Part of the reason why I finally broke down and bought a smartphone last summer is because I like to read the news while on the go.  I go to the mobile news sites - first stop is usually the Huffington Post - choose an article and start reading. That is, until I have to stop reading because I’ve hit the bottom of the screen and there’s another page, or maybe 3 or 4 or 5 more pages.

These days, just about every news site worth reading has a “Read Full Article” link, but it’s located at the bottom of the first page.  Why don’t the news services put the link at the top of the page?  This way, as soon as the article loads, I can say, “Ah, there are multiple pages. I would like to read them all at once without stopping to go to a new page every 3 paragraphs.”

But, no.  Here’s what happens instead:

1. I get pulled in by the headline;
2. read the first few paragraphs;
3. get to the bottom of the page;
4. get hit with “by the way, there are 4 more pages” links;
5. hit “Read Full Article”;
6. scroll and stopandread;
7. scroll and stopandread…

… so I can make sure I didn’t pass up where page 1 of the article left off.  This is total nonsense and it drives me mad.

Do the people who put these mobile news sites together ever actually use their product?  Regularly?  (I guess this is rhetorical, because it’s pretty clear that they don’t.  Unless these programmers are just sadists.  I am not ruling this out as a possibility.)

Is there a specific reason why this is done?  Am I the only one who feels this way?

Kudos to the Washington Post.  It has the only mobile-friendly news site I’ve come across that puts “Read Full Article” at the top of the page, right under the article title.  The biggest culprits of impeding successful RWM are CNN Mobile and HuffPo Mobile.  You should be ashamed of yourselves for making it harder for your readers to use your service.

HuffPo, you deserve an extra helping of shame because you are also guilty of only posting about the first half of a piece.  You suck us in with those first 3-5 paragraphs and stop telling the story right in the middle.  We only get half the story!  Stop trying to sell us a fabulous pair of pants with only one pant-leg while telling us it’s cutting edge.  It’s not.  It’s just ill-planned and well … stupid.

News companies - shape up your mobile sites already.  “Read Full Article” links belong at the top!