You would hope a company as large as Tribune Co. would have performed user testing on the site before it launched the new look, so they may be safe in this design. I think they are.
While it is not obvious at first glance what is a link, the site to me is very learnable and memorable. What I expect to be links, headlines and section names, are in fact links. Given the large number of links on each page, underlining them all would have created a lot of visual clutter. Interestingly, the Chicago Tribune, another Tribune Co. property, recently redesigned its site and uses a very similar information architecture to the LA Times. They almost look like they use the same template. One key difference is the Tribune's links are blue. New York Times uses the same treatment on its website, although with a darker blue than the Tribune. Looking at A List Apart, another site designed to mimic print design, the things I would expect to be links - articles titles, auther names, and global navigation - are in fact links but are not underlined. In the case of blogs and newspaper sites, the navigation conventions used are established enough for these types of sites that the underlining of links can be dropped, especially when mouseover feedback is provided. This might not work for travel or insurance sites but works for blogs and newspapers. Todd is right that as people's comfort with and understanding of the web evolves, the rules of interaction also will evolve. As long as we keep testing this should not be a problem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=44633 ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
