BBC.com recently revamped their website incorporating altering green black blue and white color scheme. The layout is simple, easy to use and graphics and photography driven. When I visit the site, I know what story is leading the day and navigating the boxes. Although the stories don't include the lead - or the first few lines of the story - I find it easy to manage. And the jaunty analogue clock in the top right corner provides the English branding the BBC is famous for.
Each time I access the New York Times online, it feels like a newspaper has just landed on the doorsteps of my desktop. The top half of the narrow and long page resembles the above-the-fold front page of almost every popular newspaper in America. Text reigns supreme here as if it say "we have a lot to say and it's all really important!" But in a medium where space is virtually infinite, cramming text in columns and around photographs seems simply to remind readers, "hey, this is the New York Times."
But the most popular news blog, The Huffington Post, seems to find a happy medium while maintaining its own brand and look. With images being the attention grabber for viewers, the website acknowledges that the majority of online consumers consume pictures, and consume them well. But the site has something to say about text. In the true blog fashion, fonts and font sizes collides into each other with no real purpose or organization. Although full of character, I don't think it is the best way to convey legitimacy. And the fact that it takes me a whole 2 minutes to scroll all the way through the several pictures to the bottom does not prove friendly to those with low connection speeds.
Legitimacy is key online. When any Tom, Dick, Harry can buy some server space and publish any information he feels necessary, layout and professionalism is the one opportunity news agencies can tell the world, "Hey, we're different! We're legit! Look how much time, effort, and money we put in our layout!"
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