CityNews Anchors are Not Charged with Murder, Not Hollywood Filmmakers, and Not Pro Tennis Players
This morning our friends over at Citynews launched their new and improved web site.
It's a significant improvement, both esthetically and functionally. The most obvious changes are a (debatably) slicker, more modern and legible look, and the introduction of reader comments on stories (which is sure to boost the level of interaction readers can have with one another). Two thumbs up.
But the front page headline section is also suffering from a bit of a graphic design / layout problem that could easily make top headlines susceptible to comical misinterpretation.
Regular viewers know that beloved Citynews anchors Dwight Drummond and Merella Fernandez are not wanted for homicide. And that they are not the masterminds behind the recently opened Hollywood film District 9. Nor are they taking each other on for the Rogers Cup in tennis.
The fix should be easy enough... and hopefully it comes before people start recognizing Dwight and Merella out on the streets and asking them to sign their ticket stubs and tennis rackets.
Hat tip to blogTO reader Tim Lemieux for the tip. And kudos to CityNews for an otherwise smooth upgrade!
Comments (15)
Is that much of the window necessary for their photos? It's supposed to be a backdrop, but the newscasters images are brighter and stand out more than the news stories themselves. What's with all the space they're taking up? Maximizing your window on a computer with 1400x900 resolution(widescreen) or 1280x1024(4:3) results in a massive amount of trapped white space, with content boxes darted around randomly and the newscasters' background photo sticking way out to the right.
Colour-wise the new layout is a step in the right direction, as are the less-is-more headers constructed out of type than ugly little logos, but it's still a mess.
hahahaha... Best laugh of the day. I saw the new layout this morning and I'm not loving it. Your observations are hilarious.
It's a sign of another station stressing the personalities delivering the news as much (or more so) than the news itself.
Put Sangita Patel on the homepage.
Shes far more esthetically pleasing than Lazy Eyed Drummond or Nutella Fernandez.
I have to say, it hardly matters. City used to be a preferred news source because of their urban focus and the tendency to squeeze a little more hard news into the show than their brethren over at CFTO (CTV Toronto).
But now they and for that matter CBC think the news constitutes weather every 5 min on the 5 min, with long detailed blather so that I can be informed of the exact temperature in Oshawa, and that High Pressure system over Minnesota.
Eeesh!
I don't believe that all that weather appeals to anyone, if you live in Toronto, all you need is the 24-hour forecast, maybe. After all, the weather outside can be seen by looking, or by stepping out, and the weather 3 days from now, well, the forecast will be wrong!
How about some hard news! Instead we all have to turn to the BBC for world coverage, and Spacing, Blog TO and Torontist for local coverage...... once and awhile the Globe or the Star can be seen printing something interesting.....but that's it.
City should have its license revoked, it serves no useful public purpose anymore, of course, neither do most of the others.....
CP24 (CTV) is far worse in that regard. We get a small bit of news, then "Weather and Traffic Together!" for the next five minutes, then a bit more news, commercials, and weather and traffic again. All day.
If I wanted weather, I'd tune into The Weather Network. But, all the news outlets are trying to out-do them now, since it's been revealed how profitable they are.
TV news is using hype for dwindling audiences. People are getting smarter than to listen to bubble-gum news presentation with little news substance presented in the community and are tired not to get the REAL truth in the news in the first place.
These same tv stations have a CRTC licence to "better serve the community" (yeah right) but air instead several hours per day of infomercials.
Meanwhile...
News guy: "Lots to talk about in the news today, but first, the weather,"
Weather guy: "Expect big changes in the weather in the week ahead news guy."
News guy: "Thanks weather guy. Hey sports guy, what's up with sports?"
Sports guy: "I'll tell you who won and who lost. Back to you news guy."
News guy: We want to talk about that and more, but first, we'll take a three minute break."
Seriously (or not), when the local news doesn't want to rock the boat in the news and prefer to get awards for 'responsible journalism' from the local authorities, they are telling us they are imbedded with them. Therefore, only one sided news, or lack thereof.
When several people are running for mayor, THE MEDIA SELECTS the top two or three running, then DISMISS everyone else running for the job - without interviewing ALL of them to see what their platforms are. I bet many are much more intelligent that what the local media are pushing. So they tell us, 'it's either this (loser) guy or that (loser) guy.
Other local tv news outlets have their own 24 hour NATIONAL news channels. When there's something big happening in the city such as the garbage strike, they'll cover FIRST, at the heat wave in British Columbia then how many US soldiers are getting killed in Iraq, then about the sick puppy left in a car somewhere in the east coast, then finally the garbage strike - a full EIGHT minutes into the hour.
Yes a rant by me but I can't stand the loads of crap from the local news anymore.
Kevin: I really like your last sentence.
"City should have its license revoked, it serves no useful public purpose anymore, of course, neither do most of the others....."
This new site is all over the place, it looks like someone took all the elements and just threw them down on the page. There's no focus at all beyond the pic of the news readers, which juts out off the right of the page for some reason unbalancing everything else.
There are a lot of decent news sites out there to take inspiration and guidance from. A news delivery website requires clarity and organisation, focus. Their old site was actually better at delivering that, despite all its flaws.
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