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S. Camille Broadway.
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Good design won't save bad content but bad design may irreparably harm good content.

Often judgments about whether someone stays on a site or clicks to the next on a list are made when a site first opens. Design can capture a reader's attention or have her lunging for the mouse.

• Control your color impulses: Color adds pop and sizzle to pages. However, too many colors, or colors that clash or scream to be noticed will dominate your content. If you are doing news, your design shouldn't compete with the content for the attention of your readers.
• Beware busy backgrounds: Like colors, backgrounds can compete with the text. On news sites especially, less is probably more.
• Control your font impulses: There are lot of lovely typefaces on the Web but make sure they are easy to read and won't get lost in the background colors. Script-type fonts with the all the flourishes sometimes don't translate online. Readers won't trudge through a site that's difficult to read.
• Keep navigation easy: One of the complaints that the Committee of Concern Journalists had about design in its study of political news online was the difficulty researchers had in reaching some information. Don't make information too difficult to find and move through.

         

Background examples provided by freewebtemplates.com

Two backgrounds

The above background might be appropriate for a news page. It is sedate and looks credible and responsible.

The above background may be cool, but any type placed on top of it would be difficult to read. This one is probably too wild for an Internet news site.