It is common to find news or magazine website main pages laid out in narrow vertical columns for sectional or contextual organization.
In print…
- High resolution—comparatively easy to read
- Pages are largely vertical in nature
- A person can see and visually take in a large area of content (on a gatefold or newspaper spread) at one time, so many items or department references in a layout are all visible at the same time
- Typically, the section/article index is not a primary area for content consumption
Seldom any need to scan many contextually different sections at one time in one area
For online newspaper/magazine main pages…
- Low resolution—comparatively difficult to read
- The screen is largely horizontal in nature (because of and necessitating scrolling).
- Much of the page content is hidden below or above the visible screen area
- Main page content usually comprises a vast index of content, broken up into distinct and contextually different sections—but this index is a primary content consumption area
- Symmetry is usually detrimental to content hierarchy
- Symmetry diminishes viewer interest
- Having 2 sidebars, one on either side, defeats the purpose of sidebar content
- It requires that site visitors first learn (and perhaps relearn from page to page) where to look for a particular sort of ancillary information or links
- Often results in far too much ancillary information on the page
- The particular sort of visual noise generated by the 2 bracketing sidebars diminishes, rather than enhances, user/reader focus on the main content
