 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Jam Packed...Like Sardines By Pat McKenna
Strangely, the same editorial process has not migrated to the Web. Even the Nation's most venerable newspapers offer readers little more than cluttered, virtually unusable, front pages. Editorial discretion, the hallmark of true journalism, has manifested itself as an anachronistic concept online. "All the News That's Fit to Print" has become "All the News Will Always Fit," valuable or not. Needle in a Digital Haystack The numbers tell the story. Using the Nieman Journalism Lab's Top 15 Newspaper Web sites for 2008,1 here are the total front page headlines from a random selection of five, top-rated newspaper Web sites:
How can one truly evaluate the overall quality of a newspaper Web site without paying attention to how long it takes for the average visitor to actually find a quality story when they have to sift through 100+ headlines? When The Wall Street Journal redesigned the newspaper in 2007, it published an eight page reader's guide to walk subscribers through the new design. "Good newspaper design," the guide states, "has always been a combination of utility and aesthetics. But never has getting that mix right been more important...Today’s readers are inundated with information, 24 hours a day...they want both substance and efficiency." Why is that philosophy not present on the WSJ front page, which upon a recent visit boasted 113 headlines? Users will always demand "substance," (especially from The WSJ), but there's nothing "efficient" about presenting scores of headlines for their consideration. Something Old, Something New Criticisms, without more, are merely rants. Here are three solutions for online editors to consider:
There you have it. So, online editors, crack that sardine can, drain the oil and get to work!
Footnotes 1 Rankings for the 5 listed papers were 1; 4; 3; 8 and 15, respectively. 2 Although marketers continue to use banner ads, that doesn't mean that they are reaching or even engaging end users. One need only consider such phenomena as "banner blindness" and "F-shaped" reading patterns to understand the continued, dismal performance of banners across both newspaper and other commercial Web sites.
|
The newspaper is nothing short of brilliant. Seasoned editors strategically place the day's most important news on the front page, above or beneath the fold, and each proceeding section follows the same layout. Sometimes heated discussions among those same editors generates each placement decision. It's journalistic Darwinism on display each morning or afternoon for the benefit of you, gentle reader. 