I hate most recent web site design with a passion, because it's so blatant and intrusive. I think the best design you can have is design you don't notice at all, and ET wins big on that score.
It's better than dKos and the Oil Drum, because the fixed width of dKos is annoying, and the Oil Drum looks too big and gawky in comparison.
Doing a quick scan of the Front Page there are 3 blocks of information:
