Toronto Star Treating All Browsers like a Smartphone = Crap UI

Headscratching, it is, when I browse on the internet and the site treats me like a smartphone. I’m not on a smartphone, have lots of screen space and do not like the experience. Different pieces of hardware should be treated differently. We are all not smartphones.

The Toronto Star recently changed their web site UI so that all browsers are treated like smartphones. While this is great if you use a smartphone, it breaks all the rules if you are using a regular PC, or even a tablet.

By treating everyone like a smartphone you get really narrow but long pages. There are huge images and very little text. You need to click deeper into the site to even decide if it is worthwhile to read the article. Overall, a regressive vs progressive step.

Hopefully, over time this, too, will pass. Progress for the sake of change is not progress but regress. The Toronto Star proved that today.

Addendum: May 08 2016. I am finding that the media form used by the Toronto Star is really bothering me enough that I wish to not visit their site. This is problematic because I am usually a “function over form” type of person. When a news site overcomes this base personality trait, that says a lot about how bad I rate the site.

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