One of the big “web 2.0″ pushes seems to be for simplicity in home page design. So I completely agree with Howard Owens, who wrote before the Thanksgiving Holiday: Build simpler home pages.
Newspaper.com sites need to be less confusing, offer more direct choices, and recognize that the home page isn’t the only gateway into a web site (in other words, we don’t need to cram ever last link onto that single, beleaguered default index page).
This can be especially true with college sites powered by College Publisher, as many of the sites seem to riff on templates from other sites. That said, I was impressed when I saw a recent redesign of the Iowa State Daily homepage. Click the thumbnail to see a screenshot of the page.
The colors are bright, the buttons easy to find, and the sections are clearly delineated. Also, the featured story module switches out stories every five seconds. This can get annoying if you’re on the page for long, but it’s the right idea. Also, the section pages don’t live up to the promise of the home page, as right now they are just lists of stories with teasers.
on Nov 26th, 2006 at 9:54 pm
The Michigan Daily’s new website is pretty good. Pretty much as clean and simple as you can get.
www.michigandaily.com