Okay, so The Los Angeles Times just won five Pulitzers. Here's the thing though: With the exception of the occasional Steve Lopez column, I never read the L.A. Times. It's not because I am an anti-L.A. snob (I do live here). It's not because I think the Times sucks (though, boy howdy did it ever used to). It's because I don't read any actual paper newspapers and the Los Angeles Times on the Web is just plain awful. It's hard to navigate, it looks terrible, the login cookie doesn't last very long and you have to pay to play for way more stuff after way less time than at the single Pulitzer-winning NYT.
Now, if umpteen million eyeballs (note my careful research of this exact figure) read newspapers online every day, where is the Pulitzer Prize for Web reporting? How can a newspaper that wins five Pulitzers have such a crap Web site?
You can find more of the interesting word usements I structure* on Apple.com.
Read my article, Better Writing Through Design, on No. 242 of A List Apart.
Pick up issue 176 of .net magazine to read my thoughts on creating outstanding web copy.
Watch a video of the Design Eye for South By panel at SXSW Interactive 2008. Or view the slide deck at DesignEye.org.
*With apologies to Harris K. Telemacher.