The New York Times announced today the release of Times Skimmer, a new application for NYTimes.com that provides online readers with the layout and experience of paging through a newspaper, designed to make it easy to browse through headlines and discover stories deep within sections of the Web site. Times Skimmer displays a collection of headlines and short summaries of articles in a grid layout.
The application is designed to fit and move for optimal viewing on different screen sizes and browsers. Readers can select from seven different display options to choose the layout that best meets their interests and preferences. The fonts displayed in Times Skimmer are the same fonts found in The New York Times newspaper, marking the first time these fonts have been introduced on NYTimes.com.
“Times Skimmer presents the news in an elegant and interesting way that brings the serendipity that readers appreciate from the newspaper to NYTimes.com,” said Denise Warren, senior vice president and chief advertising officer, The New York Times Media Group and general manager, NYTimes.com. “With this application, we are giving our online readers another way to view the latest news and updates in a choice of formats that best suit their preferences.”
Times Skimmer introduces a new custom advertising position that is integrated into the design to move seamlessly with the layout and navigation.
Times Skimmer features the following seven display options:
- Stories displayed in a grid
- Content displayed based on editorial ranked feeds
- Headlines displayed in a list
- Content presented in the classic typeface Helvetica
- Content displayed against a black background
- Headlines and brief summaries displayed in a wrap-around format
- Headlines, bylines and brief summaries displayed in a design similar to word magnets for refrigerators.
A prototype of this application was introduced in February 2009. This new version includes enhancements made based on feedback from beta users. You can read more about those updates and reader comments on The First Look blog: http://www.nytimes.com/firstlook
