This week we launched some small improvements to the ABC News homepage. This iteration of the homepage is by no means a large step forward. For one, it does not address many of the numerous and fundamental navigational, design, or user experience challenges across the site.
That said, this update is intended as a small step to simplify the presentation of the content on the homepage itself, and to give each of the ABC News programs a permanent spot above the fold on the homepage. While this was a relatively quick project, it was truly a team effort with stakeholders from across the organization involved, and it’s just the beginning of what we have cooking.
So what’s different with these small tweaks?
All Programs Above the Fold
For one, the area devoted to programs is consolidated from disparate elements scattered across the homepage into a single accordion component at the top of the c-column. The hope is that our users will learn to look to the top of the right column for the latest and greatest from the programs.
Depending on what time of day you visit the abcnews.com homepage, the accordion will open by default to a different program (Good Morning America in the morning, World News in the afternoon and early evening, Nightline overnight, etc.). If full episodes of the program are available, there’s a link next to the program logo. Special features like Diane’s Question of the Day and George’s Bottom Line blog are touted within the respective program spaces in the accordion.
Less is More
Secondly, the presentation of latest headlines has been simplified so the headlines are easier to scan and there is a clearer hierarchy to the top of the page. A new area in the a-col is devoted to stories, slideshows, and videos that shouldn’t be missed.
In the a/b-cols below the fold, the display of content in each section (politics, health, etc.) has been simplified so that it is easier to scan and digest the headlines on the page.
Include Differentiators
Local news, weather, and special features from local ABC television stations are now much higher on the page. Below the fold, we’ve added a new section to the c-col, “This Day in History” that highlights newsworthy events from the ABC News video archives. One video from today covers the Blackout from July 14, 1977, a “massive blackout lasting 25 hours result[ing] in looting and fires in New York City.”
All and all, the homepage is much shorter, and better organized. While the changes are not as large a step forward as many of us would like, they are a small iteration in the right direction.
Next Steps
Next steps: we will test how these updates perform, continue to tweak, and use the learnings to inform more comprehensive updates to the design and user experience of the product.
