Google News news
June 28, 2017 8:34 AM   Subscribe

So, if Google News is your homepage you got a rather different look the last time you went to it. After seven years, Google has pushed out a redesign "to make news more accessible and easier to navigate".

Most of the coverage is focusing on a supposed emphasis on fact-checking, but unsurprisingly there are complaints. Even positive articles are quickly filling up with negative comments.
posted by yhbc (61 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
And so I promptly withdrew and closed the window.
posted by infini at 8:44 AM on June 28, 2017 [2 favorites]


I haven't looked at news.google.com in years. I'm surprised at how cluttered it is, even on the redesigned site.
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 8:51 AM on June 28, 2017


Eh.
Still no reason to go there.
posted by BlueHorse at 8:54 AM on June 28, 2017 [1 favorite]


"to make news more accessible and easier to navigate".

i.e. "to add white space, spread out the actual content, and take up more screen room with sidebars and menus that won't stay hidden, all so users have to scroll more instead of for any real reason or positive effect whatsoever."
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:00 AM on June 28, 2017 [34 favorites]


Looks about as good as the front page of Yahoo.
posted by los pantalones del muerte at 9:00 AM on June 28, 2017 [6 favorites]


Oh good, they got all my tweets about how I wanted the page to look dumber and contain less information.
posted by Etrigan at 9:10 AM on June 28, 2017 [34 favorites]


I am trying to withhold my kneejerk NOPE but it has been difficult. The only reason the endless scroll would make sense is if they intend to include sponsored bs shortly.
posted by notquitemaryann at 9:12 AM on June 28, 2017 [2 favorites]


Still no reason to go there.

to circumvent paywalls
posted by thelonius at 9:22 AM on June 28, 2017 [3 favorites]


The old version looked more or less like a newspaper. The new design looks like a Facebook or Twitter feed, with all of the scrolling bullshit that comes with that.

The old version was pretty high information density. The new version has a useless left hand navbar, half of which is just blank space. Switching between sections (World, Business, US, etc) takes several seconds.

Hovering over a section highlights all of the links at once, which is nonstandard behavior. It's visually distracting and seems broken, the kind of behavior more commonly seen when an entire outer div is wrapped in a link.

The little snippets below the headlines are gone, which sucks. Those were often key to demystifying clickbait headlines.

From the complaints link:
Also included is a “fact check” block that features articles geared towards stories dedicated to finding the truth. These usually feature sources like Snopes and the US Politifact.
That feature already existed in the old design.

In sum: no sir, I don't like it.
posted by jedicus at 9:25 AM on June 28, 2017 [12 favorites]


HINT TO ALL NEWS SITES:

until you adapt something in line with the Guardian's "What We Know" approach to breaking news, I'll be avoiding you if at all possible. In other words -- substantiated stuff up front and backed up. Anything else is just noise ... and I've got Merzbow for that.
posted by philip-random at 9:25 AM on June 28, 2017


“No. I don’t think the Empire had Wookiees in mind when they designed her, Chewie.”
–Han Solo to Chewbacca about the Tydirium imperial shuttle they’re flying.
posted by Fizz at 9:37 AM on June 28, 2017 [3 favorites]


Yeah, this is terrible. What's a good, denser, headlines-at-a-glance alternative?
posted by The Tensor at 9:38 AM on June 28, 2017 [2 favorites]


None. Hence my concern.
posted by infini at 9:40 AM on June 28, 2017


What's a good, denser, headlines-at-a-glance alternative?

It kills me to say it, but bing news might be my next go-to.
posted by yhbc at 9:43 AM on June 28, 2017


I don't know why Google doesn't make a deal with a number of newspapers and news organizations and offer a paid version of their news site, with special articles/columns only available to those who pay.

I realize that most of us have seen the Internet as a way to get everything free, and shouldn't news, of all things, be free?

But we really should have grown past the "It's free! Gimmee!" stage and take a good hard look at the cost of not paying the press--lots of news organizations out of business, investigative reporters out of work, the press reduced to rhetoric and a parody of 'false facts'.

Google can 'pretty up' their site. But if they want to do something significant (and, really, to undo the considerable damage to society that they have contributed to), they should offer a tiered, paid version of their news collection website.

Yes, you can pay individual news organizations for subscriptions, but in this era of easily gettigng information from thousands of sites in minutes, I'm not sure it is an easy sell to get people to just pay one out of those thousands. But access to a higher tier of information from lots of news organizations better fits how we read news in the Internet age.

There are browsers like Brave that try to implement something like this, but Google has the clout to pull it off. Heck, I'd pay in a heartbeat.
posted by eye of newt at 9:46 AM on June 28, 2017 [5 favorites]


I think the new version looks nice.
posted by OverlappingElvis at 9:59 AM on June 28, 2017 [3 favorites]


I find Google News to be very useful. It is one of the first sites I visit in the morning. I think the new design looks much better. The old one was really starting to show its age.

The new version is much better for controlling the sources that are presented. I can now make most of the high quality/credible sources preferred, and block sources that I consider to be junk. The old version had some kind of source selection and control, but it was confusing and often didn't lead to the expected results.

The only thing that really bothers me is the removal of the summary blurbs.
posted by incster at 10:05 AM on June 28, 2017 [4 favorites]


sucks, sucks,
Sucks2BGoogle
posted by y2karl at 10:27 AM on June 28, 2017


My usual Google News technique: Instead of settling for the "U.S. Edition" or whatever country it thinks you're in, pick Uganda, Belize, or some other english-speaking place that isn't large or influential enough to distort the global picture of what's news quite as much.
posted by sfenders at 10:27 AM on June 28, 2017 [6 favorites]


Like Canada ?
posted by y2karl at 10:28 AM on June 28, 2017 [2 favorites]


The latest 'old' version was seeming somewhat cluttered so this is probably a good direction. I do think it needs a some kind of feedback link per article to help indicate low grade click bait news sites.
posted by sammyo at 10:37 AM on June 28, 2017


Canada may not have much real importance in the grand scheme of things, but it does seem to have enough www page-rank mojo to mesmerize the gnews algorithm, and is well along the path of keeping its citizens entertained with a constant stream of 24-hour news coverage of every car crash and murder in the land.
posted by sfenders at 10:38 AM on June 28, 2017 [1 favorite]


I'm rather ambivalent about the new design, but at least the old one gave you the first sentence (or byline) of the main articles. This was often enough to decide whether to click through to the article or not. Why does clean design seem to mean less content?
posted by piyushnz at 10:39 AM on June 28, 2017 [1 favorite]


Huh. So it lost my old source preferences, and errors out when I try to add new ones. Heck of a job.
posted by hyperbolic at 10:53 AM on June 28, 2017 [2 favorites]


at least the old one gave you the first sentence (or byline) of the main articles

... wait, what? Apparently I am not seeing the new design. Probably due to being in Canada. That would explain why I thought it looked so similar to the old one, and still sufficiently useable. WTF, Google.
posted by sfenders at 10:58 AM on June 28, 2017


I'm in Canada and seeing the new one.
posted by piyushnz at 10:59 AM on June 28, 2017 [1 favorite]


Hm. Mine hasn't changed, except the right sidebar is collapsed (I can click to have it show up). I'm seeing a selection for choice of view: Modern, Headlines, Compact, and Classic. Mine is "modern," and looks the same as I have been seeing, and shows summary info for articles. For example:
Amid Venezuela's chaos, protesters ask: Was helicopter 'attack' rebellion or ruse?
Washington Post - ‎1 hour ago‎
MEXICO CITY - A rogue helicopter that buzzed Venezuela's Supreme Court building and possibly dropped grenades became a strange centerpiece Wednesday in the country's meltdown - with some suspecting it was a ruse by President Nicolás Maduro to ...
I still have my preferences (topics I follow). I wonder why? ps, Google, if you see this plz don't change mine, kthx.
posted by taz at 11:00 AM on June 28, 2017


(not "summary info," but intro text, rather)
posted by taz at 11:04 AM on June 28, 2017


ohh. I see from the blog post: "We’re rolling out this update globally in the coming days." :(
posted by taz at 11:11 AM on June 28, 2017


Looks about as good as the front page of Yahoo Google+.
posted by wenestvedt at 11:15 AM on June 28, 2017


Add me to the "Do Not Like, where's the 'Classic View' button?" list. Displaying less information to make room for negative space taken too far.
posted by achrise at 11:16 AM on June 28, 2017 [9 favorites]


I can't collapse the right sidebar. And even if I collapse the left-side menu, it still leaves a massive gap between the side of the page and the actual content column. Making the text smaller makes the columns narrower as well, leaving even bigger side margins. :(
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:18 AM on June 28, 2017 [1 favorite]


I can't select how often news from a given section show up (besides never/always). I used to get only the biggest stories from entertainment and sports, most from politics and health, all from science, etc. What was wrong with that? Too much user control, I guess.
posted by hat_eater at 11:52 AM on June 28, 2017


The general UI trend towards bigger fonts, more whitespace and less information is baffling and upsetting. I blame corporate direction to "synergize" mobile and desktop.
posted by grumpybear69 at 12:31 PM on June 28, 2017 [10 favorites]


In a search for an alternative I came across World News. Looks not awful.
posted by piyushnz at 12:39 PM on June 28, 2017 [1 favorite]


My biggest problem with news aggregators is that they incorporate content from Fox News and Breitbart and Huffpo as "news." Fox news especially - they don't have bylines, make specious accusations without any attempt to justify them, and is just a giant pack of lies. I don't mind more right-leaning rags lending their articles, but they have to at least be up to the journalistic standard presented by the local "regional lifestyle" magazines available for free at the supermarket.
posted by Slap*Happy at 12:48 PM on June 28, 2017 [3 favorites]


I still see the old page when I am logged into Google, but if I log out, it shows me the new page.
posted by soelo at 1:02 PM on June 28, 2017


With the new system, you can easily block Brieitbart, Huffpo, and whatever else you don't want to see.
posted by incster at 1:04 PM on June 28, 2017


I'm not a huge fan. I don't mind the card format, but the inability to collapse the sidebars and make the content span the width of the page is a real defect. And, if they are going to insist that I have a right sidebar (which should be configurable), then the content there (e.g. weather, sports scores) should float to the top as I scroll down the page.

I agree with grumpybear69; I suspect this is an attempt to smoosh the mobile and desktop views together. Which, hello, I have two giant monitors on my desktop and bought ALL THE PIXELS on my laptop for a freaking reason!

If I'm staring at my phone, well then, fine, optimize. But I want more content, not less. Getting rid of the summaries reinforces the grim creeping Twittification of news stories (misleading/bombastic/bogus clickbaity micro-headlines). Especially when so many articles have autoplay video.

Maybe this is all configurable but I can't figure it out. Anyway, I give it 2 stars. Plus an extra minus 1/2 star for good measure since they got rid of my beloved gChat, too. Feh.
posted by skye.dancer at 1:17 PM on June 28, 2017 [6 favorites]


To continue my rant...for some reason, all the sources I'd chosen before were automatically categorized as blocked. Not only that, but they're not in alphabetical order and you can't select a bunch at a time to unblock them. /baffled Maybe time to quit gNews all together.
posted by skye.dancer at 1:24 PM on June 28, 2017


I mean, kudos for most of the stories coming from reputable orgs, but still...

Pregnant 19-Year-Old Fatally Shoots Boyfriend in YouTube Stunt Gone Wrong

Faking a Time magazine cover is the most Trump thing ever

Man gets life for murder of toddler found in trash bag

Florida woman arrested for having sex with 11-year-old boy, giving birth to his baby

NO CARRIER
posted by gwint at 1:57 PM on June 28, 2017 [2 favorites]


Wow, given that I've been using Google for years and they probably have several terabytes of data on me, the "For You" section is absolutely useless. They think I'm interested in RuPaul and the Bachelor (no). Scott Walker, Milwaukee, ACLU? Sure. There is literally nothing other than those 5 categories.
posted by AFABulous at 2:00 PM on June 28, 2017 [1 favorite]


Ugh. I hate new things.
posted by Cookiebastard at 2:19 PM on June 28, 2017 [2 favorites]


The link defaulted to US news. I clicked on the "World" category and it's still full of stories about Trump, lol
posted by EndsOfInvention at 2:52 PM on June 28, 2017 [1 favorite]


Yep, sucks.
posted by zardoz at 2:59 PM on June 28, 2017


The "Realtime Coverage" feature...it's gone? I loved that.
posted by davebush at 3:11 PM on June 28, 2017 [2 favorites]


My problem with the new layout is that I can't scroll if my mouse is hanging out near the left side menu. I mouse left handed so this is probably an issue for most of us who do.
posted by fiercekitten at 3:59 PM on June 28, 2017


If that left hand column would stay closed for the next time I navigate to the page, it would make me less cranky.

I can only see 4 articles at a time. My scrolling finger is going to get tired.

That line or two from the article did help me decide if it was worth clicking. I miss that. Boing Boing took that away on its main page too. I don't know, in the grim darkness of the far future there is only clickbait, I guess?

And the whole thing is wasteful of space. Spasteful.

ETA: get off my lawn.
posted by Horkus at 4:56 PM on June 28, 2017 [4 favorites]


The link defaulted to US news. I clicked on the "World" category and it's still full of stories about Trump, lol

This has been a huge creeping problem since November. Even if you're logged into the Kenya edition
posted by infini at 9:44 PM on June 28, 2017


Lou Grant wept.
posted by Chitownfats at 10:34 PM on June 28, 2017 [1 favorite]


The news I click open in the same window by default. Then when I go back, I'm at the top of the page. There's no end to the wrongness of this ill-conceived newfangled contrivance.
posted by hat_eater at 1:22 AM on June 29, 2017 [3 favorites]


Increasing the size of the thumbnail images (which are pointless to begin with), was mistake number one.
posted by davebush at 5:34 AM on June 29, 2017 [3 favorites]


It's got way too much whitespace. Looks like it was designed with a phone in mind, in portrait, not a larger screen, in landscape. It's really quite sparse and thin looking on a PC monitor. A single column of text taking up maybe 1/3 of the horizontal real estate, possibly less.

Why is it so hard for designers to understand that this isn't 1996 and not everyone has a 800 px wide screen anymore? Why is it so hard to make multiple columns so the title widths are legible? Newspapers and print had this figured out centuries ago. I've never understood why web designers are so allergic to more than one column of content especially when most every laptop has 200+ dpi screens now.
posted by bonehead at 7:10 AM on June 29, 2017


Given that I artisanally curate African business news 3 to 5 times a week, today Imma gonna have to do a serious rethink of my approach and strategy.
posted by infini at 8:07 AM on June 29, 2017


Well considering this is the first update of the look in a long time, I am guessing that under the hood it was a mess of crappy old code and they had to rebuild it.

They did the same thing to Gmail a while back, and I was annoyed, but only mildly because I use a desktop client anyway. And oddly guess what in a short period of time I got used to it.

My only major complaint with most Google properties is that they are explicitly NOT trying to smush desktop into mobile. If you hit the mobile version of one of their sites, half the functionality disappears unless you explicitly request the desktop version. Trying to use one of the features that SHOULD work (because it is a web interface and I am using a mobile device that has a fully capable web browser) just prompts me to install an app.

Fuck off with the apps, Google. You can't build it as a web interface and still convince me that I need an app to make it work on the web. The ONLY time I do that is for shit like Facebook, where logging in to their website leaves a shit-ton of cookies that will track me forever across every site I visit, unlike an app where I can explicitly deny it access to my contacts or photos or location services and know it isn't spying on me when it isn't open.
posted by caution live frogs at 9:27 AM on June 29, 2017


They just refashioned Chrome's settings interface in the same way. Sigh.
posted by grumpybear69 at 10:42 AM on June 29, 2017


Ah, but you can disable it by turning off "Enable Material Design settings." Phew!
posted by grumpybear69 at 10:45 AM on June 29, 2017


Update: Here's the surprise - there's a boatload of diverse news sites out there, but direct search set for 24 hours and lots and lots of pages down is how to reach them. I'd hate to call this new blingy thing masquerading under an old established news brand any names but...
posted by infini at 12:28 PM on June 29, 2017


I hate it. So much wasted space. So much unnecessary scrolling. No way to refine a search by time (when you're not logged into Google, anyway).

I may have to investigate (gulp) Bing.
posted by pmurray63 at 3:51 PM on June 29, 2017


Anyone finding any other decent alternatives? I can't believe how much worse this is.

Here's an interesting comment from divzilla at reddit:
The trick to get the old design is:
User Agent: "Opera/9.80 (S60; SymbOS; Opera Mobi/499; U; ru) Presto/2.4.18 Version/10.00" and no JavaScript
I configured this PHP Proxy script with this settings: http://lightwavers.com/php/google_news_proxy/
;)
This does show me the old-style page ... though I had to switch it from German edition*, and of course it doesn't have my personalization. I don't understand how this works.

* not sure if everyone sees it in German, or just me for some reason, bc I'm in Greece
posted by taz at 4:32 AM on July 2, 2017 [2 favorites]


It's weird, it just suddenly happened, and just simple no javascript is working for me and I'm staying logged out but actually getting better quality results than previously logged out

hand curated something something is the google tweet making the rounds, oh yeah, no heroics here, we don't stay up all night fighting fires, no sirree, nothing to see here at all, move along now...
posted by infini at 12:29 PM on July 2, 2017


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