Morningstar’s new bond market commentary is an online "Don’t"

Morningstar has introduced monthly bond market commentary. 

The August 2008 issue of Morningstar Bond Market Commentary has many nice features. But it also illustrates an important “Don’t” of online publishing.

The commentary is almost impossible to read online. Why? Because it’s formatted in three columns instead of one. 

The bottom line:If you want people to read your commentary online, format it in one column. Otherwise, you’ll lose many readers.

By the way, Morningstar says its bond commentary is designed to be printed out. A three-column layout works fine in hard copy.