The Boston Channel Redesigns

Every local news show in the world has its own website and these sites are traditionally horrible and blue. Why oh why are they always blue? It's not as hard to figure out why they are all horrible. A news show is a TV show first and perhaps a website fourth or fifth. They know they should be on the web but can't seem to get around to putting in the effort. Even when when they redesign it seems like they are playing catchup with the rest of the web instead of innovating. The Boston Channel just recently redesigned and has made some interesting choices and definitely made a step forward. Previously a three column site with a large center column, they have moved to a four column layout with navigation on the left. This is supposed to allow for quick navigation but some how they messed it up as the sub navigation jumps around the page.

One interesting choice that they have made was to let people sequence news clips and make their own mini news program. Though it's implemented very awkwardly, this unbundling of media is becoming a bigger and bigger thing with the iPod Video out. The tech section even claims you can download the segment though Bostonist has yet to figure out how.

The best part of the redesign is how they abandoned the 800 x 600 resolution and have required 1024x768. Those with a smaller screen size are now at a disadvantage but the site was still designed with them in mind. If you still have a smaller screen they have laid out the story so the content still fits on your screen with out side scrolling and content is what it's all about.