With you, not for you

Posted by Ashley Wells on Wednesday, January 09, 2008 11:07 AM PT

So what’s next? Everything else. Only this time, we’d like to make changes with you, not just for you. Think of this blog as where we all meet up, in that:

We’ll post our early thoughts on everything from page design problems to new site features and even entirely new sites.
You tell us what you do and don’t like in the comments.
Later, we’ll follow up with another post, often including mockups and prototypes—real behind the scenes stuff.
Your comments will again help refine our work.
When we publish changes or launch new features, we’ll post how they’re working out.
And we’ll turn again to the comments for help with any problems post-launch.

Working together just sounds more fun. So if you’re in, bookmark us. Or get our feed. Or memorize alphachannel.msnbc.msn.com. Or just look at the bottom of the msnbc.com homepage soon for the latest post. But do come back often. We’ll make it worth your while. Totally.

Comments

Exelent work, make's it easy for me to find the news that i want to see, i hope that the new version comes with an optional last minute news where you can find the latest news from the Whithe House and from the President.

Javier P. Bridgeport, Connecticut (Wednesday, January 09, 2008 3:40 PM)

Well, you guys are most certainly heading in the right direction, but you have another step to take to go truly viral. Your embed players are a good start, but you shuld make them self updating, as webmasters like myself hate and sometimes just don't have the time to keep coming back every day to change the video content on our sites. I would love to see MSNBC be the first mainstream media site to be smart enough to offer self pdating, or better yet, live embed players, and go truly viral. Think of the ad revenue if nothing else!

Bat Manchester (Wednesday, January 09, 2008 4:20 PM)

Nice Nice Nice.

I clamored for a new Video System with Macintosh Compatibility for over a year and you delivered.

My company builds CMS system in Open Source Joomla and Drupal platforms for mid-range enterprise. I spend 10 hours a day plugged into the web, analyzing, evaluating new players, javascripts, and platforms.

MSNBC is developing nicely.

Dante Orazzi
CreativeBeans, Inc.

Dante Orazzi, Salt Lake City, Utah (Wednesday, January 09, 2008 5:07 PM)

msnbc.com was already the best news website available before you guys made these changes. Now you've really knocked it out of the park.

Gary Jorgenson, Columbus Ohio (Wednesday, January 09, 2008 5:24 PM)

I think MSNBC is doing big things for the online news world.

Instead of being primarily newspaper based, or wire-service based, the website is primarily web-based!

I think the best thing MSNBC can do is keep being innovating in increasing media DIVERSITY on the web by offering new services which other websites don't offer. Digital video on demand is one essential part of this. More NBC News written material is also essential.

We need more blogging, especially original blogging by MSNBC news anchors, to provide more opinion. There also needs to be more RSS feeds, which are more current, and offer video!

Omar, Blacksburg VA (Wednesday, January 09, 2008 6:08 PM)

Any chance you can fade out that "Press ESC to exit full screen" that now stays there throughout the video? It is quite annoying to have it right on top of Brian Williams head during the whole program!

Ron K, Mission Viejo, CA (Wednesday, January 09, 2008 9:14 PM)

Within the last hour I became aware of the new links between Newsvine, MSNBC.com and NBC. You blew my socks off. This goes way beyond what I might have been expecting for long into the future. You have brought the future right into the Present. Thank you Development folks. You are doing a bangup job.

Jerry Firman, Rockport, Texas (Wednesday, January 09, 2008 9:48 PM)

As a frequent user of this site, I have two suggestions for the Nightly page: first, it's not a good idea to have one piece of video pop up and play whenever you get there. Understandable for the first week, but after that, it's just annoying and will keep frequent visitors from going so often. Second, please place in a prominent place a look ahead to that night's newscast. I go there, in part, to see what's being covered that day for that night.

Jane S, NYC (Thursday, January 10, 2008 6:50 AM)

I believe a big improvement to your website would be to have a comment section just like this one below each news story - just like your linked Newsweek stories have. Going through the motions of signing up for a blog and having to go through that sign in every time you want to comment on an article here is cumbersome at best. Just put a comment section like the one I'm typing on now below each article (like Newsweek does), and you would truly be above the rest. Make it easy, let the people speak! Get rid of the sign-in and registration muddle. The BBC even does this with their "Have Your Say" section. It's great! No signing-in or registration required.

Andrew P., Venice, Florida (Thursday, January 10, 2008 7:05 AM)

More transcripts please! I hate clicking on a link to find its only available in audio or video, which can be difficult to listen to at work.

Andy, Chicago, IL (Thursday, January 10, 2008 9:14 AM)

How a bout a new feature that DOES NOT require Flash and stuff jumping around on my screen when I turn it on?

Bruce, NH (Thursday, January 10, 2008 10:29 AM)

I like what is being developed and I hope that I can be part of this "news" project. I am right of center, so maybe people will want to here my side of the story - Raymonty.

Raymonty,Howes Cave,N.Y. (Thursday, January 10, 2008 11:24 AM)

MSNBC is now the third site I hit first thing in the morning (behind two local online papers). Really nice evolution.

I'd like to see video from most of the affiliates around the country; that'd be a great way for people to keep their finger on the nation's pulse.

Lance Sanders, Chicago, IL (Thursday, January 10, 2008 11:58 AM)

Consistent Firefox functionality is still an issue! It seems that the viewer fully retains its preference for IE. Is there a tweaking FAQ available that helps would-be users to fine tune their Firefox browser to work efficiently with the new (released) viewer? As-is, it is impossible to use the tool. According to many others, I'm not alone.

Wiley, Oregon (Thursday, January 10, 2008 12:15 PM)

In this day and age, we have reality shows about everything. Hear me out on this one. Why can't we have a section on msnbc where local people can post their own video news casts. Hopefully we could build a positive place where people can show whats going on in their neck of the woods. Events town meetings. etc. hopefully it could be a positive place to connect us all.

Brian Pilgrim (Thursday, January 10, 2008 12:31 PM)

Agree with Omar above, more blogging, but not just from anchors. I often have thoughts or questions about the stories I see, and would like more info. Being able to ask the reporters who post the stories would help me, and might spark ideas for follow-up pieces. Would be good feedback to see with stories are popular vs just a hit count.

Steve T - Charlotte,NC (Thursday, January 10, 2008 12:59 PM)

Great graphics-clean and cool. I like how you allow a home weather posting, top screen page right, (trivial sounding but imperative info for daily life), and integrete hometown news with national/international. Nice media player--but there should be a 15 second limit on ads. I won't watch a 30 second ad online and neither will any of my (over one-hundred at present) students.

J, Ash, Sandal Key, Florida (Thursday, January 10, 2008 1:27 PM)

Your embed players are a good start, but you should make them self updating, as webmasters like myself hate and sometimes just don't have the time to keep coming back every day to change the video content on our sites. Overall a great job!

Anthony (Thursday, January 10, 2008 2:16 PM)

Organization of the material is imperative to those of us who have little time on busy days. Keeping the layout of the articles simple and easy to locate is also important. Keeping the type face simple is also important because it is easier to read the articles and one can cover a greater number of them in a shorter period of time.

Marilyn Brown, Edison, New Jersey (Thursday, January 10, 2008 2:20 PM)

re: With you, not for you

I miss being able to choose which sporting events I want to see show up. For me it was golf and NASCAR. I'm not interesting in the stories on baseball, basketball, etc...

Bring back the customization!

Jim Smejkal, Round Lake, IL (Wednesday, January 23, 2008 2:24 PM)

I would agree. One feature I liked on abcnews.com was reading users comments for each news story.

Otherwise, awesome job!

Aaron, Bluffon, IN (Thursday, January 24, 2008 4:19 PM)

I enjoy many of the newer features. I don't understand how the front page can remain the same for hours, even if it is a Sunday. It's a puzzle to me how news doesn't occur after five or on weekends. I'm also puzzled about the criteria for including stories from my chosen local newspaper. It seems like there must be death or a lot of blood for a story to make it. A story about a couple being attacked at home has been featured for nearly a week, while many local "good news" stories have been ignored. Good news stories are good to see. They are good to be aware of. They provide some semblance of balance (you should pardon the expression). This makes me wonder what the criteria is for inclusion in other areas of your site, too.

Christine, Cedarville, Ohio (Sunday, January 27, 2008 2:46 PM)

Why is it that many of your stories confuse my browser's back button?

For example, if I click today's seat2b entry (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22903549/), I can use my browser's (IE7) back button to return to the site's main page.

BUT if I click the links at the bottom of the entry to go to the entry's second page, my back button will only take me back to the entry's first page. I can click back, but I never end up on the main site, I just keep getting returned to the entry's first page.

Yes, I know I can just click on the MSNBC title banner to return to the first page, but when I click back, I want to go back, not be returned to the page that I'm currently on.

B. Moberly, Bloomington, IN (Wednesday, January 30, 2008 1:20 PM)

New comments to this post are disabled

About the blog

This is the work and the thoughts of msnbc.com's site design and editorial concepts groups and a place for us all to discuss design, content and the future of news.

We want this to be a conversation, where we tell you what we're up to and what's caught our eye, and you tell us your thoughts and ideas about the site's design, content and tools.

Alpha Channel

With you, not for you

Comments

About the blog

A tour of the redesign

Archives

Add this blog to your news reader

Other blogs we enjoy that you might too

msnbc.com weblogs