Washington Post for iPad is a bit hard on the eyes

I've been using the Washington Post for iPad app since it was released earlier this week. It's nice to see the Post jump into the dedicated iPad app competition, but while there are some things to like about the app, there is also a lot I find extremely disappointing.

The good first. Most, but not all of the Post is here. The reporters, bloggers, and columnists are in full force. The app content updates frequently, and there is an excellent multimedia section with both images and video. The Post has embraced social media, and you can see what people on Twitter and Facebook are saying about the big stories. When you bring up a story, you can also see stories from other media, like NPR and the Christian Science Monitor. That's a good idea, and lets you see a range of coverage on a subject. The Post calls this Live Topic and it's a clever innovation.

Now, ahem, on to the bad. This app has the ugliest, most confusing layout I have ever seen. The screens are very busy. Nothing is intuitive, and there is no help or video explaining how to navigate. The designers of this app appear to have decided to invent their own GUI, throwing away just about every convention ever invented to make navigation easy. It's impossible to read a story full screen without other elements intruding, either ads or Twitter feeds or who knows what. Comments about this design on the app store are overwhelmingly negative.

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The app needs a search function but there is none. Some sections, like Technology, are missing here but are available on the iPhone version of the app. Several times the app seemed to lose its internet connection, yet my network was working fine. The app is free until February 15, 2011, at which time it will be US $3.99 a month, or $.99 a month for Post subscribers. The app requires registration, and some users are finding the process fails to work properly.

I want to like this app, but I really don't. It is unpleasant to use and to read. There are just too many elements on a page. I want to concentrate on the content, but there are so many gimmicks and little boxes on the screen it makes that impossible. Some commenters like the app, so you have to try it and see if it works for you. As far as I'm concerned, this app needs a major re-think and someone to design it who actually wants to read the news, rather than be buried by intrusive on-screen elements.

[Full disclosure - I spent many happy years working for the Washington Post Company in the 80s and early 90s. I know it can do better than this.]