Month: July 2008

Dan Farber previewed the next phase of CNET’s rolling redesign in today’s blog post. See the full image of CNET News here.

My previous comments hold. The body of the home page looks fine, with no complaints. However, I find the reflection in the sub-brands of “News” and “Download.com” quite distracting, and hard to read. The Web 2.0 reflection will be very dated in the near future, too.

Download.com new logo design

CNET News new logo design…without the .com

Larger question highlighted by these sub-brand treatments: how long until CBS Interactive puts the domain news.com in the service of general news?

Today’s preview includes a .com for the download design, but it’s notably absent for news. Also, www.news.com redirects to news.cnet.com now. For too long, news.com redirected to the never-beloved news.com.com (long story…not now). For a few brief weeks earlier this year, before the CBS deal, the tech news site reclaimed its original 1996 home at www.news.com. It was quickly switched over to news.cnet.com. The pendulum of parent brands vs. individual brands swings back and forth at CNET, but it’s clear this time news.com is being prepped for bigger things.

This change makes sense, since News.com is just too tempting a domain name to limit to tech news, especially given the broader portfolio of the new CBS Interactive. But stop dribbling this change out. Get the team working on the new News.com in higher gear before these design changes dampen the, well, news.

My comments are as a fan and former employee, but no inside information.

Saw Wall•E last night, just a few hours after the rest of the family. With a 94 on Metacritic, Wall•E is in the top 15 of all time so far. Hmmm… maybe I’d heard too many hosannahs before seeing it. Fun film, but not ready to dub it an all-time favorite just yet. After the movie, though, the Buy n Large website helps you keep snickering…especially the disclaimer.

I’m one of the many whose upgrade to the 2.0 version of the iPhone software is hanging this morning. Ouch. Not supposed to disconnect phone, and can’t use the phone until the upgrade is complete. Follow the mayhem at TechMeme.

2 hours later…I’m back in business.

Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer opens The Neanderthal Parallax, a set of three novels exploring interaction between Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens via parallel universes, where the big lugs didn’t die out…and weren’t such lugs. As always, Sawyer makes science human. Jumping off from a quantum physics experiment gone slightly askew, Sawyer blends in jealous ex-spouses, a murder trial, and (surprisingly) a rape of one of the lead characters. Science is the twist, but not the main course. Musings on the intersection of science and religion also flow into the tale, sometimes ponderously.

The problem? I read this story about three months ago, and I had to skim the flap to remind myself of some of the core elements. So, a quick enjoyable read, but not lasting. Or maybe that’s just me. 😉

Anyway, props to Vin for sending me a box of books that arrived (coincidentally) around my birthday back in March. Hominids was the first snack among many from the sci-fi-heavy grouping.

I’m a bit late here, but the new design hasn’t rolled out yet.

CNET’s decision to announce a coming redesign ahead of time is admirable. It shows a new respect for how disruptive change can be to an existing audience.

Current CNET logo, in context

New CNET logo, in context (proposed)

I have a few comments, but IANAD (I am not a designer).

• New logo drops the pipe ( | ) between the letters c and n: +1
  About time! Few things confused the brand more than that pipe.
• Sticking with all lower-case letters in logo, as cnet: -1
  I appreciate the nod to the original (and current) logo, but grab the chance to change to all caps, CNET, like every single text reference in the last several years.
• Logo is updated, making the red ball more obviously a ball: +1
  I wasn’t sure about this change, but when I went back to compare, I realized how flat and dated the existing red ball logo looks… and the glow behind the current red ball isn’t fantastic.
• Color scheme drops yellow and green: -1
  Yellow and green are signature, just like the red ball. Both colors have been toned down, appropriately, over the years. Dropping them altogether? Well, if it weren’t in favor of a color scheme straight out of Axe body care products, I’d probably find it more acceptable.
• Header is taller: -1
  Only reason is to fit a leaderboard advertisement. That’s the business, of course, but… sigh.

The best news? These are just opinions about the skin. That matters, but the content inside the skin still decides whether I read or not. And I continue to, mostly via the News.com RSS feeds (choose one) and occasional email newsletters (subscribe).

Note: as someone who’s led previous site redesigns at CNET, I’m not throwing stones from afar. I can only imagine the internal discussions. I hope the transition goes well, whether with the demonstrated changes or some additional nips and tucks.

My thanks to the anonymous commenter who alerted me that my RSS feed was borked. It’s fixed now, with thanks to Otto for the tip.

Now I just have to blog the 17 books I’ve read in the last few months.