CNN just posted a iphone app on itunes, and its getting quite the stir of attention right now. They really revamped the idea of a news app for the iphone, with saving articles, live video* and the iReport features built into the app. I think the price is fairly nice, $2 for such a large amount of app development work and a nice app is a pretty good deal. BUT….it has ads, and when you read the reviews on itunes, its like a wild witch hunt right now. CNN, people do not like paying for an app, then getting ads. I know where you are coming from with this, cough cough business model. CNN, ads in a pay app is a no-no, and you just pissed off thousands of people in the first week of launch.
Second, what in the world is with the news articles being white text on a black background? Its bad, backwards and hard to read. Next update, give me articles on a white background or at least the option. I posted a quick mockup (invert) of the way the article SHOULD be read, black text on white. For the love of god, fix this, right now I don’t even want to read the articles. This is a news app, not a twitter app.
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Maybe the black background version eats less battery?
Thanks for sharing Paul, I agree with the fact that there should be no ads if its a paying app, I think eventually (and thanks to people responses/ bad reviews) they will have to realize this the bad way.
I will however, would like to respectfully disagree with your comment on black backgrounds. There is 2 possible options on this subject, and while I’m probably with the minority, I would like to state than when I’m looking at any screen (which is by definition a source of light) I want to have the minimum source of light aiming at my eyes, this is the same reason why I use my computer screen on minimum brightness every time I can, its the same reason why I dimmed the entire interface in Adobe After Effects (making it dark gray) and I can’t wait till we get that option on all software.
And this has nothing to do with battery performance, I think it has to do with vision performance, less headaches, and possibly reduce our chances of having to wear glasses when working at the computer.
My 2 cts
I agree. User test it or come up with logic behind the reason but black and white reads just as legibly as white on black - even in your example, the left one looks easier on the eye.
Whenever I read a long set of white text on a black b-ground I get an inverted imprint of the text in my field of vision when I look away. I know I can’t be the only one that gets a headache from this.