Blog Layout
So, simple design, ample graphics and pleasing, yet contrasting, color combinations are the ingredients to winning web design. The audience should be able to navigate the page easily and get stimulated by graphics. That said, the audience should not have to squint (sorry, green-and-red is not a valid combination, not even at Christmas) or admit confusion.
But what does this have to do with blogs? Even if blogs are the end-all, be-all medium of coolness and interactivity, we can’t judge them only on function. Clearly, they work: by some means you input text and “publish” your entry. Then your readers gasp at your ingenuity and witticisms. That’s all there is to it.
We judge the writing in blogs as good or bad, so it’s only fair to judge the design. If you don’t think so, talk to anyone slightly interested in newspapers or magazines. Those mediums exist for primarily what is read, but the layout is still very important.
However, thanks to the proliferation of popular blogging sites, templates are created for the authors. That means literary geniuses won’t make the mistake of mixing khaki and olive, simply because they don’t know better (or they peruse too many J. Crew catalogs).
But… that doesn’t stop the conversation. How about blogger’s layouts – they get the job done, but they’re a little tired (look at my template! ½ of my Writing for Multimedia class chose this look). Blog hosts allow users to change the templates, but that requires knowledge of HTML and CSS, which every blogger doesn’t have. Luckily, there are options besides the templates provided by hosts. For example, createblog provides templates for blogger, Livejournal, MySpace and Xanga. Goodbye, host’s layouts: hello, createblog’s layouts. While it may not be much an improvement, moving from someone’s templates to another, it is a start. <
After all, until every blogger is a web designer, we’ll have to live with templates. But, it is the blogger’s choice of which template, and what color combination, to choose. And if they choose poorly… let them know.
On a completely unrelated note, I am going to update my layout next week. I may even include a graphic or something. But not too many, or this will turn into a photoblog.
But what does this have to do with blogs? Even if blogs are the end-all, be-all medium of coolness and interactivity, we can’t judge them only on function. Clearly, they work: by some means you input text and “publish” your entry. Then your readers gasp at your ingenuity and witticisms. That’s all there is to it.
We judge the writing in blogs as good or bad, so it’s only fair to judge the design. If you don’t think so, talk to anyone slightly interested in newspapers or magazines. Those mediums exist for primarily what is read, but the layout is still very important.
However, thanks to the proliferation of popular blogging sites, templates are created for the authors. That means literary geniuses won’t make the mistake of mixing khaki and olive, simply because they don’t know better (or they peruse too many J. Crew catalogs).
But… that doesn’t stop the conversation. How about blogger’s layouts – they get the job done, but they’re a little tired (look at my template! ½ of my Writing for Multimedia class chose this look). Blog hosts allow users to change the templates, but that requires knowledge of HTML and CSS, which every blogger doesn’t have. Luckily, there are options besides the templates provided by hosts. For example, createblog provides templates for blogger, Livejournal, MySpace and Xanga. Goodbye, host’s layouts: hello, createblog’s layouts. While it may not be much an improvement, moving from someone’s templates to another, it is a start. <
After all, until every blogger is a web designer, we’ll have to live with templates. But, it is the blogger’s choice of which template, and what color combination, to choose. And if they choose poorly… let them know.
On a completely unrelated note, I am going to update my layout next week. I may even include a graphic or something. But not too many, or this will turn into a photoblog.
posted by KK at 1:38 PM
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