Six simple design changes The Daily Caller should make today…
Posted by PJ Doland on January 11, 2010
- The Arial is out of hand. I understand that it’s a web safe typeface. That still doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to use it for your masthead. Since you’re already willing to render the text as an image, you can definitely find something better. In fact, almost anything would be better (even some cliché blackletter). And please don’t use Arial for those feature headlines if you’re going to make them that large. The kerning is atrocious, which you can see in the example below if you look at the awkward space between the “Pa” and the “Fo”:
- It’s true that there’s no “above the fold” on the web. That doesn’t mean it’s OK to have a feature graphic and headline so large that a visitor can’t even see the whole image when their browser resolution is set to 1024 x 768. And yes, it’s bad when Drudge does it. Save that kind of thing for V-I Day, should we ever be so lucky.
- Kill the scrolling news ticker at the top of the page. This isn’t 1998 and your website isn’t a cable television news channel. Professional designers stopped using scrolling marquees for a reason.
- Show me bylines on all the news items in the center column of the homepage before I click through to the story–even if it shows you’re running syndicated content.
- You’re a new publication and you’re not established enough to get away branding your inside pages by just showing “The DC” in the upper left corner of the page. Show the full name of the site.
- The line-height should be increased on all body text to make the copy easier to read.
