Good vs. Bad Design

Good Design:

The Chicago Sun Times, one of Chicago's main newspapers, has a really good webdesign. The main story from the day's paper is usually front and center on the page. It is also easy to navigate through as links to the other sections are at the top. The front page also allows you to scroll down and find an easily accessible list of the columnists that have written today. Besides the one big story, all its pictures and headlines on the front page are not very big, allowing someone looking for a specific story to scroll through without being overwhelmed by one or two story headlines and/or pictures.



Bad Design:


In direct contrast with the Sun Times web design is Chicago's other paper, the Chicago Tribune. While the Tribune usually has the better content, the front page of its website is much harder to navigate. Unlike the Sun Times, its sections are not at the very top, but on the side. It also has much bigger headlines and much bigger photos on the front page, making it overwhleming if one is trying to search for a specific news story. It also has no links that shows which columnists have written recent columns. (you would have to scroll through the entire list of columnists to find out who wrote when.) The front page is also further cluttered by large advertisements. On news stories, the link to change a story to print form is also located at the very bottom of the article, so one has to scroll to the bottom of the article each time he/she wants to print.