Thank you Huff Post for adding Classic View to your iPad app!

the new & improved classic version

A few days ago I got an update notice that Huff Post had released their iPad app version 3.0. After downloading it and starting up, I was met by the choice of selecting Glide or Classic mode. Whew! I had given up using their iPad app and was just browsing in Atomic Web instead. The previous version 2.0 was based on a picture-driven visual orgy, sliding, gliding, "look what you can do with an iPad" interface which was completely useless and over-the top. It was like their developers drank way too much Jolt cola or Red Bull (or maybe both) and went crrrraaaazy!

All credit to innovation but this (and you too CNN if you're listening) reminded me of when digital video effects (DVE) boxes came into television production in the 80's. Picture in picture effects flying around your TV screen, spinning with stardust trails and light effects gleaming across hundreds, thousands of page turns in every newscast, sports scoreboard, local car advert... STOP!

Magazines are meant to be read. News images are meant to support the story, not be icons or the center of some navigation paradigm. Faces covering the screen with small text underneath in a video-wall look and feel scaled down to a 9-inch tablet? Really? I love eye candy but when it grossly sacrifices function for form it just ain't right. Keep it classic, elegant, familiar, and readable and limit new touch features to ease of use functionality and menu structure. With classic view I can now get back onboard.