Ugh...

ESPN has blown it with a new website.

The obtrusiveness of the shimmering ads and constant motion therein is ugly, another instance of a site not leaving well-enough alone.

"New and Improved" has never been so damaging to the cause.

Another site I go to often, CommonDreams, plugged in a similar new design last year, though they made a quick amendment and ditched a ridiculous home page that made the hunt for content too challenging--or as in my case too much like work.

The site works okay for me now, largely because it is donor-driven and not reliant on ads, but the small fix did wonders as well.

If you look at the ESPN site you'll note the larger, flash-driven ads are no longer innocent sidebar attractions, but full-scale assaults on your senses with a column-width nearly the size of the text space.

The site's new, more aggressive ad world accentuation is not my cup of tea.

I'll be going there less often these days.


TS