"Screening" the Sunday New York Times at your kitchen table computer will be the thing of the future, maybe....when print newspapers are long gone?

Andre Behrens at the New York Times like to tell a story he often hears from Times' readers: Reading the Sunday Times, spreading out the paper on a table while eating brunch is a weekend ritual in many homes and apartments. For many of the Times' readers, this ritual is fundamental to their enjoyment of the weekend, and its absence would be jolting, according to Behrens.

With this in mind, the Times has created what they call an "article skimmer". Think of it as an attempt to provide the Sunday Times experience anytime on a screen, for those who prefer "screening" over reading on a paper surface. Of course, there are parts the Times admits it cannot replicate: the satisfying crinkle of the material paper itself; the circular stain of one's coffee cup on the paper; and oh yes, the smell of newsprint.

With this new skimmer for "screeners" who like to screen rather then read, the Times is trying to spread as many stories as it can fit into the space of screener's screens. It is easier and more relaxing to scan a surface of information than flip through a stack, so information is laid out in a rigid two-dimensional grid. The sections do not flip into place; instead, they slide up and down. If you want to imagine the whole of the content as a giant uncut scroll of paper, don’t let us stop you.

Welcome to the future? Your guess is as good as mine.

Will anyone read beyond the jump (and pay for the pleasure?)

http://prototype.nytimes.com/gst/articleSkimmer/


The New York Times Article Skimmer is a pretty cool tool which could save loads of time for those who use the website everyday to browse through various news articles under different categories. Its aim is to give you quick access to the headlines thereby saving you the hassle of clicking one link after another. Just pick a category from the sidebar and see the news aggregated on one single page.

It also gives you the option to choose the way you’d like the news to be arranged on the page. It calls them Schemes and you can choose from Priority, Stacked, Giant, Lines, Swiss and many more in the Settings.