Is the New York Times Skimmer the newspaper format made for iPad?

Savan Thongvanh — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:50:05 +0000

People have been wondering how Apples release of the iPad will “change the game” and what “game” it will change. One of the mediums that will definitely be affected is the newspaper.

The New York Times has a feature now called the New York Times skimmer. There were two features that jumped out at me immediately when I tried it.

One was that Fire Fox got pushed full screen in a widescreen format. This is the way people are used to reading newspapers and now used to consuming anything on a screen so it makes lots of sense.

The other standout was the navigation. The skimmer has a gutter around the main content where the previous and next buttons sit. Also, the main navigation is on the right. The sections in a iPhoney, swipey, smooth sort of way. I completely understand that people are predominately right handed so the right hand navigation makes sense. Even though it’s contrary to how surf and use websites, moving a mouse around a screen is easier then reaching here and there.

All in all I think it’s a very cool way for newspapers to go and wouldn’t be surprised if this was the new paradigm for online newspapers.

Check it out for yourself at http://www.nyt.com

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Is the New York Times Skimmer the newspaper format made for iPad?