'Globe and Mail' Redesigns Web Sites

By: Jay DeFoore The Globe and Mail in Toronto has redesigned globeandmail.com and its affiliated Web sites.

In a note to readers explaining the changes, globeandmail.com Editor Angus Frame says the new sites benefit from improved horizontal navigation, a new logo, and a new approach to color that "uses more white space than before to create a simple, consistent and modern reader experience."

On Friday, the site began soliciting comments on the redesign, and by Monday afternoon more than 500 readers had weighed in, many saying they're befuddled by the online changes.

YOU BE THE JUDGE Like what they've done with the site? Or are the colors all wrong and font use uninspired? E-mail us with your thoughts on this or any of the other recent newspaper.com redesigns. Digital media consultant Susan Hardin offers insights into what's implied by font color choices, why clear labeling matters, and much more. Jay Small, the director of online content and operations at E.W. Scripps Newspapers, and Jeff Johns, online producer at MCall.com, offer up their views on Web design. See who else has redesigned recently.

"I love all of it and am pleased at how engaged our users are with the site," Frame tells E&P. "It looks like it's about 40% positive to 60% negative. I am comfortable with that.

Frame says he's anxious to analyze data from Omniture, the Web analytics software he's installed on the redesigned sites, because he'd "rather know what people actually do than only hear what they say."

Adrian Norris, a designer who has been with The Globe and Mail since February 2000, led the redesign, with help from the paper's Tim Hellum, Mike Pletch, and Craig Saila.

Norris and Frame will be online Tuesday from 1-2 pm EST to answer reader questions about the redesign.

The Globe and Mail averages 3.5 million unique visitors a month.