Notable Differences Between News Websites and Blogs The New York Times has one of the more well-known grid-based layouts. The grid is a popular choice not only because of the sharp look it creates but because it’s one of the most effective ways to manage and organize a large amount of content. Newspaper websites are commonly built with grid-based designs. This allows for more control by users over what content and links they see, and it can save space in the design by making more content accessible in a specific area. This is sometimes used in the sidebar, and other times in the main content area, such as on Wired. Many news websites use tabbed content areas that allow visitors to see popular articles, recent articles, most commented articles, etc. The Times Online uses a two-level navigation menu. The New York Times and MSNBC are two of the exceptions, as they both use the left sidebar for the main navigation. The Telegraph uses a 730 by 90 pixel banner over its header.Īlthough there are a few notable exceptions to this trend, most news websites put their primary navigation menu just below the header and above the content. Many of the websites mix in some AdSense or other text link ads. While blogs commonly use 125 by 125 pixel banners in sidebars, news websites commonly use 300 by 250 banners or tall skyscrapers. Some websites use banner ads on all pages, and others exclude banners on the home page but display them above the header on other pages. Of course, all of these websites need to produce revenue, and banner ads in headers are a key source of income. Times website demonstrates a common color scheme: Some news websites also mix in more colors in other places, such as in the navigation. Red is often used sparingly as an accent color. Blue is extremely common for headlines, article titles and links. A few of the websites mentioned later in this article use darker colors for headers or for the body of the page outside the content.Ī large percentage of news websites also use blue and red in addition to a dark gray or black for text. Obviously, these websites contain a huge volume of content, and readability is important.
Most news websites use dark text on a white background. Award-Winning Newspaper Designs This post is supposed to provide you with some examples of outstanding newspaper designs which have been rewarded with prestigious awards (see references at the bottom of this post), and demonstrate unusual approaches of newspaper design.Ĭommon Trends of Newspaper Websites 2008 1.You may want to take a look at the following related posts: Many of the websites mentioned here are the online versions of major newspapers, but others are standard news websites and some blur the line between news website and blog. In some cases, the ads are somewhat intrusive or excessive, but most news websites are able to use ads without turning readers away, in part because of the content that’s available.įor the purposes of this article, the term “newspaper website” refers to any news-related website that has the editorial focus of an online periodical. Monetization is also a major factor for news websites, and it’s interesting to see how they integrate advertisements in the design. The lessons that can be learned from examining how news websites address these challenges can be valuable for designers who work with other types of websites, including ones with blog theme designs.
Regardless of what type of news they cover, they all face the challenge of displaying a huge amount of content on the home page, which creates plenty of layout, usability and navigational challenges for the designer. News websites can be intriguing to examine from a design perspective.
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