Yahoo Ruins TV Listings, Goes Beta with AJAX and Web 2.0 Colors
For a long time I have used Yahoo TV to get my television schedule information. I was able to easily find out what was playing, in a clean and easy-to-read format. There weren’t any unnecessary bells and whistles, until now. Apparently Yahoo TV has been redesigned, and according to the logo it is now in beta. The new site focuses more on television news and video clips from upcoming shows, trying to remake itself into an entertainment portal complete with the over-the-top Flash and AJAX we would expect
Why does every well crafted and reliable site need to be reinvented? The site now uses Javascript everywhere to load sections of the schedule as you scroll the page. The page loads 10 channels at a time, causing a severe delay as each new section is loaded as you go down the page. This makes the page longer and filled with more ads, as there is an ad after each section. As each section of stations loads there is a significant stopage where you can’t even scroll the page and your browser becomes unresponsive as the information is loaded. This happened in both Firefox and Internet Explorer, and it is completely unacceptable. Here is a picture of the next panel loading:
With Javascript off nothing shows on the page. There is no message, and no alternative non-Javascript mode. I also wonder if this new page is accessible to the blind. With this new design also comes lots of light blues reminiscent of every “Web 2.0″ site out there. Good job Yahoo, way to be original.
Here are small screenshots of both versions, courtesy of Google Desktop. I couldn’t get a better one of the old tv listings grid, so I chose to keep them both small. The original is on the left, and the beta is on the right. You can see that the original provided more information in less space, and it was extremely fast.
My advice to Yahoo: bring back the grid. Until then I will be using AOL Television’s TV Listings or Zap2it’s (which powers AOL’s TV listings), though neither has the fully concise layout that is easy to quickly scan. AOL’s is almost there but they have too much space above the fold and above the TV listings.
Wrote on November 30, 2006 @ 4:06 pm
[...] Jason Blogs [...]
Wrote on November 30, 2006 @ 6:55 pm
Man, is the new format ever freaking awful!
I used to count on the yahoo tv listing too.
I have a T1 and it still frustrating to wait for the Javascript to load.
You could click on a station and see the entire day’s (or beyond) listing… that feature is gone.
Yahoo ruined the stock message boards a few months ago also.
Thanks for the alternative sites, Excite TV has a grid listing as well fwiw… but you can’t edit channels to show “favorites”.
I hope Google gets up and running as a full portal soon, I’m complete ready to leave Yahoo now.
Wrote on December 1, 2006 @ 9:25 am
[...] Jason Blogs » Yahoo Ruins TV Listings, Goes Beta with AJAX and Web 2.0 Colors (tags: yahoo) [...]
Wrote on December 3, 2006 @ 3:22 am
BETA yahoo SUCKS. If this beta is bad I worry the rest of their betas may be big trouble too!
Wrote on December 7, 2006 @ 11:51 pm
The first day Yahoo switched over, I actually loaded the front page and couldn’t find the listings at all. Eventually I did discover them, but not until after I decided that just channel surfing was inherently easier than dealing with Yahoo.
Wrote on December 8, 2006 @ 12:29 am
this is terrible! it is hard to use and just bad in all ways! bring back the old listings pleaseeeeeeeee! i an using aol listings as long as this new beta listings are on yahoo. bad move!
Wrote on December 26, 2006 @ 6:56 pm
Man, I’m glad I’m not the only one who’s noticed this. Even with a blazing connection, this comes up like the old days on a 28k modem. I’m using AOL now–never thought I’d use them for anything.
What really irriates me is that I can’t tie my tv selections into my calendar and that I wasted all that time rating movies on Yahoo!
I wonder if this is the doing of the new Yahoo management team or a good-bye present from the old one.
If anyone has found anything like the old Yahoo! listings, please post them!!!
Wrote on December 7, 2009 @ 11:15 am
I am new to network usage. I used yahoo TV listings for info/schedule,then it changed.I am now using aol listings out of neccessity.I liked the previous yahoo schedule more, but…
Wrote on December 7, 2009 @ 11:21 am
I found solution