One of the things that many of us “old timers” miss, when it comes to accessing our news publications online, is that sweet and tactile ability to simply skim the pages.  Most of us have spent many a lazy and lingering moment idly flipping pages and reading opening paragraphs in a hunt for something that more fully consumed our attention.  It is hard to do that online with so much being thrown at you at once.  At least one publisher is trying to recapture a little of that old glory.  The venerable New York Times has launched its new Skimmer!

Launched today, the New York Times Skimmer is designed to recreate that experience of leisurely paging through the paper.  Granted, it is not nearly as tactile. However, it certainly is a fantastic interface.  The grid-like presentation gives you a smattering of headlines and accompanyiong summaries for each section of the paper.  You choose the section from tabs on the right and simply browse the headlines.

Skimmer is actually a web-based application, not a site per se.  It is optimized to work with rious browsers and gives users some degree of control over the display options.  A particulalry neat feature is the text itself. Skimmer is using the actual NY Times fonts!  Thanks to some real innovation at the New York Times, reading the news could yet again become a pleasure!

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Photo of John DiGilio John DiGilio

As an information professional and visionary, John DiGilio has over 20 years of large law firm library and legal information vendor experience. He has proudly been affiliated with some of the largest law firms and information vendors in the industry. An award winning…

As an information professional and visionary, John DiGilio has over 20 years of large law firm library and legal information vendor experience. He has proudly been affiliated with some of the largest law firms and information vendors in the industry. An award winning writer and popular speaker, John believes in the value of information and the power it can bring when harnessed wisely and efficiently.

John is the Firmwide Director of Library Services for Sidley Austin LLP. He has written for numerous regional and national publications as well as taught college and graduate courses in such topics as business ethics, e-commerce, fair employment practices, research methodology and business law.