Where's my ... ???

Posted by Jennifer Sizemore on Sunday, November 11, 2007 6:01 PM PT
This is the first installment of "Where's my ...??" It's Sunday and we're still under construction, but in the meantime we thought we should point you to some things you've been looking for.
 
Question: Where is my Sudoku/crossword/comics/puzzle?
 
Answer: Ouch! That was an unexpected outage. All of those are now fixed. You can find them as you always have. There are links in several places: On the home page at the bottom of the news menu, there are shortcuts that take you right there. Also in the left-hand news menu of the home page, if you click on Entertainment you will find links. You can also click to the Entertainment front and find them in the news menu there. Soon, on the Entertainment section front there will be a "Games" tab where you'll also be able to find all of this in one place.
 
Question: Where is the Peculiar Postings section?
 
Answer: The short answer is that it's now called "Weird news," and as always, can be found in the U.S. news section. We have revamped the organization of the site to make it more logical. Part of that effort is to name news categories simply what they are, rather than feel the need to come up with cute names. "Call it what it is," has been our mantra, and in the process we have changed the names of a few of our sections. It's an effort to be as clear as possible, to help all of our readers find the kind of content they're most interested in. Also, it's important that msnbc.com content be accessible by our own site search, as well as other search engines, and this helps in that area too.
 
Question: Where is my personalized local news and weather? What about my stocks? Where are my sports scores?
 
Answer: We know how important this customized information is to you. And in the new design, it will be more prominent, easier to access and even more flexible. And if you've already input your settings, don't worry -- we didn't forget you. You won't have to do it again. All of these personalized features went offline just for the weekend, and we hate that we've made you wait. We expect them up and running by the time you wake up Monday morning.

Comments

Where is the "Most Popular" section that showed the most viewd articles....I really miss this.
Nice Redesign, but I'm wondering where the "Week in Pictures" went. It's one of the main reasons I visit MSNBC, and it would be great to have that link on the main page.
I made you my homepage because traffic, local news, weather, favorite sport steams and my stock prices were on section on the page when I went there. I sincerely hope that feature is on its way back.  I would hate to have to change my homepage, but that section was a very important tool of my daily life.  Thanks.
I don't much like it.  Looks are all well & good, but I use my computer for information.  Stocks, local weather & sports results not should be on the front page for my needs.  I'll give you the weekend before finding another home page.
Pleae give back our real time weather, not this generic 3 day icon forcast.
Been getting on the MSNBC website for a few years now.  I liked the old site, but I also like the new one pretty well.  I do want the weather section up online ASAP, and I also want the stock info for the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P back on the front page.  I at least do have Windows XP, and so far everything is coming up in good shape.  Haven't tried the videos yet, but I will when I see an interesting one that I want to see.  To those of you that are not very happy with this, lets get real, ok?  Websites do go thru changes every once in a while to keep up with the technology and other things.  I've seen a lot of websites making changes over the last several months, and they do take time to get used to and navigate around.  Believe me, once you get used to the new site, you'll be going thru it like you did with the old one without any problems.  MSNBC is just one of the latest companies to make changes to their websites, and all of us computer users need to get used to the changes as they come along.  Making suggestions is good because that way, MSNBC's webmasters will be able to get a good idea of what we would like to see on the site, and they will be able to try to accomodate us as much as possible.  So, please be patient, ok?  And yes, can you please cut back on all of those ads, please?  They do have a tendency to clutter up space that can be used to write your news stories and headlines in!  
Thanks,
Chari Mercier   :)
St. Pete, FL
I don't care for the change and am waiting for my personal settings including local news, weather, sports and stocks to reappear. Depending on how they are incorporated into the new design will make the determination if I keep msnbc as by homepage or if I look for something new and easier.
Ever since your last change, I have had a hard time reading MSNBC.  The blue font is way too hard on the eyes.  Black font has a better contrast to the white background and is much easier to read.  Please go back to black!
So far I don't like the new setup at all!  It was nice before where I could see headlines for different stories, all on the home page, without having to click individual sections.  Now I just feel frustrated.  If you make it harder then people will surely turn to a more user friendly site.
I don't know if I will like the NEW MSNBC opening page or not since it's not all there. The reason I always loved MSNBC was the weather section. you could enter in your zip code and get all of the local weather, before this opening page (The one you are changing from now, (on the older page) I could have four zip codes at once checking on friends and family's weather at one click IT STAYED ON MY WEATHER PAGE,you took that away! I hopw when the weather page comes back (Not here on Monday like you said it might be) that you will add this feature again)
I too wondered where the Week in Pictures link was.  That is one of my favorite sites.  Otherwise, I am sure I will get use to the changes after a few days.
I too vote for stock info on the front page.  That is the single peice of info I look to the most, and having to drill down is not acceptable.  I shant be long here if this can''t get fixed.  The frame is too wide as well for my taste, but I could live with that.  THe advertisements are also a bit too predominant for my taste.
I think it is too "busy". I have my screen on hi-res, and still need to scroll, and it is taking longer to load up. The pop-up ads that load everytime I use my back-button are annoying, I should only have to close it once, not every time I enter that screen. Bring the customize feature back so we can make it OUR home page!
It takes a little more searching to get to the Jigsaw puzzle, but all is fine.
When is there going to be a fix for the width issue? I see lots of complaints about this. You are a news based website not a on-line movie outlet. Have your staff deal with the site for a day or two with a standard monitor like 95 percent of the population has! It's really irritating. I'm searching for a new home page now. Thanks so much for considering all your users! (sarcastically)
My "new" MSNBC home page is a mess.  Many of the links won't open and there is a big blank area that covers about 25% of the page, including the upper part of your lower links area.  The "switch" to allow fly-outs also doesn't work, despite the fact I have tried every configuration of my browzer I could think of--enable all cookies, etc. I cannot get any of the personalized items to appear on my home page.  Ugh.
I'm still not seeing my "personalized" stock listing-I miss the great hyperlink to a quick-info page which didn't require I pay $$ or "sign in", but just gave me quick info on my stocks. It was formerly found just below my local news/weather block.  Where is it now?
The new look is pretty neat and it is more logical.  What I DON'T like is that when you click on one of the categories, i.e., "Business News", the left side of the carry-across is readable, but the right side overlaps the new righthand column.  This makes it very difficult to see the extended subtopics and headlines.
What's the deal with the "My News" box just below the top headlines? I picked about 20 different categories in the customized choices (which used to display along the right side of the old site), but now all I see in the box are stocks, weather, sports scores, and lottery. Where is the rest of My News? Or the Recommended Stories for that matter?
I thought your last design was good...but this one is even better! Nice, clear, clean headlines and subject headers, nice grouping of business, politics, entertainment, etc. You leave Fox and CNN's pages in the dust! Kudos to your design and editorial staff. This is such a great site, both in content and in visual appeal.
All I ever visit the web site for is the Hardball and Countdown Transcripts. Where do I find those now as reading those the next day as I can't watch the shows when broadcast is all that matters!!!!
MSNBC TV transcripts are available here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3719710/
Where are the transcripts? And the bios?
Bios are available from the About Us tab on the TV homepage: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3096434/

The direct link to the host bio page is http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3080263/
I like the new design and the wider, cleaner page.  But I wish that you hadn't simultaneously enabled those loathsome pop-up ads that expand to cover page content and can't be gotten rid of easily.  
I've tried to cover as many questions about where the stocks, news, sports, weather and other things are here: http://alphachannel.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/11/21/477438.aspx

We're still trying to sort everything out and respond to as much as we can, so sorry about any delay.
What happened to the notations feature on Sudoko!
After the change, my msnbc.com homepage has none of categories available on the page (i.e., weather, local & world news, etc.) so I thought it was part of the new change until I sat at another computer and saw that it was all available as I scrolled down the page.

I've tried to disable the fly-out menu but nothing happens (if that's what's causing this mostly blank homepage), and/or there's a bar in the middle of the page with the text, EXPLORE, More News, My News, etc. and the word Pinned. When I try to unpinn it (providing that's an option) nothing changes.

Your help is greatly appreciated.

Donna Myers


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