBC..blah.

Please stop rollovers from opening automatic when you pass over them with your mouse  ... Plese stop taking up room at the top of our home
page with advertisement's LET US GET TO THE NEWS FIRST ... then allow us to open the advertisement
   Thank You

Looks very slick easy to find pertinant stories of interest to you.. Look forward to the new home bookmark

Oh my goodness..., I think this new site is going to be great.  I can't wait.  I must visit your site at least 5 times a day (and have for at the past decade).  I'm excited for the new "look and feel."  Keep up the good work!  8-)

I agree with Stweart, as a recent switcher to the Mac, I hope your site plays nice with Safari as well.  If it doesn, I'll be sure to keep msnbc.com as my source for news on the web.

Honestly, when I first saw it, i thought it was Yahoo.

the Yahoo comment....I agree.

As a steady user of MSNBC, I'll tell you that I like what you have right now....on internal meetings, I'm sure that its easy for your staff to see a million ways to improve the site...but,  for people like me (regular, casual, daily users...your meat & potatoes), I just don't see a problem.

also, I'm fearful of this becoming like the Washignton Post redesign (yucko....though I guess people have eventually gotten used to it...but was it worth all of the drama?) and USA Today (which still has lower numbers, I beileve).

I like little changes that are barely noticable....i know that doesn't shake up the marketplace (and that is bad for Sales) but I don't like change and I imagine that 90% of your users feel the same way.

would like the local weather and news more toward top of page in order to get a quick glance in the morning(or any time) before getting into things

I dig it. More usable content above the fold. Sweet.

After searching countless homepages, I landed
on MSNBC. It has been my homepage for a long time. I think the layout and structure is the best. When I noticed the banner about your new look, I was little concerned. I looked at the preview and was very impressed.
Great new look!

I, too, sure hope it's compatible with Safari. I used to be able to load mnsbc.com videos on my Mac, but since that changed a little while ago, no more.

To everyone writing about compatibility across browsers and platforms, we've heard you loud and clear! Much of the new redesign was coded on Macbook Pros with support for Safari and Firefox at the top of our list. I've written a post addressing accessibility issues specifically, please feel free to leave specific comments over there. As the site rolls out, we'll be looking for more feedback with specific issues.

MSNBC has been my home page for several years and at first look, the new one looks kinda overloaded (or Messy). Maybe it will grow on me. Marge, Elkin, NC

MSNBC is my homepage for home and work.  After years of the same, I feel comfortable and safe with intuitive usage.  I wish you the best of luck with the change.  If you hear someone screaming and cursing while trying to locate something...that's me.

I Like the smoooth look! I would like live cameras of msnbc news when its available. Oh, and I hope theres no POP UPS!!! Everything should stay in the same window.

looks great, how about letting us play with it now??

like many others, msnbc has been my homepage for years. i agree with jim burch, those drop down menus are pretty annoying when you're just hovering over them (single click would be nice). also, i really dislike the recent change in your msnbc video format--it seems really cluttered and i can't stand that advertisement that pops out of the side of the video screen and covers the video options (a commercial is already playing simultaneously! PLEASE CHANGE). the format looks more like that of a newspaper to me, i like it.  clean and sharp

I'm in agreement with Fred. Why not let us have access now? It really look's great.
William, Ypsilanti, MI

Reminds me of Yahoo, except they update their news more often. My MSN is now reading "updated 1 hour and 47 min. ago"....pretty sorry, eh? hahahah

This new design looks amazing -- a home run! And with your newly enhanced Mac support in the design, I can't wait! Bravo to the entire team -- this is the best news site redesign I've seen in years!

Looks much better. MSNBC had long been the best designed site, but the recent changes to the links and header have made it looked cluttered and inconsistent. I for one have defected to another, better designed news site, but a new look may be enough to get me back.

I'm an web designer / information architect for a large newspaper in Ohio, and I have to say I love this new design. It's clean, easier to access more information with less scrolling. Customizing the layout is a nice touch too. I'm curious to see what the story page layout will look like. Keep up the good work.. I can't wait to see this launch.

Your masthead disappears in this redesign. You might consider extending the white background all the way to the top of the page.

Please make it adjustable to fill wide screen monitors. no scrolling necessary on wide screen.
new page looks great.

I'm wondering if you are using any type of content management software.  ie.  Present content to the user based upon previous and current articles read?

Your new homepage is even worse than the old one for those of us behind a corporate firewall. msnbcmedia.msn.com has been blocked for over a year. Any images stored there do not make it to us.

I would like to see if any possibility MSNBC can provide closed captioning on their video messages so that Deaf and Hard of Hearing indivduals like myself will be able to understand the videos as part of accomodating us upon the Americans with Disabilities Act. Thank you!

Newspaper design is taken seriously by many.  Typefaces, grids, hierarchy, and other elements are considered carefully.  That attitude derives from generations of serious bookmakers and printers.  Unfortunately that attitude does not carry online.  

Rarely are online newspapers well-designed, and almost never are TV news websites designed with the same level of thought as some newspapers.  Sadly, there are many things that could be fixed in this new design for MSNBC.com that could make it much more effective that are likely to be ignored and will continue to be unconsidered until someone realizes the importance and effectiveness of better design online.  It seems that this redesign is driven more by trends and code than it is by purpose and intent.  In other words, more flashy over more effective.

Hierarchy in design is the idea that you can control the user's eye to see the most important element first, the second most important element second, and so on.  If a design has many elements, like a newspaper often does, hierarchy is important to make a page easy for the reader to scan and gather information.

Take a look at the new MSNBC.com beta page.  "Dictator Dead" in all caps first.  MSNBC logo at the top second.  And then your eye gets lost in the strange and unnecessary gradients of the NBC colors.

What do those colors add to the delivery of news?  How do they make the page more useful to visitors?  Is this area really third most important at a news website?

That's a simple example.  There are many others, and much more to say about hierarchy alone.

There is much more I could write, but I doubt much more work will be done on the redesign, so I feel like I'd be wasting my time, but I am thankful that I can at least comment before launch.

In short, the page is a whole may take leaps and bounds over the previous in usability, but it does not yet achieve an effective, informative layout.


Thank you for your time.

Interesting format, but I think you should keep TOP NEWS the default as opposed to "Americas or World NEWS".

Also, dont make your page too wide because most deault settings are set to scroll up and down.

I really like the new layout, nowhere near as "noisy" as the old layout. Makes news items alot easier to read

I really don't know about the new page.  I think I will have to live with it awhile before I can truly comment.

BUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IF IT RETAINS A ROLLOVER POPUP FEATURE WHEN I MOVE THE MOUSE TO THE EXPLORER TASK BARS-- I WILL FIND A NEW "HOME PAGE" TO USE.  I EXPECT ADVERTISING -- IT GOES WITH THE SERVICE, BUT WHEN IT INTERFERES WITH MY USE OF MY COMPUTER, I GET VERY UPSET.

Golden, Valenica, CA  is precisely right on every count. Golden clearly has a complete grasp of the vital principles of design, and unfortunately, an accurate view of what forces drive the design of the layout.

Design should NEVER take a back seat to a programmer's interests. The goal is to serve the READER... not the programmer... not even the advertisers (shocking as it may seem).


The following is a small excerpt from a rather lengthy comment I posted in the feedback section titled: A Letter From The Editor In Chief.


"Someone suggested that you let users play with the design. I emphatically agree. You should open up a permanent public forum, allowing  your readers to submit alternative designs, and to see the designs that others have submitted."

I'd very much like to see what Golden, Valenica, CA and other talented readers, would submit, and I'd even like to make a contribution myself.

Great... It's time for a change, instead of the same old thing.. Have the weather be able to post several cities in the same view.  GO FOR IT!

Will it be optimized for WIDESCREEN monitors?

I seriously, SERIOUSLY hope that there is a small icon of some sort, ANY sort, indicating for EVERY news link which ones lead to VIDEO instead of text.  The current MSNBC format (of which I've begged and pleaded for a fix) does not indicate all links that lead to videos, and if clicked, they open a video box and often crash my system.  I want to know BEFORE clicking on ANY link, AANY photo, ANY area, ANY item that it is a VIDEO and not text.  I do not know why MSNBC has so far refused to do this SIMPLE thing of identifying which type of media is associated with a link.  I will continue to primarily rely on cnn.com (which DOES show EVERY link that leads to video) until MSNBC catches up to 2003/2004.

And I agree the rollover pop-up and menu extending is really irritating.  I often wonder if the designers of MSNBC webpage actually ever use it? Reminds me of my first car in which it was obvious the builders/designers never sat in a production model.

I have used MSMNC exclusively as my home page  and up-to-the-minute news for years. If there is one thing I can't stand, its a webpage that does not fit on my screen from side to side. I have a decent sized monitor. I find this is a problem with a number of sites, esp. catalog sites.  Its annoying to have to scroll left & right AND up & down.  Please don't make the same mistake with MSNBC.

Great job ... progress ... BUT, where is Local Weather option on home page??

MSNBC has alwawy been my home page, please make the weather just as prominent as before.Remember it is the first website that come up when my computer comes on.So far the new look is impressive.

I think the new homepage will be great  just like the old one but could you add a page (where are now) page new photos and updated bio too that would be good

I'm a long time MSNBC user and fan. From the new digs at NBC for Brian Williams to your new look here, you've done a great job. Even better is your continuing excellence in gathering the news from around the world and reporting it back to your viewers and readers. Nobody does it better.

Looks good. Hope you guys considered other fonts.

Video doesn't run on Mac OS 10.4.10

For me, a successful web site has first glance coverage of local weather, markets, local news and sports, and only then in depth national and international news.  I want the first three to hit me in the face immediately.  I'm sure you are going to continue that pattern.

OK, so this morning  (Nov 10, 07) I open the site and there is this horrible thing there.  Is this some sort of beta test?  The site looked just peachy before.  Why are you messing with it, really? Some new boss wants to put his/her stamp on things? That would be the normal thing.

I can't read across your new page without scrolling, on my 16" flat screen.  That's a real problem.  MSNBC has been my home page forever.  Thanks.