The Importance of Blog Design

I don't know about you, but the look of a blog is an important part of my decision to read it or not. There are some that are so ugly that I can't bear to stay on the page long enough to read it. As an instance of this, have a look at Blogebrity's Top Blogs Lists (I can point to Blogebrity because it isn't a blog and, besides, it has a PR of 7 and doesn't need my approval). That shocking pink on a black background is so vile that I cannot bring myself to stay on the page for more than a few seconds, even though I would really like to browse those lists to see what all the fuss is about.

In contrast, go to CSS Zen Garden and click down the list of designs in the sidebar on the right. None of them are blogs but they demonstrate how a beautiful design welcomes one to a page and encourages one to stay to read (note too that the text does not change - the designs are there to show how easily the look of a page can be changed radically by the use of Cascading Style Sheets [CSS]). If you dig around in Zen Garden's archives, you will find some of the most beautiful web pages ever created.

The point is that the better the design of your blog, the better its chances of being read. Of course, tastes vary and so it is best to go for the simple and straightforward look; garish and complex are not good options. This fits with our concern about speed of loading, too. Blog design, like all web page development, is a compromise between looks and function but, generally speaking, the old car design adage works here: what looks good, is good.

I had reason to consider this matter of design when I was given the task of creating the Writers Blog Alliance blog recently (more to the point, it concentrated my mind on how to persuade more qualified people than myself to do the actual work - my thanks to Mad and Quills for the work they've done so far). When WBA began to run into problems with its chosen solution for main site and decided it needed to cut loose and start again, my thoughts turned to a man named Joshua Estell.

It was through my son, Mad, that I first met Josh. They were regulars in the web development chatrooms and Mad suggested to him that he have a look at my blog. Since then, Josh has become a frequent commenter (I would prefer to say "contributor and occasional tech help") to the Gone Away blog. I learned that, not only was Josh the owner of a very well designed blog, Hinkybox, he was also a contributor to the creation of Wheatblog, an open source (meaning free and completely ad-less) blogging solution. Suddenly, things began to come together.

I approached Josh with a view to assisting us in the construction of the new WBA website and blog and he responded with enthusiasm, agreeing to work on both. It will take a while but I am confident now that WBA will have an efficient and good looking site that does everything we want it to.

Hinkybox is a model of good blog design. Note how the layout is simple and unobtrusive yet contains a wealth of information. That sidebar is worth a good read for a start! The buttons and icons are unfussy and elegant. The header is tasteful and attractive; and I have just noticed that, if you run the pointer over the moon in the header's bottom right corner, it turns out to be an indicator of the phases of the moon. Most importantly, the text is easy to read and one is not subject to constant distraction by obtrusive graphics or gizmos. On such subtle details are great blogs and websites built!

So I am pleased and honored indeed that we have Josh on our side. The unfortunate hiccup of WBA's first site (well, it was announced as a beta) will soon be behind us and we can look forward to much better things. Thanks Josh!