The new look, which debuted early Saturday morning has new graphics, a bolder type face and a considerably better-looking, more modernized layout with a lot more color too.
SF Gate was due for an overhaul and it appears, early on, the Hearst people, (who own the Chronicle), got it right.
The Gate is among the top-10 most-visited newspaper web sites in the country--the real question, and this is the 64 million dollar question among most on-line and off-line newspapers--can SF Gate eventually turn a profit?
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It has been out there for a couple weeks, in the Beta version. I have to keep changing the setting on my tablet cause it looks like shit!
ReplyDeleteAgreed. I've seen it a couple of times and it's hard on the eyes. It's clunky. It's also more difficult to navigate.
Deletetotal crap. Looks like crap, functions like crap.
ReplyDeleteNot surprising, that an "upgrade/redesign" is a step (four steps) backward. The geeks don't get it.
Functionality, and consistency. We don't need to keep changing things every few months/years. We're not part of a cognitive study.
Geeks, what the hell are they good for?
Aubrey Huff, your boy, is out at 95.7 The Game ... I think you had that called correctly !!!
ReplyDeleteOne observer says that it is a "pretty looking" web site. The others say that the functionality of the site sucks. # Style can only go so far. The functionality and the viability of the site and the quality of the news is what counts on the long run. Say! Rich, When will SFGATE.com re-hire you for your journalistic quality?.
ReplyDeleteIt tells the rest of the readers a lot about the perspective of the observer.
Agree with the others. The look is heavy. Difficult to read.
ReplyDeleteIn short, garbage. Junk it.
Reading the new Sfgate website wants me to revisit the Monkey News website.
ACK! I hate it!! I hate all change; why can't things be like they used to be?
ReplyDeleteSeriously? It will take some getting used to, but I should be able to cope. (nobody's 'splained why this was necessary - was mgmt simply bored? Did they think this would improve their bottom line?
I agree: consistency and functionality. Big duhs. I don't even read SFgate or The Chron of The Merc (worst metro newspaper I've ever seen and it used to be considered the best when I was in J-school). They also need real editors who can spell and punctuate. And, who know AP Style.
ReplyDeleteThe San Francisco Chronicle was once a very good paper. Same as the SF Examiner. The SF Examiner is now a freebee.
ReplyDeleteI subscribe to the SF Chronicle what a mess. Paper boys delivered the paper on time rain or shine.
The subscriber services is based in Tuscon AZ.
Could be worse the Mercury has subscriber service in Phillipines
DeleteThey've been "testing" this new site for a few weeks. The thing that the Chron doesn't understand is that the current site works well. There is no need for a drastic overhaul. It's not as if people who never go to SF Gate will suddenly start because the graphics are better. Just the opposite. SF Gate may lose those clicks that are just looking for straightforward easy to read headlines.
ReplyDeleteExactly. I've already started going there less frequently due to the beta. I was able to switch back to their old design, but if/when the beta is full-on, I will not waste time there as I can't find anything I am looking for.
DeleteFor those who say folks like me don't like change, they're wrong. I'd LOVE to see some change; sychronized stoplights (save fuel, reduce pollution); better editing at papers; less illegal aliens in the country. THERE are a few changes I can work with.
I read something ridiculous that someone was being asked to pay over $600 yearly for a subscription to the Chronicle. It's actually still very extensive, but you can get a full year delivered to your home for under $300. But you have talk with an agent on the phone and then convince them that you won't pay any more than about $250. They accept your offer because they'd rather have a subscriber who is paying less than the usual rate, than NO subscriber!
ReplyDeleteor just wait 30 days and cancell your paper and then sign up with one of those newspaper vendors at art craft shows etc you can get for like 125$ a year.
DeleteI just signed up to extend for $99 bucks 7 days a week. The banner ad ran across the SF Gate screen. Now they are doing a Labor Day Sale.
DeleteI was paying about 60 bucks every other month before this!
I pay $5.99 per month to have it electronically sent to my Kindle each and every day.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing that the sfgate.com formatting change has some operating efficiencies that have to do with the multiple ways people access it, laptop, tablet, iphone, android, etc. The formatting change is somewhat similar to the style used by latimes.com. As I write this I noticed sfgate.com is back to the hold format.
ReplyDeleteBack in the day, sites (like SF Gate) had a "mobile" version and a "desktop" version. You'd get the mobile version if you were on a smart phone or a tablet and you'd get the desktop version if you were on a laptop or desktop computer.
ReplyDeleteThis all changed when Microsoft released Windows 8, an abomination of an operating system that forced a touch-centric, tablet interface on regular computer users. Because it's "Windows", website operators started redesigning their sites to make it easier for Windows 8 users to navigate their sites. The end result is you get sites that look like crap and are a pain to use if you're the 85-90% of computer users that do not run Windows 8. Just plain stupid if you ask me!
Actually, my Kindle Fire HD tablet allows me to do this!
DeleteToo many "native ads" on the front page. The pale blue box that looks like an article is an ad. On the mobile version one of the large photos leading to a story is actually and ad too. Very annoying.
ReplyDeleteThe website is so bad I've decided to go back to a paper subscription!
ReplyDeleteThe $64 question is not whether or not the web site can turn a profit, it's whether or not the whole damn newspaper can ever again make a profit. I work on the TV side of Hearst, and I'm tired of seeing our profits sucked away by the lame-ass newspaper operations. Perhaps Hearst should do what Belo, Gannett and other newspaper-broadcast companies have done--spin off the newspapers and let them sink or swim.
ReplyDeleteNow if sfgate could only do something about its gawd awful "Viafoura?!"
ReplyDeletetoo bad they didn't improve the content.
ReplyDeleteYay... SFGate's format is now Buzzfeed... I suppose that's to be expected based on the content. I think I'll send a comment to them about the new format. Oh, wait... I can't even use the contact function (or even open an article for that matter). What an embarrassment for the Bay Area
ReplyDeleteTime to look for another source for news online... the new design is garbage. This grid or metro regurgitation from Massimo has been forced down our necks long enough.
ReplyDeleteLooks too much like Windows 8. I stopped checking San Francisco news on SFGATE and started using the San Francisco Examiner site. Tell the web designers that Windows 8 is a looser.
ReplyDeleteThis new design is terrible. They just don't get it. We are not all morons who need pictures attached to every headline. Visually this update is horrendous and difficult to look at. What is the next step? Releasing stories in video format only like fox or yahoo?
ReplyDeleteSFGate new look sucks big time. I guess they needed a look that the 90 year old plus people could see. Who ever came up with this design should be drawn and quartered. What a bunch of IDIOTS!
ReplyDeleteThe new site is horrible, it's all photo-headlines! There used to be so much more real "information" on home-page and now it's all just sensationalized garbage paid-for crap articles. I wouldn't even mind paying a low annual fee for a real local "news" web-site... but this is such a step backwards!
ReplyDeleteold and new news all mixed together. have to scroll up and down to glance all. eyeballs have to jump all over the place trying to cover all contents. photos and news repeat itself. It is a mess. I just have to give up visiting this site for now.
ReplyDeleteAgreed... the new layout is a total mess and almost unusable for getting any real news. Used to have sfgate as my go-to site for local news and a quick overview of state/world events... it was concise, relatively easy to scan, and at least somewhat organized. Now it seems like the editors have just given up entirely and you're faced with a confusing jumble of random and chaotic noise. So sfgate has fallen to the bottom of my list and I hardly ever use it now... alas, none of the other options seem much better... so much for real journalism. If sfgate would revert to its old self I'd GLADLY return as a regular reader!
ReplyDeleteIt's terrible. The calendar feature is a nightmare. Everything is. I'm switching over to eastbayexpress.com to find out about events, festivals, shows, etc.
ReplyDelete