The Huffington Post masters multimedia

Although The Huffington Post is not the place to visit for fair, unbiased news, the blog combines multiple elements in each story to create multimedia packages that keep readers clicking from one link to the next.

Design

Overall, creators of The Huffington Post successfully produced a professional look that makes it stand out from the typical blog that displays plain text and one or two long, skinny columns.

One of the few rules of online writing that the blog does not adhere to is to keep it simple with lots of white space. Instead, there are two rows of tabs on top, three columns of stories, and lots of links scattered throughout. Despite the home page’s abundance of features to click on and lack of white space, the site is not overwhelming or difficult to navigate through.

Here are some other things that work for The Huffington Post’s design:

• Large pictures that include people’s faces. A close-up photo of Sarah Palin practically fills the whole screen when users open up the home page.
  


• Bolding text and using color. All headlines are bold, and the text is even red for the more significant stories.
  
• Active, catchy headlines. “Palin: Katie Couric ‘annoyed’ me” is straightforward, but still piques a reader’s interest.
  

Stories

The Huffington Post improperly labels itself as an “Internet Newspaper” despite its blatant liberal slant as it neglects to tell fair, balanced stories. However, after acknowledging the fact that it is a blog, and stories are therefore subject to opinion and bias, one cannot deny the dynamic stories encourage users to click to their heart’s delight.

The blog includes useful elements such as…

• Video. There are many stories regarding interviews with Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her performance at the vice presidential debate Friday. Each one conveniently allowed users to watch and judge for themselves.
  
  
• Pictures and Slideshows. These elements accompany almost every story on The Huffington Post, adding engaging visuals to the text.

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• Links. At one point, I found myself clicking so effortlessly from one story to the next that I hardly realized I ended up on a different blog. The Huffington Post effectively uses links to keep readers busy with information.