The BBC yesterday became the latest news organisation to redesign its website for mobile.
It reflects the fact that most readers now come to the site from mobile phones and that this is where future growth appears to be coming from.
It means that desktop readers and those on mobile phones and tablets all see the same site. Those on desktops will see three columns of content whereas on those on mobiles will see just one.
As with The Guardian's mobile-first relaunch in January, the initial reaction from BBC readers appears to be overwhelmingly negative.
Comments to a blog post on the BBC yesterday discussing the changes became so heated that it had to be closed down last night.
BBC senior product developer Niko Vijayaratnam acknowledged the following themes emerging in the negative comments about the new look:
I don't like the new layout
Video is being promoted higher up on the section pages
There is too much white space
The site is too bright
I don't like the new banner colour
Where is the ticker?
And somewhat damning himself with faint praise he said there has been "some" positive feedback about the new look, adding:
We are working to address the key themes that are coming out of the feedback and will be releasing updates to the layout and introducing features like the new ticker imminently.From years of updating and relaunching our sites and apps, we know that it sometimes takes a while to get used to changes like this. We're monitoring the feedback that is being sent in closely and I will be posting a more detailed response next week to address the concerns raised.
Here are some of the comments readers have made:
Moik:
Let me summarise the feedback – the vast majority of it has been overwhelmingly negative for very good, very well argued reasons. It is not about the shock of the new, it is about the wilful destruction of one of the world's most authoritative news websites.commonsensefredWhat a misleading attempt at reflecting the reaction to the new site – you show 5 "negatives" out of several thousand and 2 "positives" out of about 20 most of which were presumably written by BBC staff members and their families (and if you look at the Twitter feeds and follow back the positives – when you can eventually find them – the first two I followed were indeed BBC "insiders").
Michael Kaye:
What a misleading attempt at reflecting the reaction to the new site – you show 5 "negatives" out of several thousand and 2 "positives" out of about 20 most of which were presumably written by BBC staff members and their families (and if you look at the Twitter feeds and follow back the positives – when you can eventually find them – the first two I followed were indeed BBC "insiders").
Gordon Clay
Hi BBC.as you seem intent on ignoring your users I have decided to no longer be a user of your service. I have uninstalled the BBC news app from my phone and tablet and I now use an alternative news source. I would like to thank you for for this opportunity of moving away from all bbc content. Your new site is rubbish on phone, tablet and PC if you can't see that or just ignore it then what is the point of using such a service.
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