E-Harmony says Enquirer and Internet not a love match

  The Enquirer, Cincinnati's average at best newspaper, is apparently skeptical of this whole internet thing everyone keeps talking about. A couple weeks ago, the Enquirer made a bold move by changing their web site's format. And by bold I mean they decided to make their site so infuriating and hard to wander around on that people would be forced to get their local news from the actual paper version. Hah, and next we'll all be wearing powdered wigs and going to a good ole friday night barn raising.

Let's start at the beginning. When I type in the URL for the enquirer site, my internet turns into 56K and I have to wait an interminable amount of time until the site loads. Maybe if this was 1996 that would be normal, but it isn't. Mark Twain would nod his head in agreement.

Once the site reluctantly loads, you are faced with half a photo of the front page story and a few headlines squeezed into the margins on the left side. I'm not sure who designed their site, but it won't be winning any awards for accessibility and navigational ease. It makes you wonder just what they were thinking when they decided to change the format.

I would tell you about the sports section on the site but I can't seem to find it. Oh there it is, you only have to scroll three quarters of the way down a very long home page to find it buried between the Community Press & Recorders and Business sections. That's a good way to ensure that the people who likely go to the site will never come back.

If I was a betting man I would say that Mike Brown won the contract to overhaul the site but then in a cost saving move, found someone in their first year of graphic design who has character issues in class to do it for $20 and a free preseason ticket.

Comments

[Nick]

The site redesign is awful. You can not find actual newspaper articles. Every article is now a "blog" post. I have nothing against blogs, you know being a "blogger" and all. But there is no need for "comment" from everyone on EVERY SINGLE ARTICLE!

Its "news"...there should not be "comment". I may never read the Enquirer again. Now I need something to do with that 15 minutes of my day.

[Kris]

Calling the redesign awful is a MAJOR understatement. It's beyond frustrating to try and find anything on that page. I don't really understand the point, unless the idea was to try and get people to avoid the site.

[Keith]

I went on there to try and find John Fay's blog. After 10 minutes I gave up. I live in Chattanooga now and used to use the Enquirer's website to keep up with all things Cincinnati. Not anymore... I'd rather go without the news than try to find anything on that website.

[Andrew Simon]

Enquirer.com should just be a link to Paul Daugherty's column - thats it.

[Andrew Simon]

The employees at the company that redesigned that site should start to get their resumes together because that company is not going to be around much longer.

[Mike]

I really think that the bloggers post less because of it. Curnutte hardly ever has new entries these days and Borgman even had a direct post complaining about the new format.

[Todd]

Like Andrew, I see what Mr. Daugherty has to say then flee the site as fast as possible.

[Klinglered]

you still read paul daughterty? I don't think he has written a good column in years especially since he got the radio show and really started mailing it in. His opinions regarding the reds are so incomprehensibly awful i don't know where to start, needless to say he is not a big fan of the bill james method of evaluating players which has only helped teams like the red sox make much smarter decisions than the reds. When he's writing about the Bengals he's just been recycling material for the last dozen years. I'm surprised he hasn't been given a regular spot on Around the Horn where he could probably do the impossible in making Marioti sound smart.

[Todd]

I don't check back often, just whenever the spirit catches me. I agree, his writing on the Reds has been terrible. Fire Joe Morgan has had fun with some of his columns, see this example of a thorough shredding:

http://www.firejoemorgan.com/2008/03/theres-war-brewing.html

But he wrote the best of anyone about the Bengals in the lost decade+ so he still has a place in the WDR hall of fame, in my opinion.

[Justin]

We are assuming that actual employees created the redesigned site. It was probably a High School Web Project gone wrong. Wait, forgive me. That is giving too much credit. It's a Middle School Project gone wrong.