Yahoo News. #1 Online News Site.

February 18, 2008 — Jeremy Horn

(part 2 of 5)

Website: Yahoo! News
Briefly: Yahoo News was found to be the #1 online news website in December 2007. (read more)

What’s Enjoyable?

The homepage is loaded with dynamic elements that make it easy to get MORE information into the initial page and reveal even MORE information QUICKLY without having to load more pages.

What content is included or excluded, as well as the order of the different types of content, can customized to the user’s preferences.

On most pages a there exists a feature that allows for quick (no re-loading or loading of new pages), dynamic toggling between ‘headlines only’, ‘include summaries’, and ‘ include photos’ empowers the user with the ability to quickly skim information and control how many details the individual wants to see.

What’s Disappointing or Unsatisfying?

The style of the site feels outdated and the layout tends to evoke feelings of information overload.

It is great that the pages can be customized, but the ability to customize and the knowledge of what one can actually customize are buried and extremely easy to miss.

Near the top of the pages is a ‘more stories’ widget that is both unnecessarily animated and presented in style mismatched with Yahoo News’ overall look-and-feel.

Tune in for my next posting, where I will be turning my attention to the #2 news site: CNN.

Until then, think about & share…

What parts of the Yahoo News website experience do you love (or hate)?

Subscribe now (click here) to make sure you don’t miss any part of this series exploring the User eXperience within the world of news websites as well as other upcoming, insightful posts from The Product Guy.

More Information

Enjoy!

Jeremy Horn
The Product Guy

Posted in User eXperience. Tags: cnn, msnbc, news, online, User eXperience, yahoo. 16 Comments »

The News is Improving « The Product Guy Says:
February 18, 2008 at 2:25 pm

[...] Yahoo News. #1 Online News Site. [...]

Lewis Green Says:
February 18, 2008 at 2:40 pm

Jeremy,

I have been using Yahoo News as my log-in page for as long as I can remember. I like the reading AP and Reuters, as well as the mapping, sports scores, weather and air fare features best. For straight news, Yahoo is about the same as CNN, FOX or MSNBC.

CNN website. What’s so good about it? « The Product Guy Says:
February 25, 2008 at 11:47 am

MSNBC. An online experience. « The Product Guy Says:
March 3, 2008 at 7:36 pm

The Top Online News Experience is… « The Product Guy Says:
March 10, 2008 at 11:42 am

Yahoo News. #1 Online News Site. | White Sands Digital Says:
May 7, 2008 at 9:51 am

[...] and disadvantages to the news hungry user. A more detailed look at the pros and cons of Yahoo News.read more | digg [...]

riomx Says:
May 8, 2008 at 1:07 am

I disagree with the “information overload” statement about Yahoo News.

Its design is so simple that you’d have to be trying hard to feel overstimulated. It does a much better job of organizing and breaking up headlines than sites like CNN…which truly do give headaches.

Yahoo News. #1 Online News Site. « RateVin Says:
May 8, 2008 at 1:22 am

[...] read more | digg story [...]

Spuds Says:
May 8, 2008 at 3:02 am

I must confess I like Yahoo news.

Besplatne Stvari Says:
May 8, 2008 at 3:34 am

I have been using Yahoo News as my log-in page for as long as I can remember.

FuzzLinks.com » Yahoo News. #1 Online NewsÂ Site. Says:
May 8, 2008 at 6:24 am

[...] The top 3 news sites (Yahoo News, CNN, MSNBC) present different advantages and disadvantages to the news hungry user. A more detailed look at the pros and cons of Yahoo News.http://tpgblog.com/2008/02/18/yahoo-news-1-online-news-site/” rel=”dc:source” prop… [...]