STLtoday.com: how not to design a website
May 9th, 2008
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch underwent a redesign this week and the results are very….underwhelming. Now I’m not a designer (I mean look at the design of this site) but I can tell you what works and what doesn’t. This design does not.
A large city newspaper should look at least semi-professional. I’m not sure what the Post is going for with this one. I guess they wanted to “hip it up” and make it all web 2.0-y. But the teal background (ooh look a gradient!), gigantic hover menu, outsized fonts, and confusing page organization kind of miss the point. Really what should the most important part of this site be? Hmm, maybe the ability to easily find and read the content of the paper?
They’ve somehow decided to cram every possible link they have into the navigation menu. Just look at the size of this thing. Talk about obtrusive.
So far the readership has not been kind. Just read the comments on the post announcing the redesign: Frequently asked questions about the new STLtoday. Harsh. Really harsh.
I have higher hopes for the “#1 St. Louis Website.” I can’t even send a link to my friends in LA, Chicago, or gulp even Springfield without cringing. I know I’ll have to explain yes, this is actually our website. No, I don’t think it looks good either. Yes, St. Louis sucks compared to your city.
I don’t know. What do you guys think?
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6 Comments Add your own
1. Matt | May 12th, 2008 at 8:17 am
For a laugh, bring up YSlow on the homepage. I wonder how much money they are throwing out the window on a daily basis in bandwidth costs.
Well done, STLToday, well done!
2. Ryan | May 12th, 2008 at 8:21 am
I can’t find anything on the site anymore! KSDK.com here I come!
3. Nick | May 12th, 2008 at 8:28 am
@Matt – 1367k! The giant header JS is 239k alone. The one bright spot seems to be the images. Most are optimized. At least they have photoshop installed on their machines.
@Ryan – I used to read this site everyday now I can’t figure out where anything is located either. The fact that some links have a hover state and some don’t is confusing. What’s a link? I dunno I guess I’ll just start clicking around….
4. Nick | May 12th, 2008 at 8:31 am
Oh and Drugs, Teens, and Pot are a dangerous mix!
5. Oldangerous | May 15th, 2008 at 8:38 am
I feel like I’m reading a Miami Vice fanzine.
6. NickDozier.com » Bl&hellip | June 26th, 2008 at 10:12 am
[...] already written about my disdain for the STLToday.com redesign. Well I still haven’t gotten over it. The [...]
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