February 17, 2003

New ESPN site, now. I'm not sure if I like it, but I sure do like ESPN Motion, EI, and the new polls.

posted by Bag Man to other at 08:42 PM - 24 comments

I think the Motion thing is pretty damn sharp, clear picture, and it loads amazingly fast. I wonder how they pulled off that no buffering...

posted by insomnyuk at 10:51 PM on February 17, 2003

Any website with automatic sound is crap. I often have my computer speakers up loud due to listening to music. That said, the new version seems nice. All I need is a front page link to the Daily Quickie. Good cap of the headlines if I can't catch a full SC in the morning.

posted by t0mzilla at 11:27 PM on February 17, 2003

Yea, the motion thing is pretty cool. Loads pretty quick too!

posted by jasonspaceman at 06:48 AM on February 18, 2003

I know there was a link to an all text version of the front page somewhere before the redesign, now I can't seem to find it..

posted by corpse at 08:28 AM on February 18, 2003

I wonder how they pulled off that no buffering... insomnyuk, they explain it here. It is pretty cool ...

posted by smithers at 11:06 AM on February 18, 2003

Give ESPN feedback here.

posted by Bag Man at 11:32 AM on February 18, 2003

insomnyuk, they explain it here. It is pretty cool ... Anyone notice what time it is in that screenshot?

posted by yerfatma at 02:54 PM on February 18, 2003

corpse: I don't know if this is what you are referring to, but I just found it and I like it much better than their new or old front page.

posted by pfuller at 02:58 PM on February 18, 2003

Yes, it was similar to that, looks like they redesigned it a bit, but I still prefer it! Thank you pfuller! *bookmarks*

posted by corpse at 03:13 PM on February 18, 2003

Now if they would just ditch the Orbitz pop-ups...

posted by Ufez Jones at 03:21 PM on February 18, 2003

yerfatma, nice call.

posted by Bag Man at 03:49 PM on February 18, 2003

I didn't pass the "system test", so it's completely useless to me. The auto-playing sound is completely irritating. Though I do like it how if I view it in Mozilla, the "motion" box is closed, and the Top Story is shown. How the hell do I get it to go directly to the Top Story in IE? Pretty slick, regardless.

posted by mkn at 09:26 PM on February 18, 2003

And why the hell is that whole right side news area all Flash? That could have easily been done in basic HTML -- hell, it even is made to look like HTML. Ahh forget, I'm not going to get started.

posted by mkn at 09:31 PM on February 18, 2003

Anyone notice what time it is in that screenshot? Didn't escape me. It's probably a nod (called a "shout-out", I believe) to their resident hippie, Bill Walton.

posted by msacheson at 11:18 PM on February 18, 2003

It's probably a nod (called a "shout-out", I believe) to their resident hippie, Bill Walton. I imagine they've got some PhotoShop monkey working at $8/hour who picks his spots, because it's not the first time I've seen something like it at ESPN.com. Still doesn't beat the ad I saw for an alarm clock in the SkyMall catalog (the horrible thing you open after hour 8 of a flight). I'll take my entropy where I can get it.

posted by yerfatma at 07:16 AM on February 19, 2003

Until it is no longer PC/IE-only, ESPN Motion sucks. I haven't used IE in almost a year and a half, and I don't plan on going back, thank you very much...

posted by turacma at 07:48 AM on February 19, 2003

Hey! they changed the headline links to not be in flash. This is good. Now if they could just stop making espn motion pop up as the main story instead of making the actual "Top Story" the first thing you see.

posted by corpse at 10:54 AM on February 19, 2003

I think I'll bookmark the lite version instead: http://lite.espn.go.com

posted by mkn at 02:55 PM on February 19, 2003

THANK YOU for that link. I'll bm that now instead, the hell with the "good" site... which, incidentally, is now giving me the "you don't have Flash 5" page, which is completely incorrect. Even the lite page has design errors in Mac IE. (Where's a good vB :rolleyes: smiley when you need one?)

posted by Bernreuther at 03:55 PM on February 19, 2003

Well, for those of us in college, with no access to cable television or ANY ESPN channels, but access to ultra immeasurable high speed internet, this is great. At least I get to see a piece of SportsCenter... watching the Kobe dunk over Yao, Moochie Norris' embarassment of Brian Shaw, and Reggie Miller's buzzer beater is more than I can ask for.

posted by swank6 at 06:19 PM on February 19, 2003

Triumph! They've stopped utterly requiring flash, so I have roughly the old front page back. Yay for the good guys. :)

posted by tieguy at 08:19 AM on February 20, 2003

Well, for those of us in college, with no access to cable television or ANY ESPN channels

No cable at college? What school do you go to? Even in my freshman year dorm I could have gotten cable, but even if you chose not to get cable in your room (like me), the TV in the lounge was ALWAYS on ESPN for SportsCenter in the morning and evenings.

posted by turacma at 10:42 AM on February 20, 2003

Boston University. Cable is not even an option in my dorm, and the only accessable TV that has it is in the student union, which is not a fun walk during winter storms... We have a TV with the best antenna we could find, and we get all Fox, NBC, ABC, CBS, UPN, WB, MTV2 (freak coincidence), and some shopping and Spanish channels. I watch plenty of football, Smallville, and Yu Gi Oh, but no basketball or ESPN. :(

posted by swank6 at 01:28 PM on February 20, 2003

ESPN's art director responded to critiques of the redesign at 37signals and What Do I Know.

posted by kirkaracha at 04:13 PM on February 23, 2003

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