iphone app ux review: ny times vs. usa today

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New York Times vs. USA Today:

iPhone App UX Review

Suzanne Ginsburg, [email protected]@suzanneginsburg

Thursday, July 2, 2009

mailto:[email protected]


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Thanks for your interest!

Please switch to full-screen view for optimal viewing.


UX Review Goals

• Review design strategies & patterns emerging in the iPhone News app space.

• Suggest which of the above are working well & which could use improvement.

• The goal is not to suggest that one app is better than the other.

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Brief app intros

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• First print issue published in 1851.

• Web site launched in 1996.

• First iPhone app in July 2008.

• Version 2.1 is included in this review.

• Ranked #1 in App Store News

category as of July 1, 2009.

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The New York Times


• First print issue published in 1982.

• Web site launched in 1995.

• First iPhone app in December 2008.

• Version 1.1 is included in this review.

• Ranked #3 in App Store News

category as of July 1, 2009.

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USA Today


UX Review

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Content & Navigation

Category navigation closely mirrors sections on web site. Content

primarily accessed via filters (latest, popular) Full list of sections hidden in “More” tab.


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Compact design allows display of section name & weather.

Header & Footer

Refresh and last update at top.

“Info” link, last update, & refresh at bottom.


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List View

Images slightly larger. Headlines in blue like web site.

USA Today shows three headlines; NY Times almost four.

Prominent ad gets in the way of last headline.


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Article View (with photo)

Beautiful image but where’s the article?

Enables navigation to other items in list view.

Ability to resize text & save article.

Blue plus sign shows overlay with larger photo

Compact ad format & placement doesn’t get in way of article.

Article text takes center stage in this design.


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Article View (no photo)

The differences are less striking when no photo present.


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Photos (Grid View)

Photos are organized by category. Clicking category will open up pane.

NY Times uses same grid structure as built-in Photos app.


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Photos (Detail View)

USA Today presents photos in slideshow format.

NY Times uses Photos grid to navigate to stories.


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Sharing

Clearly many more sharing options on USA Today.

Both apps take the user out of context when sharing via email.

Update for 3.0, we hope!


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Visual Design

USA Today uses the same color coding from their web site.


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More USA Today Screens

“Snapshots” includes trivia & polls, perfect for the mobile user with a few minutes to spare.

Wide range of options for sharing via Twitter:

Twitterific Tweetie TwitterFonTwittelator


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More NY Times Screens

NY Times has a search feature that’s accessible at all times via the tab bar.

Users can also save articles for viewing later.


Recommendations

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Recommendations

# 1 Don’t hide valuable content in “More” tab

The NY Times has a lot of rich content in “More” but the user will never see it unless they click on that tab.

NYT could take an approach similar to USA Today (categories at top) or allow the user to customize which sections are shown, as done on AP News.

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AP Customize screen


Recommendations

# 2 Make personalization easy & transparent to users

USA Today asked to use my current location but NY is still my “favorite” location.

Apps should have a clear strategy with regard to user-provided & GPS-provided info for personalization.

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USA Today weather (defaults to Favorite pane)


Recommendations

# 3 Balance the display of images and text

Images for NY Times articles can take up an entire screen, getting in the way of the user’s primary goal: to read the article.

In contrast, USA Today allows users to view a larger version as needed. Note the NY Times image size works well for a slideshow view.

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USA Today provides overlay for larger image view


Recommendations

# 4 Keep form factor consistent throughout app

NY Times byline search results leads to a page that’s not formatted for the iPhone environment. Ideally, this search result should be the same as the app wide search result.

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NY Times has 2 search result formats--the one in front is better


Recommendations

# 5 Keep the user within context as much as possible

Both applications take the user out of context when sharing articles via email, Twitter, etc.

This may change once both apps upgrade to OS 3.0.

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Whole Food share via email keeps user within context


Thanks for viewing!

• That’s all for now!

• There are many other notable design details but I’d like to keep these reviews to under 25 slides. If there’s interest I may expand future reviews.

• Suggestions for future reviews are welcome. Please send email to [email protected]

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Suzanne Ginsburg: [email protected]

@suzanneginsburg

Blog: http://www.iphoneuxreviews.com


http://twitter.com/suzanneginsburg








iphone app ux review: ny times vs. usa today

Design

article view

today providesoverlay

today weatherdefaults

ny times articles

tabthe ny times

ny times image size

app store newscategory

app wide search result