Five decks over one leg?

And an 8-inch story held to the front.

 

We poke fun . . . and yet that headline included the important details in its banner type.

Today's headline would be two words . . . 10 times bigger. Something like "The Unsinkable Happens" from the NY Post.

And we would depend on the decks to actually explain the significance.

 

How about: The unsinkable liner sinks for a hede?

Or: Titanic crashes into iceburg, hundreds reported dead?

 

Yes, but at least the art was dominant:

 

Hey! Did spnited create that front page?!

 

That's what I learned in my first job as well and I've stuck with it.

I have seen five and even six decks on one-column heads and I HATE it!! I won't disgrace myself by doing it. I'll do a four deck and then a three-deck subhead in smaller type if necessary.

It's retarded when the headline takes up more space on the page then the body copy (before a jump). My last paper had the maddening habit (on news desk) of one or two paragraphs on the front with a huge (maybe 20 inch) jump inside. I told the news editor how assinine it looked.

 

For someone who has never done page design, can someone explain to me the phrase "decks" and so forth?

 

Each of these lines
is called a deck.
So a five-deck hed
would have five lines.
Understand, mustang?

 

This is more of a five-deck subhead, though.

 

A "leg" is also another name for a column.

So when I was bitching about five decks over one leg, I was bitching about headlines that were five lines in one column.

The rules I'd typed were as follows:

Five column story = one line headline
Four column story = one line headline
Three column story = two line headline
Two column story = three line headline
One column story = four line headline

Obviously, if you can do a one line headline (or one deck hede) over three columns, that's OK. But going over (say, four line headline over a five column story) is BAD.

 

Every paper needs "rules" for style and design to avoid a daily free-for-all, and said rules should be followed, for the most part, but without any leeway, you severely limit innovation and creativity.

 

Got it. Thanks.