Not wanting to feel left out, tv3 have redesigned their website.
My initial assessment is that it is too cluttered, and not cohesive. It is hard to find stuff that turns out to be sitting right in front of you.
Yeah, the new stuff.co.nz format is more better than the Royal New Zealand Herald.
Stuff is owned by Fairfax, who also own the Sydney Morning Herald and so it's no surprise that their layouts are similar (eg: they both happen to be 992px wide, and both have the silly (yet quite effective) little ad banner in the top right). There are fairly significant differences in the mark-up/CSS, however.
I've put them all head-to-head and thrown in tvnz.co.nz (cos it's similar) just for kicks.
Homepage analysis
Sydney Morning Herald:
Homepage weight (bytes/server requests): 238447 / 60
Markup errors: 237
CSS errors: unable to test properly due to page errors
stuff.co.nz:
Homepage weight (bytes/server requests): 156893 / 35
Mark-up errors: 127
CSS Errors: unable to test properly due to page errors, but estimate 29
NZ Herald:
Homepage weight (bytes/server requests): 285952(fat-ass) / 51
Mark-up errors: 200
CSS Errors: 8 (2 actual, 6 proprietry attributes)
tvnz.co.nz:
Homepage weight (bytes/server requests): 292697(obese) / 54
Mark-up errors: 271
CSS Errors: unable to test properly due to page errors
U2
While it is post-concert, I think perhaps I should have posted again sooner.
U2 were(are) excellent; big, flash-but-simple set, excellent pick of songs, great crowd. A good (healthy?) dose of politics+religion, using the catchword 'Coexist' with the 'C' as the crescent of Islam, the 'x' as the Star of David, and the 't' as the cross of Christ.
Wordie
In other news, wordie is a fun, interesting and potentially educational website; it's like Flickr, but without the photos. You can check out my collection of words. Remember, kids - words are fun!
Laughing in the face of danger
In yet more news, I was browsing the NZ Herald website and read across (yes, 'read across') this serious article about a police officer who was stabbed with a screwdriver. The article is calling for stab-resistant body armour for frontline police, but relates a particular incident from yesterday. While this is a serious article, somthing made me chuckle; here is a quote from a witness:
Dion Takimoana, who was a passenger in the truck, said he saw the incident unfold over two or three minutes and it was quite a blur "because the adrenaline was just pumping so much", he said.
"At first we thought it was quite funny until he pulled the screwdriver out and then I just thought, 'Far out, wicked, this isn't good'."
While running away, the driver lunged at the two officers and also tried to get into other cars that were on the road.
"But this big Island guy had the massivest stick and just went up to the guy and whacked him," Mr Takimoana said.
The blow did not stop the offender, who just brushed it off and kept running, Mr Takimoana said.
So you see, sometimes even the massivest stick won't help you.
Cross-purposes
Well, it's junk-mail-and-jingles season once again. Try not to forget what Christmas is all about. Don't feel obliged to buy people a better present than you bought them last year (eg: myself an iPod). Don't feel guilty if you don't have a Christmas tree up. But do remember to serve one another in love.
