Wow, surprised that there's no comments here yet about the visual design of this page. I really enjoyed the long, scrollable page, with readable typography and just the right amount of flair with the headings. It's also a well implemented responsive design.
This type of long, scrollable design seems to be growing in popularity these days -- e.g. the NYTimes Tunnel Creek article [1] or AirBnB's annual report [2], and I think it's a good trend. Even though this NPR page has less special effects than those other two examples, it's still a fantastic reading experience, and I'll take it over a standard paginated article any day.
I came to say the same thing. Also, nobody mentioned the "scrolling window" effect on the images behind the headings. One problem is that it doesn't show up with paging (Page keys or scroll wheel), only with smaller scrolling increments.
As as counter-example, I continue to be baffled by expired pages here on HN. The parent comment is "below the fold" so I clicked on more comments, read a dozen comments, clicked on the AirBnB link, and by then--about 5 minutes, the Reply button (after typing in my comment, not the reply link below the parent) was expired. I had to back up to the first page of comments, click on more comments again, and then I was able to submit my reply.
Agreed. This is a fantastic presentation of long-format text. The balance between readability, design, and imagery is very well done. I would love to see more journalistic publishers take a leaf from this book.
This type of long, scrollable design seems to be growing in popularity these days -- e.g. the NYTimes Tunnel Creek article [1] or AirBnB's annual report [2], and I think it's a good trend. Even though this NPR page has less special effects than those other two examples, it's still a fantastic reading experience, and I'll take it over a standard paginated article any day.
[1] http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2012/snow-fall/#/?part=tunne... [2] https://www.airbnb.com/annual/