Why so much ...

... "white space"?

I realize that it costs the same in the digital world, but it *looks* odd (at least to my eyes) to see so much empty space.

And what would you have us put there?

an option

One option would be to promote randomly chosen blogs or threads in such spaces, kinda like you've been promoting the same 2 blogs on the marketplace page for a number (6?) of months now.

I think you could also fit a smaller photo with it's caption on the side if you had one to place there.

Empty Space

Lemons into lemonade

It's an added feature - note space!

What to put there?

Are you serious?  I'd think that an editor would know the answer.  

Sheesh, Dave

As an editor, I already gave you my answer, just look to see what I elected to put there. I AM ASKING YOU because you're the one complaining about my choice.

Sounds like you're saying I should do my job - okay, I made my decision and formatted the pages how I chose. End of conversation. Why even bring it up, then?

More specifically, here's my answer: 
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2007/01/12/white-space-and-simplicity-an-overview

Simplicity rather than clutter. Next topic?

@Bill B

Great video!

It seems as though Ken's work gets better with each month. Great shots and content. The music and lyrics were a surprising bonus that we don't get enough of. Please keep it coming. 

Neil Erickson, Umauma Plantation Railway, Hawaii

Joe

I like the white space too, and I really enjoy MRH.  It's a great resource and entertaining as well.  Keep up the great work, much appreciated.

White Space ...

... just look at the difference between the white space in the article you linked too and your eZine.  Notice in the article it is "balanced", it has a pleasing look to it, the white space serves to frame the written words.  In your articles the white space is spread out all along the bottom of the pages, it looks "unfinished" (which it seems to be),  I only point it out, because it looks odd, unprofessional even.  If that is the way you intended it to be, you could have said so in the first place.

I guess I was to busy

I guess I was to busy admiring the photos to notice.

Went back to look again. You are complaining about that? Looked fine to me.

Joe, keep up the excellent work.

White or Junk?

Seriously Dave? It is a free magazine for crying out loud. Considering all the negativity often expressed over ad jamming in other venues I would think you would appreciate the white space.

Walk a mile in another man's shoes is appropriate here. Try pasting up a magazine each month on a skeleton crew and see what you get. A little white space will be the least of your concerns.

Picking of the nits ;-(

Each to his own opinion.

I personally think that's there too much white space in my post! .......I mean gray space....!

Just because it is free ...

... does not mean it has to be of low quality.  I am simply pointing out a simple area where I think things can be improved upon to make MRH look less like an amateur ambition and more like the professional eZine it can be ... perhaps just me ....

perhaps just me ....

Perhaps it is. Remember, Joe is laying out a magazine that has to work on a variety of platforms, including mobile phones. That means a preference for top justification. Even though I read on an iPad, I like that alignment because it puts the pictures in the sweet spot of my blended bifocals, so I don't have to bend my neck.

The thing that makes a publication professional is the character of its content, not the color of  the margins.

pqe

What's more important, form or function?

Well, that escalated quickly...

The content of the page looks fine to me.

Well, you certainly got that part nearly correct ...

... but my "assumption" is based upon what I see (and have seen in the past).  Haphazard page layouts, grammar and spelling, late publishing dates, etc., all add up and become part of the total image.  

To be honest I find it encouraging that you *say* you are concerned about it; however, it is not exactly clear where that  concern is being placed (on me or on the product).  You can rest assured that if I thought that MRH could not do better, I certainly would not waste my time mentioning these sorts of things.

I had not read the article

I had not read the article yet but after all the squawking I had to go back and look. First on the article I thought it was nice that it covered so many diverse subjects. The lift out was nice and looked very well done. The riverfront scene was fantastic. The comments about the river models were great and I could not agree more. Further I have felt the same way for years, there are lots of rivers that have heavy traffic. At one time in this country the maritime tonnage on the Monogahela River in the Pittsburgh Pa region was greater than the tonnage between the United States and Europe on the Atlantic Ocean. I really am not interested in the garden railroad stuff but do think the models shown were nicely done. I am not belittling or disparaging other scales than my chosen one I am just not much interested in that sort of thing but do realize the magazine has a target audience besides me. 

I will say I think I have a different taste in music than what was played. That is purely subjective, and I found that music I do not care for is easily eliminated with the volume control, so play what you like if I don't like it it is easily remedied. The prototype shots had me looking to see if that was something done by those guys from the weathering shop again, man they are good.

As to the white space, it is unusual, and it could have been filled with duplicate adds from long standing advertisers but it was not a big deal. The off shoot of this would be complaints by other advertisers that wonder why they did not get the free adds. So if there is unsold ad space I have no problem with white space. I am glad that there were 175 pages in the magazine even if there was a bit of white space around some of them. There are other magazines that are approximately 1/2 the number of pages that can be purchased with out the white space or all the extra content that comes with this one.

Thanks for producing one of the finest magazines I have had the pleasure of reading, I am speaking of the body of work not just one issue. I will also add that I read the articles that do not pertain to my scale and find them of some interest as some of what is covered maybe of use to me. I really like the in depth articles about prototype items before 1960 such as this months coverage of box car ends, I know some of it dealt with things after 1960 as well but a very nice article and tremendously useful to me.

Thanks Joe, and everyone else that makes this possible by working on the magazine or contributing to it. Also Ken I forgot to add I really like your section of the magazine it always has something interesting in it.

You only notice the white

You only notice the white space because it's different from what you are used to seeing in a paper magazine.

If you were paying for paper, you would want to cram something into every available square inch.

Look at very old newspapers and you'll see extremely dense text, small type, etc.  Paper was expensive and presses were slow.  You crammed as much stuff onto the page as possible.

Time and delivery mechanisms change.  As we learn to make use of the new tools, our perception of normal changes with it.

Characterizing a page layout as "professional" based on the standards of older media doesn't seem appropriate or useful.  Elsewhere you can read the negative comments on electronic versions of the traditional paper mags that aren't much more than PDFs presented through Zinio or the like.  I suppose those PDFs would be considered professional because the page layout follows the standards of the paper magazine.  But they don't fit electronic readers with small screens very well at all.

I appreciate that the information is readable on the 22" monitor at my desk and my iPhone.  Not an easy job.

Not True

I notice the white space because it is different from what I'm used to seeing in MRH in the past ...

I have not bought a "print" magazine in over 10 years!

Other ePublications seem to be able to manage it.  MRH used to do a better job of managing it.  This is one area where you can have both; form and function ... one does not automatically preclude the other.

 "This is one area where you

So you'd rather have the photos centered in the white space instead of at the top? or more text down below to balance it out? or make each photo larger and put one per page?  Reading the article I wasn't bothered by the white space and just clicked on to the next page that usually did have something down below . I think I read most magazines for the content and not to second guess the layout but some of my wife's  women's magazines do look very hard to read due to the articles and the ads looking almost the same .......DaveB 

how about...

just a swoosh or something in the background just to reduce the starkness of the white?