Woman. Radio DJ, web designer, music lover. Love a good read, a movie that makes me think, a song that's been really worked on. Can't stand mediocrity and I try to run from it as fast as I can.
It’s a blog, not a junkyard
Blogging March 10th, 2008
So, you have a blog. Doesn’t even matter if it’s on a free blog host on you have also purchased a domain name and a hosting account on your own. It doesn’t even matter what you write about: witty personal entries, spam posts, crappy YouTube videos or articles that are so interesting they really make me want to come back each day. Now we talk looks here, because, even if the good content is king, a horrid package is a stab in the back, that’s for sure.
Why am I writing this? Well first because I want to live up to my slogan “the mean personal blog” and maybe the other one “let’s escape mediocrity” or maybe because I have already developed a nice headache from all the horrible blogs I have visited today. It doesn’t matter that some do provide good information, if the design is so hectic I can barely find my way there. It’s a blog, not a junkyard. Make it a tidy place and believe we’d all be happier.
How can you tidy that mess?
1. Ok, have you decided: how many columns are there really?
We have some possibilities: 1 main column, all is down in the footer (the widgets), 2, 3 maybe 4 columns. I like using 3 since I can narrow the main text a bit (easier to “scan”) and also organize my own junk. But if you already have a number, then stick to it.
I want to see some nice columns, easy to track and with a bit of a space so that I know what’s what. From now on try to stick to them and not create more mess.
2. OK, you want widgets? Take the smaller ones.
Any program that sticks a widget on our throats also has more options for the banner sizes and widgets. Chose the small ones, don’t occupy a lot of space, unless someone is paying you a lot. Otherwise go for some small buttons and ARRANGE them nicely.
3. Discern and be cheap with your own space.
I have seen some blogs with TENS of banners and widgets. What is the trick? Is a contest? Is the The Guiness Book of World Records ready to acknowledge the title of “the most crowded blog ever”? Then CHOSE with care. Are there banners that are worthless? OK, remove. Are there some you need? That’s great, have them only.
4. Align Align Align
God I really dislike misalignments. One banner is left aligned, another one is centered, the others are right aligned. Yeah, a junkyard. If you arrange the books on the bookshelf with great care, I cannot comprehend why’d you be so careless with your own blog. It’s simple: most of the time on the side columns we recommend CENTER alignment so that all banners look nice (they are of different sizes in the end).
5. Pixelated images and gifs.
You know how a very low quality image looks like? But a photo with a watermark from the site you snatched it from? Or maybe a transparent gif that was made for a light background and now you have it on black? With those nice pixels showing on the margins? I really dislike such sloppy images and they add up to the junk image we try to get rid of.
We already have 5 display issues that would make reading your blog difficult. Not because the skin is not unique or any other reason that might also bother me, the picky webdesigner with a blog. These are those small things that ruin my experience, distract me from reading the content and using the blog as I should.
Let’s hope this article will encourage more people to be picky with the banners they display (no music, flash ones, none that would distract me from the content), not too many, nicely aligned and everything nicely organized so that I can see where I find that article I want to bookmark.
March 10th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
You always get right to the main points, Thanks for the tips, good luck.
March 12th, 2008 at 9:32 am
Ooops, better go check my own site now you mention those things. I think i’m OK but best check.
Maybe you should start a name and shame campaign to prevent bad blog designs?
John Blackmore’s last blog post..Good Web Hosting is the Foundation of a Good Website
March 12th, 2008 at 9:42 am
Oh, come on John, you cannot call your blog a “junkyard”, there is nothing wrong with it
You know .. I would like to crate such a project, but in the end I don’t think anyone would benefit from it. It’s NEGATIVE energy in the end and I think that it’s better to advise them personally (when I am approached) than to shame them. Many people are not designers, I cannot require all of them to know good design
Welcome to the blog, John and best of luck with your project
March 13th, 2008 at 1:01 am
I also wouldn’t feel comfortable naming the sites that I think are badly designed but I would love to name the sites that take this kind of advice on board to create a better blog.
Why not have some “before and after” shots of sites that start off bad but end up good? A bit like when someone loses weight and shows how great they look now.
Oh, I almost forgot to say that this is a great post
Ben Barden’s last blog post..How to convert new visitors into subscribers
April 8th, 2008 at 8:45 am
[…] have mentioned before that a blog is not a junkyard and I prepared there a list of the things that need to be taken care of so that a blog starts […]