Mobile news done right

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I have never been a huge fan of reading newspapers for the latest news. I have, however, recently become a bigger fan of visiting mobile news sites because of the iPhone. My most frequented mobile site has been The New York Times. The NYT’s website has been used to showcase loading a full web page on the iPhone since it was introduced, but their normal site has been used in the Apple ads instead of the available mobile version. It is great that Safari on the iPhone has the ability of loading the normal site without any changes, but I still prefer the mobile version when on the go to save on loading times and because of it’s simplicity. Here is why I think m.nytimes.com is done right:

The right text sizes and easy to read fonts.

The text used is large enough to read without having to adjust the phone distance from your eyes. This also saves a lot of work on the readers part because of not having to zoom in and out frequently like you would have to on the normal website once its done loading (iPhone specific).

The right mix of media and information.

When most sites introduce mobile versions, they usually strip all images and miscellaneous media to save on loading times and bandwidth. That’s not the case here because articles on the NYT’s mobile site usually starts with one related picture at the top. I think this is important because the photo keeps the content from being to dry. It also encourages me to read more to know the back story behind the photo.

Easy to navigate news sections and content.

The mobile homepage is presented in a very clear and organized manner with news topics in a larger, bolder text followed by several articles for each topic.

What I think is amazing is the fact that the NYT’s has created an almost identical news design and brand across three different mediums while adapting very well to the changing publishing industry.

Also, if you check email on your smartphone frequently and want to get breaking news alerts delivered to you, they also offer a service that sends news instantly. I also subscribe to this service and find very informative. Just create an online account if you don’t have one already and then go to the Member Center > Email Preferences > then check the ‘Breaking News Alerts’ box.