isiah

Apologies if this isn't the right place to post this, but I see plenty of technical items being discussed here but very little design-related ones. As someone who keeps a site up together I wondered what you other webmasters/designers out there had an opinion on this issue:

For some reason something I have been interested in over the last few weeks is the way many static sites are trying to ape the look of generic blog sites, you know, sometimes massive mastheads, big text, big buttons with plenty of clear space around, the use of vignettes (shading graduations) and lots of light blues / lighter colours on white backgrounds.

Born05 and Smashing Magazine are prime examples of what I mean by the "Blog" look.

As opposed to Un.titled.co.u and designhive.co.uk that has been until now typical of a lot of web high quality considered web design – small text, intricate rollovers tight typography, flash navigation [although Flash is obviously not compulsory in this "look" of course] etc etc.

The above examples are merely selections from my bookmarks, I realise that neither are perfect examples of their respective "looks", but hopefully they are diverse enough that you can understand the underlying question of 'theme' that I am asking without getting too involved with each site's design per se.

So the "blog" look, love it or hate it? Is it really a useability issue or just a trend?

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Keeper of the Dark Fortress

knapper

I think it is to a large extent a trend but also due to blogs becoming associated with an established look.

Blogging software tends to be white on black, as that is most easily read by most people, with a simple layout and basic images as that provides most flexibility. These basic templates are often left pretty much standard as the blogger is not a skilled web designer so can't do much to alter the default design and layout. Blogs became “the future” and we all know the hype that's followed, and it doesn't take long once a new trend has started for the hordes to start aping it. Blogging is the future, it's cool or so we are led to believe so website owners and designer who want to be part of this cool future ape the blog look.

However it's also important to remember that blogs have a look that existed before the blog hype began. A simple clean, uncluttered, minimalist look, which I think best sums up the look we're taking about, was being used before. However because hype that surrounds blogs today, rather than blogs being seen as having adopted a certain style, there is instead the style blogs created. Very comfy indeed

Which leads on to the issue of love it or hate it. I see a fence coming up, it looks comfy. I like it if it's done well and actually makes sense to use. If you have a web site about translating languages, it should be all about the text. On the other hand, a site dedicated to a traditional country cottage with roses round the door really shouldn't have a minimalist design. Comfy..