Question 1:
What is Pacing?
"Pacing relates to all the elements in online news presentation"
Good pacing allows readers to comprehend the information displayed before being moved onto the next. Paul Rand would say that this is the "Synthesis of Form and Content" - the closest definition of Graphic Design*.
Question 2:
True or False: A reader spends more time with a print edition than they do with an online news presentation.
False. "Edit: A Guide to Layout and Design" states that research done by the Poyner institute suggests that the readers who consume news from websites spend more time then those who read print.
Question 3:
What are some tools that online designers create in layouts that help readers
remember key information?
Alternative story forms, such as Q&A formats, timelines and fact boxes.
Point summaries in stories have also been used on the abc (abc.net.au) websites stories.
An easy to use navigation bar with a focus on both accessibility and options.
Question 4. Simplicity equation?
Clear Links + Identifiable location = happy readers.
Question 5. What is the first thing someone sees and the most important element of your site when the viewer logs on?
The navigation bar. A good navigation bar must reflect the purpose of the website, and the actions that the editor wants the reader to take. In this way the navigation bar can be used as a traffic guidance tool, with the most important and content appropriate links being featured on the left side.
This blog post was heavily paraphrasing the book "Edit: A Guide to Layout, Design & Publication" By Scott Downman.
Another great resource that relates to many of the principles featured in this post and relates much more in deapth to the synthesis between content and form is "Universal Principles of Design" by William Lidwell, Kritina Holden and, Jill Butler
*Paul Rand on Graphic Design: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yOjts0tpco
