Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with blogdesign

Zeroing in WordPress themes

liketitanic — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 09:38:40 -0800

Is there an easier way to zero on on a great Wordpress theme? My new favorite MeFite theichibun is graciously hosting my website, write your principal, on his servers. But I need help finding a decent wordpress template and there are a million choices and it's overwhelming me.

I'd been using Tumblr's Just Plain Theme and would like something similar--clean, good for text, probably white, room for a photo in the header, with either a sidebar or multiple columns. Is there an easy way to sort through options? or a go-to site you'd suggest for searching? At this point I'd probably even be willing to pay up to $100 for a premium theme. I don't have a huge amount of technical skill but can do a little and have SOME help.

Any ideas for making this search easier would help.

Show me good blog designs.

pineapple — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:08:35 -0800

Form plus function, please. Recommend some blogs that you like for their successful combination of design plus usability. I have been tasked with providing a list of well-designed blogs for review, to a colleague of mine who is heavy on tech skills and light on design, and wants to take a submersion course in those who are doing it right, right now. Content comes first, so we are seeking sites that execute well at pretty-but-quietly-effective wrappers -- instead of design for the sake of showing off one's design's skills.

(I have already seen this AskMe and this one, but the former was really seeking good content, and the latter is almost three years old -- I plan to peruse it but expect that the designs that were cited for goodness in 2005 have likely changed today. I also checked previous threads with tags "blogdesign"; the responses are obsolete IMO)

Open to all suggestions, but special appreciation will be given to those where the site ticks some or all of the following boxes:

Conveys the blogger's "brand" quickly and effectively

Easy-to-read posts, where the headlines and meta-data are distinct and don't distract from the content

Clever use of categories, tags, or whatever system the author is using to demonstrate the different topics of post

Effective incorporation of graphics and photos

Has the blogger solved content-variety problems without overwhelming the reader? ie. does the site manage to present "regular" blog posts, and also longer essays, and also those micro-sidebar-one-off things?
Some element of timelessness: is the design going to age gracefully? Or is it laden with what will become the Comic-Sans and shiny rounded-corner gradient buttons of its time... immediately dating itself as having been launched in 2008?

Effective handling of advertising, if applicable

Avoids "overdesign," where every element is some custom icon, the header is five inches high and crammed full of visual stimulus, and the decorative fonts are practically unreadable. You know the type.

There is potential for sites-which-are-not-blogs to be worth mentioning here, but the most helpful answers will be ones that understand that we are looking for design that complements a very specific site purpose... which is blogging, or otherwise providing short chunks of outward-looking content on a regular basis. For example, the site designs at Overstock, Etsy and the New York Post might ring all your bells, but would be of little use here.

Your commentary is exuberantly welcomed: why you like it, what works for you about the site, what the blogger seems to have "figured out" that other people haven't. Or what you maybe have gleaned, as a regular blog consumer, about the direction that design is headed. Or blog designs that you don't like, as long as you can articulate why in a constructive way that is relevant to the bullets above (A slamfest isn't productive, and I can certainly find generically bad design myself).

Thanks, MeFites! I look forward to the collective brilliance of your thoughts.

How should a blog look?

shallowcenter — Tue, 02 Aug 2005 09:49:11 -0800

Tell me what design elements you like to see in a blog. I main a blog that is primarily text, to which I post, on average, once to twice a day. I'm happy with the direction the content is taking, but design? Not so much. What elements make up a well designed blog? I'm talking spacing, colors, font(s), layout -- anything that contributes to a clean, welcoming look.

Design for greymatter site?

FunkyHelix — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 08:46:38 -0800

I'm not sure how this will go over, but I figured I'd ask. I've grown out of my livejournal and am looking to set up something using greymatter. I have the web space, and decided how I will focus my writing. The only problem now is the design. [more inside] The blog will be about the stories that come up being a new mother, as well as the tips, tricks, and resources I come across about kids. But being a new mother I don't have the a lot of time to sit down and put together outside of the default design that is greymatter, or a lot of money to have someone breeze in and put it together for me. So I went hunting through google for greymatter templates, hoping to find linkware templates or cheap shareware templates to suit my needs. Very frustrating.

There aren't a lot of templates that don't have me wincing at the colors or navigation. Things baby/child focused are horribly cutesy. Plus most of these designs come with bells and whistles (little buttons and preset names for your journal) that I have no interest in, yet would be forced to use per the user agreement because the designer thinks they're so adorable and match.

Now for the actual question. Does anyone know of a site with decent greymatter templates that are free or dirt cheap, and won't leave me with the desire to gouge out my eyeballs with my mouse? Or does anyone know someone willing to put something simple together for just the credit link I can offer?