I wonder if it would be helpful to have a standard proforma summary with RRs. (It could be in small font, bottom of the left margin say). Basically the sort of info in the calendar entry, but perhaps fleshed out a bit - thoughts anyone?
This is an interesting thought. If such information were presented as a box panel, this would also help to break up the text and make long articles more digestible. The design of the magazine is generally very good, but there are various other tricks that could be employed to help the reader. Crossheads are used to good effect but pullquotes would be another good way of breaking up the text - they would also help to draw the reader in. These are all the kind of jobs you'd expect a decent sub editor to do.
One thing that confuses me about way ride report articles are laid out at the moment is where the first paragraph is highlighted in a different typeface/colour (eg Eiger Sanction, p8), sometimes in a side panel (eg Pony Express, p26). In design terms, this only really works if the highlighted paragraph is a standalone introduction to the article. Or if the drop cap is in the highlighted paragraph (as in the Black Mountain Brevet write-up, p4).
Actually, a proper snappy introductory paragraph would be welcome for most articles - explaining briefly who the author is and what the article is about - but again it would require a sub editor to write it...
Hmm. If I'm not careful, I'm going to talk myself into Doing Something.
d.
PS another thing a good sub editor would do is check the names of contributors.