An infinite scrolling news site I actually like.

ESPN’s new site design, which it launched last week, is the strongest implementation of infinite scrolling that I’ve yet seen. More and more sites seem to be moving in this direction, and while I’m not convinced that it’s ideal for every content provider, it does seem to fit sports perfectly.

The new site was launched April 1, which seems like a weird day to do that until you realize it was the twentieth anniversary of espn.com. The new site isn’t an equivalent leap online, but it does feel like a major step forward.

ESPN has clearly been working on this for a while. Conceptually, a lot of the design ideas that ESPN implemented here have been tested on ESPN FC, the company’s soccer vertical. That site—rolled out last year, just in time for the World Cup—also features infinite scrolling on both the front page and the news pages. (more…)