Does my UX make any sense?
Hi everyone!
I'm working on a news aggregation service with a twist. It's called "according to local sources...", and the basic idea is that local news media are often quicker and more knowledgeable than global news agencies when reporting on major international breaking news. Also, different perspectives are always good to have.
So, basically this service looks for big stories around the world, and then automatically finds local reports (both on twitter and on local news websites).
The UI replicates a news feed where everything that has happened is shown chronologically. The idea was that user could get a good update of the current stories without an editor deciding which is the "biggest" story.
Some initial feedback I got on the UI described it as "confusing" and "not my normal way of consuming news", which isn't what I'm trying to achieve :-)
What do you think - should I go for a complete redesign or would tweaking do?
Thanks!
I love the idea but hate the UX. I also find the warning boxes a little annoying. Yes, Reporters Without Borders thinks the US ranks 43rd in the world on press freedom, but having lived in several of the countries near the bottom of that list, it's a joke to even compare press freedom in the US on an ordinal scale with some of these repressive countries. The box just detracts from the experience. Likewise with that huge GDPR pop up. Just put a link to a page with more detailed info. Most people will click back immediately when assualted with a page long legal explanation.
I think you ought to just show one local news source per "event" so that it's easier to scroll through to get the gist of the news. Let the user uncover additional sources for a topic of interest without having to scroll through 5-6 sources for something they don't care about.
wow ok ;-)
Hope this helps a bit.
Thanks a lot for your feedback!
I'll definitely look into those great suggestions (some of which I sort of have thought of but haven't gotten around to yet, like the background lacking content).
Neat idea - I'm a little confused by the "Source tweeted 14 minutes ago" bit. Maybe a link to their tweet would help?
Thanks!
I think you might have stumbled upon a known bug: whenever someone deletes a tweet, the "Source tweeted..." is still there but the tweet itself is not shown. It's definitely on my todo-list to fix.
I f-ing love the IDEA.
There's something very punk rock about the mismatch of sources, languages and design styles. An almost incoherent voice for an incoherent age.
Who are you targeting with this tool? Because I get the feeling that it tries to be a journalistic and educational tool about journalism with the warning boxes, the background tabs, etc. These are actually great features but I think clarifying your audience might be needed to better understand the site's usage and design needs.
For many of the news topics, the news sources are the major news agencies like Reuters, AFP, NYT, etc. Doesn't feel local to me.
Another problem is how the news topics are organized. You need a more visible table of contents so users can skip to the topic they find interesting.
Sorry but as a brand naming nerd, I don't love the domain name hack. But then again it underlines the punk feel of your site, so maybe that's in line with your branding...
Thanks! Glad you like the idea!
You pose great questions: I haven't really put much thought into the exact target group; I've probably assumed it to be anyone with a somewhat unhealthy interest in news. Need to think about that.
You're obviously right about the major news agencies - my idea was to give different perspectives but sometimes they tend to crowd out the local sources to perhaps putting them separately would be a good idea.
And I agree with the table of contents - there is a top menu where you can choose topics but that's obviously not clear enough.
Thanks a lot for taking the time to give me great feedback!