abc News Gets an A

abcnews.com has uprooted their old website and planted a new. It’s not only a facelift and flow rework, but an improvement in code, introducing embedded Flash, CSS and web standards that dramatically improve performance and torque.

The information architecture is comfortably familiar with some notable envelope stretching. We have the left hand navigation, special feature horizontal bar, search top right, main headlines in buckets leading you down the page. All classic stuff. The real breakthroughs are in the broadband efforts, especially as the embedded Flash video feature top right on the main page.

The graphic design is appropriately conservative and more consistent with abc news on television than before, while tactfully avoiding the outlandish 3-D television aesthetic that plagues so many news sites. Graphic designers will notice that all headlines are set in Futura, another nod to their TV comrade.

One small step for the evolution of news sites, a giant step for abcnews.com!
Read more about the technology breakthroughs