Thursday, October 18, 2007

L.A. Times' The Guide: We think we like it

Is the L.A. Times getting some fresher blood or is it my imagination? So far, I think I like the redesigned Guide section which relegates boring celebrity interviews back to the movie ad-friendly Calendar section. The design is pretty clean, although the fonts seem kind of tiny. The cover feature on Secret L.A. was well done -- not that any of those places are secret to Eating LA, but still. There's several My Favorite Weekends that seem less inane than usual, and can it be true? Have they actually retired the lame Drive-by Dining in favor of the more tolerable non-bylined feature The Glutton? In general, there seems to be more restaurant coverage, which is always a good thing. My favorite tidbit? The Silversun Pickups love the taco truck on Alvarado as much as we do.
The main quibble: All this good stuff is absolutely impossible to find on the byzantine, useless CalendarLive website. Just pick up the print version and enjoy the redesign. You can run down to the corner and pick one up in less time than it would take to find The Glutton online.

4 comments:

Ellen Bloom said...

I, too, was really looking forward to reading "The Guide" in this morning's "L.A. Times." In addition to my usual eye-glasses, I needed a magnifying glass to read the print. It's all tiny print!!! I know I'm old, but my glasses are new and improved. The tiny font makes the entire section look like an advertisement.

When I finally could read the small print, I did enjoy the articles. I kinda' liked the bit on the man who doesn't deserve his job, Huell Howser.

Miles said...

the print was small but the design was fresh, indeed. kudos to the times for doing something almost right. as for calendarlive -- they should just blow that thing up, return calendar to the latimes.com and completely rethink it. it is a hideous mess.

H. C. said...

I agree that CalendarLive is need of a major makeover. That and that Sunday's "Opinion" and "Book Review" should get their own sections againi :(

Anonymous said...

Miles got it right - it's a big mess with not enough of anything to make you care, and in such small typeface to make sure you didn't care to read it.
Starting over is a way of life these days at the LAT.
Imagine when the new ownership takes over!?