Trial and Error

The Big Play on CNN.com

June 8, 2007 12:44 PM

I am finally kicking the tires on CNN’s beta site at http://beta.cnn.com/ after all my unfulfilled promises all week long.

I click on a few text links for news stories and all looks good there, so now I’m going to run a quick “check” on the site’s video.

My initial impression is the site isn’t terribly video centric. I would think the central picture should be a link to a video piece, but it’s not. You have to comb around a bit before you spy the small “CNN Video” link tucked away in the upper right hand corner.

Oh, but wait a second there folks. Once the video page loads, you know what it’s got? I can’t believe this. It’s almost as if they read my blog. I can barely contain myself, but yes, it’s true. The video has the big play button. Yes, that deliciously inviting arrow button poised in a silhouette over the video. And it works. Major points for CNN.com.

However, the fast forward function barely works. I can only scoot the video ahead a few seconds.

But there’s a plethora of video clips arranged in neat rows and also by category, such as most popular, staff picks and CNN live.

This site needs some work, but definitely has potential.