I’ll eventually get used to the new N.Y. Times web design, but right now I hate it. The old-fogey version (i.e., the one that was up just yesterday) was totally fine for me. The new design seems opposed to the storied atmosphere on West 43rd Street or even midtown Manhattan, for that matter. It makes the Times look like a weekly newspaper out of Springfield, Illinois. You can always improve a site internally by streamlining links and improving search functions, but if it looks good and bears a comfortable resemblance to the print version and everyone’s down with it, why mess around? All that white space seems so undisciplined and purposeless. Plus the lack of compactness in the design, the lame-ass fonts down below, etc. Did the online art department want to do something that would impress their bosses…to show they’re working hard and deserving of their salaries?