Sports Illustrated’s website is a modern marvel, in that it seems to drive people away from the good work that’s squished between various modules and distractions. The site is so bad that Sports Illustrated’s biggest name, Peter King, now tweets out an alternate version of a hyperlink to pieces on his own website. In recent weeks, he’s started distributing the Google AMP (accelerated mobile pages) link, telling readers it will be a cleaner and provide better user experience.
It’s a bad look for the company (not for King himself!) to have its flagship writer sending out tweets like this:
Or this one:
Or these:
And this:
The AMP version strips the site down to text, photos, and a header video, meaning all advertisements are gone. King is right: it’s a much better reading experience, but using AMP links shouldn’t be the only way for readers to get a pleasant reading experience. The saddest thing about all of this is that the current version of SI’s website is actually an improved version of what used to be a much worse interface. Maybe it’s time for another redesign.