Show me good blog designs.
October 20, 2008 12:08 PM Subscribe
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:
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.
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.
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.
Best answer: daringfireball.net
Mostly a one trick pony, but he does the trick well. Interestingly no real images.
veerle.duoh.com
Personal site, design site, etc.
alistapart.com
Pretty much essential reading for web design.
coudal.com
Just plain good design.
cssmania.com
Great showcase of people doing it right.
mostinspired.com
Another showcase of people doing it right.
webdesignerwall.com
They practice what they preach.
csszengarden.com
No comment.
posted by cjorgensen at 12:38 PM on October 20, 2008
Mostly a one trick pony, but he does the trick well. Interestingly no real images.
veerle.duoh.com
Personal site, design site, etc.
alistapart.com
Pretty much essential reading for web design.
coudal.com
Just plain good design.
cssmania.com
Great showcase of people doing it right.
mostinspired.com
Another showcase of people doing it right.
webdesignerwall.com
They practice what they preach.
csszengarden.com
No comment.
posted by cjorgensen at 12:38 PM on October 20, 2008
I've been reading FiveThirtyEight for the past few months and I'm very impressed by the layout and content.
I'm a total stats geek, so normal people might be turned off by the overwhelming amount of graphs and tables, but to me it's the best feature. The most important and general information is at the top of the page, flanking the posts. All of the more detailed information is included along both sides, and the data presentation is very clear. You can easily read a blog post about the latest Wisconsin polls, scroll down to look at the detailed poll numers, and scroll back up to keep reading.
Compare it to a similar site like RealClearPolitics: the front page is a jumble of text links, and it's very hard to get a "dashboard" glance of how things are going or separate out articles versus stats pages. I was reading RCP earlier this year during the primaries, and a lot of the useful stats could only be found by jumping from link to link and ignoring most of the content on each page.
The actual blog content is very good as well. There are daily updates explaining the changes in the polls, short opinion posts on various news items about the campaigns, and since September there have also been regular accounts of the ground game in various states. The different types of posts are easy to identify, and in my opinion all of the content fits within the overall theme and adds to the usefulness of the site.
posted by burnmp3s at 12:46 PM on October 20, 2008
I'm a total stats geek, so normal people might be turned off by the overwhelming amount of graphs and tables, but to me it's the best feature. The most important and general information is at the top of the page, flanking the posts. All of the more detailed information is included along both sides, and the data presentation is very clear. You can easily read a blog post about the latest Wisconsin polls, scroll down to look at the detailed poll numers, and scroll back up to keep reading.
Compare it to a similar site like RealClearPolitics: the front page is a jumble of text links, and it's very hard to get a "dashboard" glance of how things are going or separate out articles versus stats pages. I was reading RCP earlier this year during the primaries, and a lot of the useful stats could only be found by jumping from link to link and ignoring most of the content on each page.
The actual blog content is very good as well. There are daily updates explaining the changes in the polls, short opinion posts on various news items about the campaigns, and since September there have also been regular accounts of the ground game in various states. The different types of posts are easy to identify, and in my opinion all of the content fits within the overall theme and adds to the usefulness of the site.
posted by burnmp3s at 12:46 PM on October 20, 2008
I love the seamless "There's More" links at FiveThirtyEight. No waiting to reload the entire site in order to view the rest of an article. I get a little happy buzz every time it happens.
posted by junkbox at 1:36 PM on October 20, 2008
posted by junkbox at 1:36 PM on October 20, 2008
If you're looking specifically for blog designs there are a bunch of galleries specifically for blogs:
http://welovewp.com/
http://welovetxp.com/
http://looppress.com/
http://www.iheartblogs.com/
posted by iisbum at 1:40 PM on October 20, 2008
http://welovewp.com/
http://welovetxp.com/
http://looppress.com/
http://www.iheartblogs.com/
posted by iisbum at 1:40 PM on October 20, 2008
For easy to read and good graphics, Kathy Sierra's now defunct "Creating Passionate Users" was always good.
Spend time on your headlines.
posted by idb at 1:45 PM on October 20, 2008
Spend time on your headlines.
posted by idb at 1:45 PM on October 20, 2008
I love the design of all of the Gawker media sites (gawker.com, lifehacker.com, kotaku.com, etc.), especially the new comments section of each post.
posted by jbickers at 2:31 PM on October 20, 2008
posted by jbickers at 2:31 PM on October 20, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by lia at 12:14 PM on October 20, 2008