He highlights the washingtonpost.com home page, which on a particular day had 217 links, including 42 headlines and 52 section headings, as well as four photos, two ads, a popup menu, four text fields and other assorted items.

"Does a news site really need several hundred elements on its home page?" wondered Outing. "Are design rules for the Web so different from print that online publishers can routinely toss hundreds of elements on a single page and not overwhelm the audience?"

Print-style editorial decision-making could help tame these "link farms" by presenting only a few headlines that editors think are the most important, he said. Assuming 10 percent of a Web site’s content generates 90 percent of traffic, Mr Outing said perhaps "10 percent of the most popular content is what’s best to include on a home page."

The website Editors and Publisher published Mr Outing’s observations and remarks< To read this article, go on http://www.mediainfo.com/editorandpublisher/features_columns/article_display .jsp?vnu_content_id=1750692

Source: Ifra Centre for Advanced News Operations