KnowledgeForward

Times Reader

If you haven’t seen the Times Reader and are interested in news readers you should take a look at it.  (Note: You’ll need .NET 3.0.)

There are several good ideas in here that result in a very readable experience.  I like the leverage they get out of the metatagged content, such as a “pictures in the news” view (which does a slideshow of the pictures from each article but hyperlinks to the text if you click to learn more about the picture), a custom-assembled page around a metatag, and the “all navigation” view that shows each section of the paper with light/dark grey boxes.  That last features allows the reader to see at a glance which stories they didn’t get to and hover over them for a quick preview.

I found the font very readable and the full screen view allowed me to focus on just the paper and not distracting OS menus and browser interface buttons.

Still, there are a few issues:

• No personalization
• No community
• An insular content experience (pure NY Times content with only a search to external content) unlike the doomed Encyclopedia Britannica which provided its own content in context with other content
• Some random bugs in the interface and syncing

All in all, a good view into a forward-looking news reader.