Trial and Error

The Official Launch

May 1, 2007 11:46 AM

Since yesterday ABCnews.com was still unofficial, let’s stop by again today for the official launch of the revamped site and see if anything has changed. (Read: improved.)

I scroll through the main headlines on the left hand side of the home page, clicking through the various headline stories and landing on Google’s response to Viacom’s lawsuit. That link takes me to a page fully devoted to the story. That’s a pretty cool feature—the main AP story is surrounded by user feedback options, such as comments, discussions and voting on the topics. There is even related video and I really like the idea of that. I watch the video, which is actually not that related after all. The video is simply a “World News Webcast” that recaps the top Google searches for the day. Still, it’s a nice touch.

But I’m still not convinced the site is making the best use of video it can. I feel like video is hard to find. So after I watch the Google search video, I click on a link for “more videos.” And finally, finally, finally I am back at that feature of the ABCnews.com that I once truly enjoyed—the ABCNews.com video window with its playlist, channels, and most viewed options.

Finally.