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November 28, 2006
Yahoo TV Goes 2.0. Argh.
I use Yahoo's TV listings on a fairly regular basis to see what's on any particular night, and then I usually get distracted and don't get around to watching it. The nice thing about Yahoo's TV listings has been that they were comprehensive, fast, and appropriately detailed. It just worked.Well, Yahoo in its wisdom has launched a 2.0-ified version of its TV listings tonight, complete with an Ajax-y interface, cool blue colors, social rating of programs, etc. That's all swell, and frankly I wouldn't care one way or the other (other than they broke my URL for full listings), but the darn thing is sooooo much slower than the old listings. Tables have to get populated, drop-downs have to ... drop, and sliders have to slide while data creakily loads.
It's really irritating -- so irritating, in fact, that rather then wade back in to find out what time tonight the new Frontline episode is out about credit cards, I think I'll just watch it on the Frontline site.
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No 2.0 here:
http://www.excite.com/tv/data.jsp
yet...
I felt the same way when they changed their stock charts to match Google. Yahoo Finance was nice, clean, and fast. It is now mean, clunky, and slow. They are playing catchup, and it is sad to watch.
It takes about 3 seconds to load for me (about the same as the old version). But afterall, it is a "beta." Speaking of which, I wish yahoo would refrain from labelling stuff "beta"; Thanks to goog, it's now a meaningless word and simply reduced to marketese (replacing the former "NEW!"). One critical factor in the new ajax interface: pulling in the show descriptions without going to another page; while this may be more convenient for users, it equates to fewer page views and ad impressions.
http://tv.yahoo.com/listings
Same thing goes for the new Yahoo! Mail. There's too much going on in the UI and the new technology doesn't properly adapt to my screen resolution, 1920 x 1200, so everything looks tiny.
I switched back to the old mail after a week. While I lose some nice functionality - I appreciate the smooth simplicity.
I don't see the 2.0-ified experience Paul talks about. Instead, I see what I call the 0.2-ified experience.... see what I mean over here:
Hey Paul, you have time to watch TV? Between Vcr and SD, where do you find the time? :)
Anyway, it looks pretty desperate for Yahoo (http://news.com.com/Yahoo+executive+calls+for+staff+cuts%2C+big+changes/2100-1030_3-6137066.html), which may explain all the new-fangled updates to see what sticks with viewers ...
Cheers.
oddly enough, that's exactly why I stick with the old Yahoo mail interface.. the new one is cool-looking but deadly slow. I'm text-based, so probably not part of the target market anyway ;-)
ugh. I hadn't been to the site for the last few days and hadn't seen the changes. I'll never go there again. What's the next best tv app?
Also, 2.0 isn't the problem if it's well conceived and implemented. Google manages to keep all of their apps blazing fast and remarkably intuitive. Ethan's post above is right. They are just playing catchup and making changes for the sake of changes.
With the previous version, I could click on a station and see the entire day’s listing (or beyond) … that feature is now gone.
Even with a T1 it take forever for the page to rebuild and then it must rebuild AGAIN if moving up an hour.
What is WRONG with those people???
I'm really hoping Google becomes a full portal soon.
Amen. Yahoo broke the link and the fastest way to check what is on in prime time 8-11PM in a single view. No way to switch back to the good old way. I am trying to use TVGuide and even Media Center Guide.
I like the way it looks, I always thought the old version looked kind of dull. However, I was quickly soured on the new look when I went looking for some features the old one had, mainly the future airings of a program. I have yet to find another way to get that info as easily. I also miss the fact that only some shows are linked to the listings grid on my Yahoo homepage. I used to get a summay for any show listed there, now it only gives that info for some programs.
Ditto for the new Yahoo Mail interface. At first glance I like it, but it is so slow I always return to the old version. I have tried to switch three time now, and after about a week, I can't take it anymore and switch back.
Enough grumping.
Yeah, I hate the new version. I used to use Yahoo all the time for my listings until the new version. Now I switched to www.titantv.com
I'm not having a speed problem, but my schedule shows the 6:00 pm news at 8 pm on Channel 2. I don't know their intent, but the result is frustration. I could barely tolerate the floating and blinking ads, this current mess should give great opportunity to other content providers.
Ditto Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Maps.
Yahoo! Mail, I have noticed, seems to have lost the capability to distinguish spam from regular mail when it was upgraded.
Yahoo! Maps, like TV, has become so slow it is unusable.
Argh, me too. ;(
Hey, Yahoo! Simplicity: It's a wonderful thing.