The BBC has redesigned its homepage with the iPad in mind

The BBC homepage   has just been revamped. Several factors led to this overhaul, the main one being the reduction of budgets. This therefore forced the BBC's web team to review their assets and rethink their approach to the web. As   Erik Huggers'  blog post puts it: “ doing fewer things, better  ” has been the strategy adopted by the BBC. In order to be able to reach this state, they reviewed each of their sites by asking themselves these crucial questions:

• Do we really need this website to meet user needs?
• How well does it help us achieve our (5) editorial priorities?
• How does it differ from what's elsewhere on the market?
• How much does it cost?
• How used and important is it to the public?

By asking these questions iteratively, they were able to gradually merge some sites and remove others to eventually reach a smaller, but better number of sites and implement a  unified strategy  for the first time . .

TAKING THE IPAD INTO ACCOUNT IN THE REDESIGN

The BBC homepage therefore had to reflect this major change that is taking place. However, they seem not to have stopped there. Indeed, they removed the customization options from each of the content boxes to simplify the interface and no doubt because this feature should not be used mainly by users. They also enlarged the size of the characters, the clickable zones and the space between these zones probably to obtain a better adaptability to the iPad and other touch tablets.  

WHY CONSIDER THE IPAD IN THE REDESIGN OF A (CONTENT) SITE?

As Read It Later shows us with the analysis of their service usage data , content consumption is undergoing a shift from the "office" period (8 a.m. to 5 p.m.) towards the "sofa" period ( before and after work). This translation comes from the massive increase in the acquisition of iPads and other tablets by users. Thus, the BBC seems to have been visionary in thinking about the adaptability of their content for the iPad during their redesign rather than having to modify the interface afterwards due to lack of preparation.       

In turn, if you review your website, remember to take into account  these changes  in user behavior so as not to bite your fingers afterwards.