STLToday has its new homepage up. From seeing the news page yesterday, I envisioned it would look better. I was wrong. It’s big. Really big. Wide and long. A sea of high-contrast. Why so much same size, no leading, bold type?

I guess you can say it’s newspaper-like because of its size, but it’s certainly not good web. Above the fold is prime web real estate. Could more space be wasted at the top? The feature callout in the center is weak, but I see Flash is suitable for their advertisers now. There’s inconsistent use of section headers. No hierarchy of content other than placement. What’s with the random colors in the “What You’re Looking For” section?

With all the fine examples of news sites and portals out there how can anyone think this design is acceptable? I give them a ‘F’.

STLToday, stop trying to design this site yourself. You don’t have what it takes. Hire professionals. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper was recently redesigned by professionals and it looks good. Do the same for this. Please!