george Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 SATIRE: Nation Newspaper Simplifies Website To Just 12 Moving Parts BANGKOK:-- – Bangkok’s online news community celebrated another advancement today as one of its English-language newspapers unveiled a new website, designed for easier digestion of the Kingdom’s news. The new website of The Nation, which calls itself “Insightful, Intrend (sic), Independent” features an all-time low of just 12 moving, flashing, or animated parts on its home page, an approximate 50% reduction in movement from its previous design. “The new design is just our way of keeping up with the times,” explained Maneerat Pornprikarn, the head of the Nation Group’s online design division. “We’re using the latest technology and research to best assault our readers with multiple data streams while indulging their short attention spans.” According to Maneerat, the choice of 12 moving parts, including an auto-play slideshow of top story photos, a rotating columnist navbar, a text ticker of breaking news, a large video screen of Sutachai Yoon and Tulsathit Taptim discussing the day’s events, and an illegibly fast-scrolling sidebar of Thanong K’s endlessly repeated, neurotically shrill Tweets, “perfectly engages the senses of the average Nation reader.” The design also addresses some reader complaints, such as the former lead slideshow being so large that it couldn’t actually fit on one screen. The new slideshow, according to Maneerat, is “just big enough to squeeze everything else out of the picture.” To accommodate the graphic elements, the home page is now so long that the main navbar and search bar is repeated at both the top and bottom of the page, “in case people forget about it by the time they reach the end,” according to Maneerat. He also defended the somewhat unorthodox decision to place the editors videos and Most Viewed menu in the middle of the sectional listings, essentially dividing the sectional listings into three parts for no apparent reason. “The groupings of Lead, Business, and Opinion together, along with National with Life, followed by Tech, Travel, Sport, and World in the last bunch, may be counterintuitive to how people actually read their news,” he said. “But we think grouping news topics in illogical ways will actually encourage people to think about the news more deeply.” Readers will additionally enjoy the fun challenge of trying to find the Forum, Stock Watch, Archives, and Weather, which have all been randomly and playfully scattered around the three-fold home page. However, Tulsathit assured readers that many of the things they loved about the Nation would remain the same. “We’ll continue to integrate intrusive advertising into every section, and devote excessive space for teasers to our paid-only content,” he said. “And, of course, Thanong will continue to make up facts he wishes were true and contradict himself on record for everyone’s entertainment. That’s a promise.” -- NotTheNation.com 2011-10-07 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soutpeel Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 Very good..I look forward to viewing the new website for its insightful and professionally written features and in-depth political analysis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanL1275 Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 This is good "News" I hope. I just looked at their ""Breaking News Web Page"" and the latest breaking news was 11 days old. Do you think we will get 5 days old breaking news on the new website http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzaa09 Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 Very good..I look forward to viewing the new website for its insightful and professionally written features and in-depth political analysis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocHolliday Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 This is good "News" I hope. I just looked at their ""Breaking News Web Page"" and the latest breaking news was 11 days old. Do you think we will get 5 days old breaking news on the new website http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/ you apparently have the old site bookmarked have a look http://www.nationmultimedia.com/new/breakingnews/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longtom Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 Good one - once again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubl Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 This is good "News" I hope. I just looked at their ""Breaking News Web Page"" and the latest breaking news was 11 days old. Do you think we will get 5 days old breaking news on the new website http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/ you apparently have the old site bookmarked have a look http://www.nationmultimedia.com/new/breakingnews/ Thanks very much, updated my bookmarks. Mind you visiting the new breakingnews page I had to disable javascript to regain control of my PC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soutpeel Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 Very good..I look forward to viewing the new website for its insightful and professionally written features and in-depth political analysis You of course did see the writing in red at the top of the article, and who is was written by ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallGuyJohninBKK Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 “We’re using the latest technology and research to best assault our readers with multiple data streams while indulging their short attention spans.” Who is this guy, and where did he learn his English??? And is this really what the future of newspapers is about? I'll certainly look forward to waking up every morning to be assaulted by The Nation and having my short attention span indulged... No wonder they're the chief news provider for ThaiVisa... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanL1275 Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 Not sure about old website, but I googled Nation and the links I found were the first ones showing in Google. The dummies should do a re-direct. Why a new website when your old one has top rankings? You can find any website in the world as long as someone directs you directly too it. It was too funny to me, as I retired from the web business with an ecommerce site I sold 3 years ago. It was selling about 1,000 pet products a week. I was probably fairly small compared to The Nation Thanks for the link though :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanL1275 Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 Oh wow, I just clicked on your link and it took me to the same page with 11 day old Breaking News. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soutpeel Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 "We're using the latest technology and research to best assault our readers with multiple data streams while indulging their short attention spans." Who is this guy, and where did he learn his English??? And is this really what the future of newspapers is about? I'll certainly look forward to waking up every morning to be assaulted by The Nation and having my short attention span indulged... No wonder they're the chief news provider for ThaiVisa... I would suggest to you the guy's grasp of English and ability to write copy appears to be far better than yours.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubl Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 Oh wow, I just clicked on your link and it took me to the same page with 11 day old Breaking News. It works for me: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/new/breakingnews/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoorSucker Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 Ohhhyeeem now van discard my keyboard... Nneffewr wrkd gdd ayway.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallGuyJohninBKK Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 "We're using the latest technology and research to best assault our readers with multiple data streams while indulging their short attention spans." Who is this guy, and where did he learn his English??? And is this really what the future of newspapers is about? I'll certainly look forward to waking up every morning to be assaulted by The Nation and having my short attention span indulged... No wonder they're the chief news provider for ThaiVisa... I would suggest to you the guy's grasp of English and ability to write copy appears to be far better than yours.... Only in his and your wildest dreams.... You have no idea what you're talking about, or who you're talking to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickBradford Posted October 8, 2011 Share Posted October 8, 2011 Er, guys, this is satire from NotTheNation, just for a laugh, no need to get upset about it...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soutpeel Posted October 8, 2011 Share Posted October 8, 2011 (edited) Er, guys, this is satire from NotTheNation, just for a laugh, no need to get upset about it...... "TallguyJohninBKK" hasnt got to the page about satire in his "Teaching English in Thailand for dummies" yet.... Edited October 8, 2011 by Soutpeel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrtoad Posted October 8, 2011 Share Posted October 8, 2011 Only in his and your wildest dreams.... You have no idea what you're talking about, or who you're talking to. Probably the boyfrined / husband of a hi-so Thai Chinese lady, whose father is a General in the police force? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AleG Posted October 8, 2011 Share Posted October 8, 2011 As always parody has a seed of truth to it. It's certainly not limited to the Nation website, for the last years the ongoing trend is to add more and more bells and whistles to websites. When things calmed down after the 90s barrage of animated banners, autoplaying MIDIs and pop-ups everywhere a more sensible approach to design was implemented. Do you remember the breath of fresh air Google was? the most simple of user interfaces, you type and you get your results right away. No fluff, no fuss. And it got huge BECAUSE of that. Now Google is a popping, scrolling, blinking mess that doesn't even give you the results you ask for (yesterday I nearly put a fist through the screen when searching for "khao yai XXX adventure" Google decided not to include the "adventure" part and instead ask me at the end of the search if I really, really wanted to add "adventure" to the query; then looking on Google videos for "Khao Yai kayaking" Google changed on it's own the search terms for "California kayaking") Not just Google, look at Facebook, adding more and more scrolling, popping up, dropping down stuff, even TV with the fancy although impractical image viewer. For some time on I've even been seen embedded adds that start playing back some music or noise on the background, and you have to go looking around where the racket comes from. It really feels that at the moment there's a generation of new web designers utterly in love with whatever little new snippet of web code comes along and they just can't help themselves to jam it in their websites; as if the relentless addition of the latest gadget would surely improve on the overall design or functionality. Frankly it reminds me of the Indian tuk-tuks or trucks absolutely plastered in mirrors and trinkets, charming at first glance, a complete annoyance if you are forced to use one yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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