I think too often disabled users have to alter their browsing habits to accommodate a website that doesn’t use the web standards that are supposed to help them.

I agree in ESPN’s case this is not a big deal but I fear too many sites do not have the resources of an ESPN to do proper UI design, usability testing and code with standards that enable disabled persons to have a good browsing experience.

A site is accessible if observed user behavior suggests that disabled people can use the site with reasonable ease. If you don’t know how disabled people actually use your site, you have no idea if it’s actually accessible.

I recently had the chance to work with a blind gentleman who may have been better at using the internet than I. Very interesting.

Also, I miss the parquet floors on the BB pages.

As far as red goes, I think there are few ways to use subtle faded reds, also known as pink. What I have found is that the pink feel does go away if you dominate the site with more solid, dark reds than fades. In this case I think they came right to the edge, any less red or any larger on the gradient at the top of the page and it could have looked like a Strawberry Shortcake fan site.

Reading through the user feedback has got to hurt. Then again, don’t be a designer unless you have thick skin.

My best and worst:

Best: Navigation/IA. I’m sure it was the most difficult part of the redesign, but they pulled it off. They really need a delay on the dropdowns though. Super annoying.

Worst: Homepage content. It’s so sparse. I remember on the old site I could spend a minute or two on the homepage and get a really nice overview of what was happening in the sports world. Now I have to work for it. Click this tab. Click that arrow.

I would propose an ESPN Snapshot (TM) block: below the fold, spans the whole page, with a tab for each major sport, dropdown for the rest, containing one major story w/ photo and headline (45% wide), latest headlines (35% wide) and then scores/schedule (20% wide). And it would let me “pin” a sport, or just remember the last one I was on.

Call your old buddies over there. Make it happen :)

1. Exactly. That should tell you something about how “easy” or “not easy” it is. Don’t assume the designers of ESPN.com have control over every bit of code on the site.

2. Yeah, I do. I used to spend quite a bit of time below the fold with the old design.

3. Ha. Good point. But still… it’s pink.

2. Are you sure you mean now? “Because of this, the new ESPN frontpage is now more of a “glance and go” site for me now.”

3. Pink is great: look at the leader or our country … color is no longer a hang up … and ESPN is leading the way on the web by breaking down the color barrier (that is humor folks).

I often surf on slower connections and tried to avoid ESPN because the video make the site klunky for me, so I’m glad to learn of that improvement.

May tomorrow be even sunnier and the sunset be pink.

I don’t think uglifying is a word. When I write it in your comment box, it’s underlined in red so I really don’t think it’s a word.

— benny