Times unveils 'cleaner, crisper, more innovative site'

Here's a note of introduction to readers from Meredith Artley, managing editor, online, and Russ Stanton, editor, about changes at latimes.com:

 

Welcome to the new latimes.com.
 
We’re bringing you a site that’s easier to read and use and that better showcases the world-class journalism our newsroom produces around the clock. 

Thanks to your frequent visits, latimes.com has seen unparalleled growth among top newspaper sites over the last year. We’re breaking more news than ever on latimes.com; we’ve expanded our blog network; we’re publishing more stunning visual, interactive journalism; and we have savvy readers like you contributing to conversations.

And now you can find all that and more in a cleaner, crisper, more innovative site. 

Key changes include:

- Streamlined navigation at the top of every page, highlighting our main coverage areas such as local news, sports and entertainment. The idea is to make it easier to get around the site from wherever you are.

- Right below the black navigation bar, you’ll see topics “In the News.” Here, you’ll find quick access to big stories we are following, whether it’s the state budget or the Emmys or coverage of unrest in Iran.

- Our new modular approach to the homepage means you can quickly find and access multimedia packages of the news of most interest to you. Scroll down the page, and you’ll see features including the award-winning investigative coverage of “Mexico Under Siege,” excerpts from popular blog posts and columns, top headlines from well-read sections and interactive databases such as Mapping L.A.

- Our video player has improved, with faster-loading video and more sharing features.

- We’ve simplified our articles, making them easier to scroll without interruption from related content or advertising. We’ve enhanced our article-sharing features as well to include more seamless interaction with social-networking sites and the ability to send articles to instant-messaging services and mobile devices.

- Design aficionados will note that we have gone from a sans-serif font (Arial) to a serif font (Georgia). Not only did we find that this was a more readable font, but we also felt it connected to our overall brand much better. 

For more details on what’s new, check out our site tour.
 
Our work is not done. We approached this redesign as another step in the evolution of the Los Angeles Times, as a building block for more things to come. 
 
Thanks for supporting the work we do by visiting us and engaging and interacting with the site. As always, your feedback is welcome in the comments below or by e-mailing readers.rep@latimes.com.

-- Meredith Artley, managing editor, online,
Russ Stanton, editor

[Updated: Artley answered some reader questions in a follow-up post Thursday.]

Comments

[Ann]

Wow!

[stephen]

at first glance, i didn't like it. maybe it will grow on me. maybe what's "under the hood" is impressive, but the previous design was much more elegant and sophisticated. you've mimicked the IHT's recent dubious makeover. did the guys from "corporate" tell you to do it? however, because you have great content, i'll continue to visit your site daily.

[Anonymous]

Yes, but what's with the inkblot?

[Mathew Parry]

I'm liking the new look a lot, so far. Clean and crisp, yet varied and interesting.

[Carol]

From the penultimate bullet point: "We’ve simplified our articles."

I hope that part hasn't changed. Articles have already been shortened and simplified, to the detriment of the newspaper.

Nice redesign, though. Much more easily navigable. If you could please put the DATE of each article by its headline-blurb, that would help, so I only look at the most recent.

[JVW]

NO. The layout might be OK but the typeface and colors are HORRIBLE. Very, very stark and jarring. The muted blue and gray theme was much easier on the eyes.

[Jon Lounsberry]

magnificent change! much more readable, and elegant. now, where did the listing of sports events on television tonight end up? it's so hard to wade through the Direct TV listings, i've been relying on your little list that was at the bottom of your sports page. poof?

[Eric in wSFV]

Love the new look and that fabulous new masthead!!

[Jose from Palms]

Maybe its just because I'm using adblock plus, but you're new look stinks.Tons of useless white space and fonts that are too large (just look at how many headlines/links take up two lines instead of one by 1 or 2 words). Also whats with having gadgets with weather and other nonsense directly under the main stories (left of page) yet further down having another set of gadgets on the right of the page.

How about letting users decide which modules they want to see/in what order. I'd love to have Tech and Opinion above Food sections.

[Robert Walcott]

This is probably more "Kindle" suitable. I imagine you had a legablity problem with the old format.

[matt]

really nice change

[John McVey]

good change, still too much white space, though, which ought to be given over to lead-ins to more stories.
I compare yours against guardian.co.uk, telegraph.co.uk, nytimes. I check in once a day for state and local news, from far-away Cambridge Mass
I presume georgia will percolate down to this blog page too, right?

[David_U]

It stinks. you seem to have forgot to include California news for one thing. The old print edition page was far better.

[Ted Davis]

New look is awesome! Botox?

[NiaTrue]

Oooh! Nice, very nice.

[Ann Schneider]

Looks great! Took a while to figure out the obituary link, however.

[Wendy]

MUCH BETTER! I hated the blue masthead. This finally looks like a crisp clean newspaper. Great work

[Wendy]

P.S LOVE the ink splatter at the bottom!

[catwoman]

Love, love, love the new design. It's about time, Times. It's clean and sleek. The font style/size/color is much easier on the eyes (for all ages and eyesights). Nice layout.

[Peter]

Much better, thanks.

[PCT]

The second I saw this new site, I preferred it to the previous one. Finally, the L.A. Times website looks professional and easy to navigate.

[catwoman]

Love the header area with the tabs, too.

[Rene]

Fantastic! One look and I immediately liked it. Very clean. I don't understand the too much white space comments. So the preference is a cramped, over stuffed site? Well, you will never be able to please everyone. My vote is thumbs up!

[Lisa]

To be honest, at first I thought the paper was in mourning because it's so stark. I'm getting used to it though. The new font makes it look more grown up.

[Steve]

No thanks to the new format. Bring back the old, please!

[Tombo3]

YOU'VE ELIMINATED THE OBITUARY/DEATH NOTICE COLUMN ON THE FRONT PAGE OF THE SITE???? THE TIMES HAS THE BEST WRITTEN OBITS IN THE COUNTRY AND YOU'VE TAKEN THEM AWAY? My god. Can't anyone leave well enough alone? People feel they have to change websites just to justify their jobs, I swear. Horrible job. The old website was great. Everything in the right place. Now it's dumbed down just like the newspaper itself. Perfect.

[Steve Moore]

Love it, but was a shock. Did I miss a "coming soon?"

[jack griffith]

OK - so far so good but, where did all of the blue go? Its all in black and white! At least throw in a little of the old (Dodger) blue color which appeared in the old web based paper.

Its still agreat paper - even without the paper.

Thanks!!

[Karen]

I hate it. Far from "crisper and cleaner" it's a ton of distractions, and poor lay-out. Please, please bring back the older version.

[alderdice]

LOOKS FABULOUS!!!
Cleaner, easier to read, not crowded....

[Hamlet]

Much props to the design crew. Love the black color scheme in the masthead and the serif typography. Great job by everyone involved.

[robert]

Love it. Looks much more professional. Easier to read. Maybe you can start posting stock market numbers on the home page instead of going into the Business section. All other newspaper websites do this.

[Dan]

I read your site from across the continent multiple times a day. I'm very familiar with its navigation and look. This new version is much, much better. Congratulations.

[Dave]

Please add a few pixels to the margin, the text looks"cutoff" and is harder to read.

[Nate Weaver]

MUCH better. Very recently I've been thinking to myself that newspaper sites would do well to simplify and make it more like a real newspaper. Readability for all newspaper sites has been a nightmare for the last couple years. Too many ads in all the wrong places.

I do agree with other commenters that there is too much whitespace though...hopefully page layout can get smarter in the future.

[Jeffrey Marr]

First impression: Wow! This web site really rocks! The look-and-feel of it captures your attention. The clean look, the superb navigation bar from page-to-page allows the reader to move easily around the web site. For those who love the look of a hard copy paper, this may be too radical at first. But, I've reader of the LA Times for nearly 50 years and I'm glad there's still something good happening at Times Mirror Square. Kudos to the team who designed this!

[robert]

Oh, thank you! For getting rid of that inexplicable blue logo, and returning to a more stately layout. It conveys an institution of credibility, not just another 'exciting' website. Supremely good move.

[Gordon Ownby]

The new look is gorgeous. I'm looking forward to getting to know its features.

[EG.P]

Like it!

[SanFrann]

Fabulous! Makes one proud....best format of a major newspaper on the web..

[matthew]

Wow! Kind of a "wth (heck)" moment, but I liked the overall impact of the design immediately. The serif typeface helps legibility a vast amount, though the contrast of the white/black text is maybe a bit too much on the eyes over long periods (maybe 90-80%/10% black on the text vs. background would be better?) Navigation is a little wonky, but it probably was when the old site was new, too. It just feels more grown-up all in all. Nice job and congrats to the design team.

P.S. to those complaining about too much white space, you've probably got ad-blocker on and anyways, white space is almost always a good thing!

[Jim Alnas-Benson]

Where's the daily crossword? Without that I am not likely to be using the LA Times website. I enjoyed it while it lasted. Thank you.

[el guapo]

Looks like another dumbing down of the LA Times. Just like the splashy pulp graphics of the once great paper " Chicago Tribune". Newspapers are obsolete these days as people quit reading.

[Nina]

Looks awesome!!!!!! So clean and easy to read well done

[Melissa]

Please go back to the old layout.

[LinuxForMe]

I liked the old design and I also like the new one. I do miss the blue, though. The new design is a bit on the stark side!

[Paul]

Looks great! Finally, a modern, easy to read website instead of a bland template style with weird formatting. I especially appreciate the search function working better, the proper use of Ajax in the top links, and the RSS feeds allowing me to subscribe to specific columnists. The left margin is way too close to the edge of the page, but that's the only issue. Keep up the great work.

[Ricky Eugenio]

I thought, "Something's different!". Then I realized that the site was redesigned. First impressions: I like it. The layout is clean and it's easier to read. The masthead in black Old English-style font is very classy, too.
Ricky

[Slidebar]

Speaking as both a designer and a reader, your redesign is a notable improvement. Masthead, in particular; nice to see the classic Los Angeles Times logotype revived. Less enthusiastic about the headlines. The extra white space, however, is most welcome from a readability perspective. Appearance too. Kudos...keep evolving it.

[Nova yos Galen]

Love the new look. Very professional looking. Much easier to navigate because it's a lot less busy. Your eyes are directed to to correct place. I agree with Carol, though, hope your comment about articles being shorter isn't a sign to the future. Sometimes the articles are so short as to be terse. One or two sentences without answering obvious questions is not good journalism. One of my college professors said, "if it begs the question, answer it." Your writers should have this glued to their monitors.