The death of the boring blog post?
Let’s face it: the classic blog post is boring.
Barring the text and images, each one generally has the exact same layout. We see little originality from one post to the next. Of course, consistency and branding are extremely important to consider when designing a website or blog, but what about individuality? Does a blog post about kittens deserve the same layout as one about CSS hacks?
Too Easy?
Because installing a WordPress theme is so easy, anyone can have a blog up and running in minutes. While this is great, and we now have a wealth of blogs on countless topics, perhaps it’s too easy? Just thinking about the endless hours of effort that a print designer puts into creating the custom layout of a magazine article makes one respect the finished product so much more.
A few individuals out there, though, are really breaking the mold of the blogosphere.
These guys aren’t using standard WordPress themes or cutting corners to make their lives easier. Rather, they are challenging themselves and producing some fantastic content.
Pushing yourself to create original layouts and designs customized to the content of each post is a fascinating and entertaining way to build a blog.
But why has this trend of melding blog post and magazine article, the “blogazine,” not caught on with the masses?
The <cringe>Trend</cringe> with a difference
Hearing the word “trend” makes us designers shudder because we picture overused glossy buttons, drop-shadows and reflections. But the blogazine trend could be unlike other trends for a few special reasons. Designing a creative layout for each new blog post, based on the content itself, requires skill, patience, dedication to the content and, most of all, effort on the part of the designer!
Let’s now look at three people who exhibit all four qualities:
The Pioneers
Jason Santa Maria
is one of the early innovators of this style of blogging and has been creating custom blog post designs since June 2008. With a background in print design, Jason had a vision to create a blog more in the style of a magazine, rather than obey the established rules of blog design.
While, yes, this is a redesign of sorts, I consider it much more a rethinking.
~ Jason Santa Maria
Jason’s blog posts are fascinating and cover a wide range of topics, including design, typography, books, photography and film. The differences in the designs are sometimes just subtle changes in background or typography, but each conveys an entirely distinct message that it couldn’t if it was uniform with the rest.
Sometimes the changes are radical, but every one still has an element of “Jason-ness.” The header and footer are usually consistent, but even without them, you can still tell a Jason Santa Maria post from a quick glace.
We’ve made so many advancements in how we publish content that we haven’t looked back to what it is we’re actually creating. Many of us see the clear separation between things like print design and web design, but I’ve really been questioning the reality of why things are this way.
~ Jason Santa Maria
We Web designers don’t want to be regarded as lazy. Do we?
We have some of the
most creative and inspiring designers
in our profession, so why don’t we show our true potential in our blog articles?
Dustin Curtis
got a lot of publicity with his open letter to American Airlines, in which he suggests a dramatic redesign and rethinking of its online customer experience. The articles on Dustin’s blog are incredibly fascinating, and this user experience designer has clearly put serious thought into each one.
I got the chance to speak with Dustin about his work:
What prompted you to create a “blogazine” instead of a traditional blog?
I’m never satisfied with my work. Invariably, two weeks after finishing a design, I feel like I can do better. When I originally tried to design my blog, I kept finishing a design, hating it and starting over. This happened ten or twelve times until I finally gave up. Eventually, I realized that each post could stand on its own and be its own design that fit the content. Despite the holdbacks of HTML and CSS, it has worked much better than I had even anticipated.
Does having a blogazine really boost your creativity when it comes to creating a post?
The blogazine style does seem to boost creativity, and by a huge amount. I feel an intense amount of freedom when I’m not constrained by the box of a pre-formed design. I can open Photoshop and use it as a word processor with design functionality. The design really does complement — and become — the content, because they are built simultaneously, without regard for any of the other stuff on the website.
I feel an intense amount of freedom when I’m not constrained by the box of pre-formed design.
Where do you get your inspiration for your blog articles?
I get inspiration from everywhere. I’m fascinated by medicine and the human brain. So many of my articles center on interesting things that I’ve learned while studying neuroscience. Sometimes I’ll start with a single word, like “sleep,” and develop it into a whole article as I research the fringes of the field. There’s really no set source of inspiration.
Advantages?
Disadvantages?
The main advantage is one I didn’t anticipate. Doing a blogazine article requires a lot more work than a traditional blog post, and that has kept me on my toes; because such a large investment is required, I publish only what I feel are my best articles.
The biggest disadvantage is that CSS and HTML are terrible technologies that weren’t designed for page layout. They were designed for structured content presentation, like for a newspaper, where all the elements throughout the website are the same and are re-used. But I’m trying to make a magazine, where the content and presentation are inextricably mixed and unique. The way presentation CSS is supposed to be decoupled from the content HTML is totally counter to the mission I am trying to accomplish, and it makes coding the articles frustrating, messy and time-consuming.
This seems to keep the quality fairly high. I start four or five articles for every one I publish. If I had a normal blog, that wouldn’t be the case — the other four articles would be published too, even though they wouldn’t be as good as the ones I do end up publishing.
My solution to this problem has basically been to ignore convention and use inline styling for most of the presentation code and extract the website-wide presentation layer into a separate CSS document. This takes forever and is not ideal. To put it lightly, I’ve developed a love-hate relationship with CSS.
What if a print magazine
used the same template for every article?
It would be pretty boring, no?
Gregory Wood
is a website designer at Erskine Design and has created his website as an experiment in art direction. Not allowing himself to use the same old templates, Greg has created a fascinating website, with custom designs for each blog post.
Here’s what Greg had to say when I spoke with him:
What prompted you to create a blogazine instead of a traditional blog?
Well, I’ve had a blog for ages and have always been bad at keeping it regularly updated, until I custom-designed a few of the posts sometime last year. I generally hate writing about Web-related stuff (I find it all a little boring), and I love designing, so I wrote about what I wanted (music and zombies) and designed each post around the content, although still housed in my old blog layout. The reception to the posts was really nice, and I enjoyed creating them, so for my latest website I set out to cater to that same audience and keep myself happily occupied at the same time.
Does having a blogazine really boost your creativity when it comes to creating a post?
I wouldn’t say it boosts my creativity; the website is more of an outlet for it. Despite spending all week being creative at Erskine Design, it’s still quite liberating to design whatever you want, however you want, with no external influence.
Because it’s all nicely designed, readers are drawn in and end up reading more than one post.
Where do you get your inspiration for your blog articles?
Usually I think of my best ideas when cycling or sitting on a tram or bus. It’s been a big thing on the Web over the years, where you get your inspiration from, and I’ve never really understood it. I think that looking at other people’s work all the time for inspiration is massively constricting. I find staring out a window for a while usually helps.
Advantages?
Disadvantages?
The obvious advantage is that it looks better. But the content is infinitely more captivating as well. I’m not a great writer, and I probably write a lot of bullshit, but because it’s all nicely designed, readers are drawn in and end up reading more than one post. It’s also very fun to create and helps me grow as a designer.
I guess some would say the time factor is a disadvantage, but if you love doing something, spending a lot of time doing it is justified.
I can’t think of any disadvantages.
The Microblogging Revolution
Twitter, Posterous, Flickr, Facebook, the iPhone and countless other services make it incredibly easy for us to instantly post short musings, photos, video, thoughts and creations, which in turn has created a big gap between the micro post and the macro post.
Time for the macro post to shine
Longer blog posts with valuable content might not get the recognition they deserve, because the 140-character mindset turns people off of reading several pages of text. One way to combat this and make your content more appealing is by creatively altering the layout, using the blogazine technique.
Bridging the gap
We don’t know exactly where the world of blogging is headed in the next few years, but the increase in micro-blogging will definitely be a strong influence. Shorter attention spans call for drastic changes to the length of blog posts. Blogazines could cater to a generation accustomed to the longer articles of newspapers and magazines, becoming a bridge between the traditional article and the TwitPic.
Forces you to think more creatively
Slipping into the habit of typing up your thoughts and clicking “Post,” without thinking about the layout of each article, is easy. By taking a little extra time for the art of blogging, your creativity will increase with your efforts.
Something different and exciting for your readers
If .Net or Computer Arts printed every article with the same layout, every month, would you still subscribe? Your readers would more likely return for new articles if they anticipate something new and rewarding.
Reduces the number of short simple posts
Your blog posts will have much more weight if you take the time to create a full article, rather than knock of a rushed post.
Makes wordy posts more readable
If all you have is text, text, text, then people will be less likely to read it. Put a little effort into styling the content, and your post will become much more readable.
It takes serious effort
Hand-crafting each blog post won’t be easy, but the rewards will be well worth it.
You need CSS and HTML experience
Anyone can download a WordPress theme and merrily post an article. But building a custom layout requires some experience with CSS and HTML.
Inconsistency
The layout of your blog will change dramatically from post to post and, if not done right, may strike your readers as being awkwardly inconsistent. Just look at Jason Santa Maria’s work. Every post is radically different for a reason, but a consistent vein runs through the posts.
No print layout experience
Because this style borrows many elements from print design, anyone who has worked only in Web design may find it difficult to change their way of thinking. Rules of typography and white space, for example, may throw you off. But practice makes perfect, and an endless supply of inspiration can be found in creative magazines.
Obviously this style isn’t suitable for every website. It wouldn’t be practical for blogs that pump out three or four articles a day, but certain types of websites could benefit from it especially.
Portfolios
We have a habit of following trends very easily, especially in our portfolios. Instead of following the tired old practice of positioning screenshots of your work in a nice grid one after the other, why not use the blogazine technique and design a fresh page for each project according to the subject, client and color scheme?
Online Shops
Many online shops suffer from a certain blandness, following the pattern of: thumbnail grid, name, short description and then pagination.
This layout may be good for usability, but there is a middle ground between scannability and visual appeal.
The design changes do not have to be dramatic. In fact, drastically changing the layout would not be advisable for online stores.
But perhaps even subtle changes to design elements could give your online shop the distinction that makes it more noticeable?
CSS Galleries
A new CSS gallery seems to pop up every day, making it increasingly difficult to distinguish between all of them. While some of the higher-profile examples like SiteInspire are fantastic for gaining inspiration, the constant influx of CSS galleries makes the inclusion of your own design in one of them somewhat less of an achievement.
It would be interesting to see a really high-class CSS gallery adopt the blogazine technique, with a custom page made for each worthy website, using large high-quality images instead of the typical screenshots.
The websites in a CSS gallery are not all about the same topic and do not have the same style or same content, so why should they receive the same treatment and same type of screenshot?
Merely for consistency?
Think about a painting that is worthy of being displayed in an art gallery. Should it be given the same treatment, cut to the same size, positioned the same way? Why do we treat gallery-worthy websites this way, then?
Quiet Blogs
Bloggers often lack the motivation to keep their blog running. Many of them feel they have to keep it fresh by updating it every day, and failing to meet their own expectations results in both frustration and a neglected blog.
Updating a blog daily isn’t ideal, and more often than not…
seven half-hearted articles a week does not equal one very polished, interesting article.
RSS readers are jam-packed with articles every day, and chances are, the articles that don’t get your full attention will get lost in the crowd. Keep your short musings and thoughts for Posterous and Twitter, and spend some real time hand-crafting well-thought-out articles. You’ll satisfy both yourself and your readers.
Look at Jason, Dustin and Greg. They do not blog that often: sometimes once a week, sometimes once a month. But the quality is always stellar.
You have endless possibilities to be more creative with your blog. Why stay tied down to one theme and one layout when you can experiment with your skills and push your creativity to its limit with a blogazine? With the Internet suffocating with blogs, people have developed incredibly short attention spans, and they probably won’t stop for your content if you have “just another blog.”
Why not throw away the blogging rule book and make your articles stand out from the crowd?
- Jason Santa Maria talks about his rethinking
- Jack Cheng’s blogazine
- WordPress Art Direction Plugin
- ‘You’re killing Me Zappos’ by Metalabdesign
- WordPress Post Styling Plugin
- The Life of Dustin Curtis
- WordPress Designate Plugin
- Jason Santa Maria: The Influence of Print Design
- Shaun Inman’s Photostream
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1
Unreadable grey on black text. div class ‘pioneers_look’ has a problem where the text has popped out of the box. Blockquote from Santa Maria is too wide for the content wrapper. Using latest Chrome on Windows 7, in the year 2013. Your post simply does not work as an example, sorry; I’d rather be able to read the content than experience unique post designs.
-
2
The ideas posited in the article *might* be interesting for those able to see this page. I could only manage to read about 10% of the content here, thanks to your choice of #333333 on black. Form over function, innit?
-
3
There’s some food for thought here for sure.
But… a blog post that basically reads like a crappy infographic, 90% of the comments here are worthless GARBAGE and your comment form is now broken in Chrome.
The future of blogging? God, I hope not.
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Marcello
November 19th, 2009 6:38 amI personally found this page very confusing and not usable at all…
Flo
November 19th, 2009 6:46 amMee too. This would even be hard to read in a magazine. But if you found a compromise between this post and the regular posts, I think this could be great! Most of the ideas and design elements are really good, but all of them together in one post is just too much!
Dan
November 19th, 2009 9:01 amSometimes you need to scroll up – what’s wrong with that? have you never turn the page back while reading a book?
Great post SM. This is the death of the boring blog post indeed ;)
Benj Arriola
November 19th, 2009 12:18 pmI didn’t know if I was still on the same blog post. When a blog post ended and a new one started. Ended up it seems this is only 1 blog post.
andreeib
November 19th, 2009 6:49 amWhat are you talking about this article was great, I’d like to see more of this. It makes you read more, not just like a plain article where I was skiping text.
Joel
November 19th, 2009 7:50 amI totally agree. I just kept scrolling, wondering what would come next.
This is the most interesting, value-packed SmashingMag blogpost I’ve read in a long time! :P
Alex Denning
November 19th, 2009 11:06 amDitto. Really brilliant stuff. Would love to see more of this stuff :)
grandchamp_g
November 19th, 2009 11:38 amI totally agree with you andreeib. For once in a long time online I found myself wanting not skip an article, but rather take it all in…. kinda of like a newspaper… hint hint print media and online newspapers. I think this is so called for when trying to deliver an good experience.
Gillesv
November 19th, 2009 6:50 amUsable? Who “uses” an article? Just scroll down & read, not much else you need to do ;)
Good article, but magazines have the advantage that print looks the same everywhere, while html – clearly – does not. Also, separation of style & content raises concern for these types of articles… inline styles all the way?
Nicolas
November 19th, 2009 9:49 amI’m not sure about inline style. I think it makes it difficult, complicated, to make declinations adapted for other media types, like say, portable devices. I think it breaks the accessibility issues somehow.
However I really like the idea of having alternate layouts and design for different posts. Good article !
Jason
November 19th, 2009 2:31 pmAnother advantage a magazine has is your (mostly) captive attention. You pretty much know when you’re not looking at a magazine because the TV, your cat, or an airplane caught your attention. If you happen to (mis)click another tab or window, you might be disoriented when you return to the funky-cool layout.
In good UX, red means stop and green means go. Don’t redefine instinctive standards, even if they’ve only been instinctual for a few seconds. In contrast, the way Jason Santa Maria alters his posts does not stray very far from the established standards. No matter where you enter his site, you’ll not betray that initial layout knowledge via subsequent clicks.
As for inline styles, there would be no need. Use the post ID number that is ‘typically’ entered into the body class to create the custom styles.
Cesar Mujica Castro
November 19th, 2009 6:59 amI found it very simple and easy to read.
Andy Stone
November 19th, 2009 8:20 amI totally agree here. The typography was large and clear over the site. The styling and positioning read like a great arts magazine from the 90s and it was far more than I expected this morning for my typical Smashing read.
I understand how many, many sites would suffer from this type of blog post and how many designer/developers would shake with thinking about having to do this for a client all the time. But, I think it is a wonderful idea for designers’ personal sites and anything where passion is the priority, not a paycheck.
JSM has been an inspiration for a long time, he is highly successful and I hope that many others begin to follow suit.
Thanks Smashing,
Andy
antohabio
November 19th, 2009 1:23 pmI agree. The material is very clear. Something similar to the presentation.
Jude
November 19th, 2009 7:17 amI agree… I’m lost !
Mark Howells-Mead
November 19th, 2009 8:53 amDitto that.
Longfield
June 28th, 2011 3:37 amu just jealous.. u can’t made it your self… u’re very naive :P
Cesar Mujica Castro
November 19th, 2009 6:40 amThis article ROCKS!!!!!!
I’m inspired..
Tranquera
November 19th, 2009 6:42 amLove SM… But I didn’t like this… Sorry…
Smashing Editorial
November 19th, 2009 7:24 amThat’s OK, we actually knew that this style is not for everybody. Some parts of the design may indeed be a bit “overdesigned”, but Paddy has done a tremendous work on this post. The main idea of the post was to provide you with an idea of how you can change the way your blog posts look like and present advantages and disadvantages of the technique. We hope that we did at least something right in this post to achieve this goal.
Zsolt
November 19th, 2009 8:08 amThe idea of this post was to get out of the box and create something really unique. Thats why all of us are designers right? To create something unique. Personally i wouldn’t be a web designer if i’d have to create the same layouts over and over again. Great article!
SteveO
November 19th, 2009 11:43 amI liked the large type. I was able to lean back and enjoy reading the article. No squinting!
David C.
November 19th, 2009 12:36 pmGreat article SM…I think you did a great job of explaining the blogazine concept.
Here’s my take on it:
I think a trend is starting here that will die out soon once bloggers that try this realize it’s too much work. Dustin’s blog is successful because he has so much to say. Most people aren’t like this.
Even if you compare his blog to Jason’s and Gregory’s (which have a more sophisticated design), Dustin’s has far more interesting content. Jason and Gregory seem to post content to give them a reason to design. Dustin wants to say something first, but also make it interesting to look at.
Designers that design because they love being “out of the box” and “unique” will surely jump on this. Designers that design because they love finding simple solutions to complex problems and creating clarity out of clutter — like me :) — will be slower to attempt a blogazine.
Guida
November 19th, 2009 2:01 pmI Loved it.
Feels so good to see people puting their talent to push forward the world of internet communication.
Congrats!
chris
November 19th, 2009 6:42 amsucks!!!!!!!
This post was boring!!!!!!!!!
Mike B.
November 19th, 2009 6:51 amI second your opinion
Smashing Editorial
November 19th, 2009 7:25 amWhat exactly did you find boring? The idea, the execution or both? Please be more specific!
Christopher Anderton
November 19th, 2009 9:44 amI like to say the opisite. The post rocked. It was fun, it created a “aha! fun!” experience because everything in it broke loose from the normal conventions.
Creds.
AtomWorks
November 19th, 2009 7:55 amHow could you find it boring?
I’ve found it was awesome at opening up your mind and challenging the everyday working design habits we get into. I found the really article really engaging although to be honest a little intimidating. I’m not sure why, maybe because of the colossal eye opening potential of it or maybe because it’s just a lot more brash then your average article.
Either way… loved it. This is the kind of article that we come to Smashing Magazine for, and we got a few extra blogs to keep an eye out for in the future too!
Also: Loved how Dustin Curtis has an awesome main blog, and then what he calls a boring blog for more regular and generic posts. Not abandoned the standard blog format completely!
Peter Keich
November 19th, 2009 6:42 amWow, that’s so totally cool! Love the layout, too! Great work, Paddy!
Mathew Davies
November 19th, 2009 6:42 amThis is certainly cool, but I found it harder to read as I was constantly distracted by all the different styles.
I am undecided.
Johannes Gehrke
November 19th, 2009 6:45 amvery inspiring, kinda unusal template. May not usable for a wide spread, ok, but the basic idea is good.
Lee Theobald
November 19th, 2009 6:46 amI’m with Marcello. As someone with less than fantastic eyesight (no peripheral version – tunnel vision) this page was an absolute nightmare to read. I’ll be scrolling down some text and then it would suddenly stop. I’d look for the next paragraph and it’s not where I’d expect it. So I’m then left scanning the page trying to find where I need to be reading from next. Having to do this 20 odd times when trying to read something is frustrating.
I agree that the technique can be attractive and add something special to a blog. But if anything, I would say this article is a great example of how not to do it! I just found it that hard to read.
Canha
November 19th, 2009 6:47 amAre you commenters insane?
This is absolutely AWESOME.
Aren’t you all tired of the same structure, used over and over again?
This is sweeter than sweet.
SM rocks.
Brad Ney
November 19th, 2009 7:41 amI wouldn’t of read this long of an article in SM’s original layout.. All the different colours creating one giant article is awesome!
I read every paragraph.. This is very inspiring.
Kris Sauquillo
November 19th, 2009 6:48 amThis style of blogging only works for bloggers that post irregularly and, more often than not, short. For longer posts, like this exact one, it just doesn’t work and does the opposite of trying to not be boring.
Hugh Collier
November 19th, 2009 6:48 amThe sentiments in the article are sound enough but I found the page itself a total nightmare to read – and that was on a 24″ screen. I dread to think how annoying it would be on a smaller screen or a laptop.
Lukas Berns
November 19th, 2009 6:49 amWow I love this.
Because every chunk of text is short and presented in a simple way and because you want to see the next design change, you’re motivated to read on.
Looks great — even better than real magazines!
And it helps understanding, too.
Bim
November 19th, 2009 6:49 amWhile I see what you were doing with the mag layout on this blog post… it’d take some getting used to. I think there maybe just a bit too much content.. or maybe its the same but all images, copy and headings are bigger. I don’t tend to get too much time to read blog posts bearing in mind I read a lot of different blogs. I like the idea that much more time and effort is spent on a blog post but if the blog is not really bringing in much income then it’s not really worth spending too much time on the theme each time a new blogpost is submitted. Only my opinion. Keep up the good work Smashingmag
Baztoune
November 19th, 2009 6:50 amThat post just rox! I love it!
Nicola
November 19th, 2009 6:50 amno no no no no…. i didnt read a thing because it was poor design overload, sorry, but i hated this post!
Linus Bohman
November 19th, 2009 6:50 amWhile those authors do a great job at this, I’m afraid that this post was poorly designed. The different styles made it hard to read. Keep in mind for next time: part of what makes the examples fantastic is that they design the entire page and make it one complete entity.
Linus Bohman
November 19th, 2009 7:01 amA bit harsh perhaps – still a good post!
Guilherme
November 19th, 2009 8:56 amWhat you have to see here is that it’s *intentionally* designed with various styles for the purposes of inspiration. This article is written for designers, people who would understand the meaning of this different way of thinking.
I liked the article very much, was already intending to do something like that for my own blog (which does not exist yet).
Simon Ljungberg
November 19th, 2009 6:51 amI think this post is great!
Made me want to try it out myself.
Maybe this post wasn’t the best. But it was absolutely interesting.
Edit: to clarify, this posts design wasn’t the best. Content wise it was interesting.
Marco
November 19th, 2009 6:51 amVery interesting read – loved to do it. Loads of useful information. Some parts were hard to get through, but still great to see. Thanks a lot for the effort!
Erik
November 19th, 2009 6:52 am^^ Marcello must be old.
This page is so visual pleasing, the blocks of text were short and too the point. It added richness to this “normal” article.
I could imagine the older generation not being able to follow this article though, hence why I suggested that Marcello must be old.
Really though… I think your followers will increase with this new idea of blogazine layouts.
ez
Charles
November 23rd, 2009 10:55 pmIs this a serious comment? Your explanation for Marcello finding this design unreadable is that he’s old? That’s a pretty weak assertion.
smok
November 19th, 2009 6:54 amI’m not boring of post. The form is the one thing, the content is another. I totally agree, that boring post style can be upgraded, but I’m not sure if this form above is a right direction… It was very hard to follow and read. I totally disagree with the statement “What if a print magazine used the same template for every article? It would be pretty boring, no?” – they ARE using the same template or a little number of various templates. And it’s boring as long as the content is boring…
miko
November 19th, 2009 6:54 amfantastic article! leave it to smashingmag to present such innovations. it read like a rather entertaining powerpoint; not distracting at all.
perhaps we can do a demographic study of who likes this post and not. haha
Christian
November 19th, 2009 6:55 amGREEEAAAT!!!!!
Chris
November 19th, 2009 6:56 amI typically find myself trailing off on a normal post layout. This layout, however, was just crazy enough to keep my interest much longer. I still trailed off and started to “quick scroll” to the end but did so much later than normal.
Great inspiration, though.
David
November 19th, 2009 6:56 amWow. When I got to this page via Twitterific, I thought SmashingMag had done a redesign and had to check the home page. The different layout and design definitely got my attention. The article, fantastic!
Ash
November 19th, 2009 6:57 amPlease stop using the term ‘blogazine’, it’s ridiculous.
Mike B.
November 19th, 2009 6:58 amSM,
You don’t have to complicate things when designing a website. Always follow the K.I.S.S principle.
Donkey
November 19th, 2009 6:58 amWell it may suck for some of you, but it was interesting atleast. May not be the most reader-friendly layout but it was sort of like a Guy Richie movie trailer.
Creative? YEEES! Useful (broad sense)? Maybe not!
Andrea
November 19th, 2009 6:58 amVery very cool page but I think blogazine can fit only in some cases and not for all blog.
The web is fast, very fast, and to do this kind of pages require time and great skills.
I love it but I think it cannot be a good solution for everyone and absolutely cannot be a standard.
h1brd
November 19th, 2009 7:01 amI’m glad SM took the time and effort to get someone to show this. The quality, work and love put into creating a css stylesheet for individual blog post is not only respectful but amazing to appreciate. Thanks for helping put this up to the masses, congratulations with the post.
Jen
November 19th, 2009 7:02 amThis was a beautiful and inspiring post, and yet that’s only because I read it on my nice glossy desktop screen. Had I been squinting on a netbook, I’d have seen nowt but black, I warrant.
And there’s the rub. One can create a work of art instead of a Kubrick-themed monstrosity, sure; but is it accessible? Really, are you blogging or are you just.. publishing, if each post takes so long to craft that it’s more a labour of love than a quick projectile vomit across the keyboard?
Some of the beauty and joy in blogging lies in its impromptu nature. At a conference? Taking notes? Whip out a netbook and put them online on your blog — and suddenly become a superstar. (No, really.) If you’re that kind of blogger — the quick-thought-in-the-morning kind, the I’m-on-a-train-and-wow-this-just-struck-me kind — then blogazines just don’t chime.
The compromise? Dual-layered content. Editorial with pretty pictures that requires days and Photoshop to get right; verbal diarrhoea with illustrations stolen from Google Images as your bread and butter. I’ll (maybe) be trying that, if I can ever summon the spare time to try a ‘zine-style post. If not, I’m happy being old-school and boring, if it means I can get good content out there fast.
Joe Barstow
November 19th, 2009 11:15 amverbal diarrhoea
Jonas Pelzer
November 19th, 2009 7:05 amI love the idea since I found out about Dustin Curtis’ blog/magazine and this article’s layout is very well done, too!
Tyce
November 19th, 2009 7:05 amIncredible article Paddy, truly inspirational. You’ve pointed out some fantastic points, and done a damn good job displaying them. Top marks champ :)
Smashing Editorial
November 19th, 2009 7:07 amJust for the record: we are NOT going to turn Smashing Magazine in a Blogazine now. It would take way too much time and require way too much patience. ;-)
Mike Clarke
November 19th, 2009 7:08 amOne of the best articles I’ve read on here in a while. Thanks!
Paul
November 19th, 2009 7:10 amNow this is what I’m talking about! Great work SM. Great work to those featured too. Thanks again.
Kax
November 19th, 2009 7:12 amVery great!!!, perhaps this smell next version of blogging
Angstrom
November 19th, 2009 7:12 amOh god,
I hated the layout of this page with a passion. I just couldn’t read it.
It seemed to encapsulate every element of design which makes it’s subject incomprehensible.
I exited the page in a panic to check if the rest of SmashingMag had turned into this, reasured I came back and tried 3 times to read this article – and it still leapt at me like a jumble of words.
If you are asking why designs like this one have not caught on, answer : because they render the body UNREADABLE!
Jennifer Farley
November 19th, 2009 7:13 amHi Paddy, I really liked the article and I liked the layout too. Maybe it was a little unconventional for reading but it’s really good to see something different. I wrote a short post about this topic and art direction a while ago on Sitepoint. If anyone wants to read it, it’s here – http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2009/07/31/art-direction-taking-web-design-to-the-next-level
Well done for doing something a bit different.
devolute
November 19th, 2009 7:13 am“seven half-hearted articles a week does not equal one very polished, interesting article”
indeed.
Min Thu
November 19th, 2009 7:14 amI really like this kind of creative blog post. :) Usual articles are just like a blog post and not that attractive compared to this. This is the beginning of a real magazine style! :)
Justin Hope
November 19th, 2009 7:14 amThough I was interested in reading the article, and lets remember that “reading” is pretty important I found the layout difficult to follow. Knockout text is distracting as well as using different column spacing. Might be more interesting if it was printed out on a long sheet of paper so you could see it all at once. You gave it the old college try though, so kudos.
Kevin deLeon
November 19th, 2009 7:16 amWhile I think the “blogazine” style is interesting, I think there are quite a few drawbacks to promoting it.
We have preached “consistency” and “taste” for years now, attempting to get designers all on the same page: Accessibility, content, usability and coherent/maintainable code. This style opens the flood gates for horrible design, and countless unusable pages. There are a LOT more designers who can’t pull this style off, than there are those who can. Unfortunately if the blogazine style were to catch on as a trend, I fear the ones who can’t pull it off would be the ones using it the most.
Dustin Curtis and Jason Santa Maria do excellent work no doubt. I think what they do works well for what THEY do. However, from an accessibility/readability standpoint, this blog post was a nightmare. I commend the writer for going out on a limb and giving it a shot as a proof of concept/contextual example, but I have to say it wasn’t done as well as say a Dustin Curtis or JSM article, and proves the point that it just isn’t for everyone. I am definitely not knocking the writer/designer…please don’t take it that way, and by all means, do what you want. Freedom and experimentation breeds innovation.
Thankfully, in my opinion this style is a LOT more work than it is worth. I think the time factor alone will prohibit most bloggers from going this route, not to mention the sheer knowledge and design brilliance it takes to actually make posts like these work. Don’t get me wrong…I love DC, and JSM’s blogs. I read them often, but even their posts can sometimes be quite overwhelming. Design is awesome, but content is still king, and if I can’t see the content for all of the glowing/flashing distractions around it…then the design falls flat.
Joe Stevens
November 19th, 2009 7:31 am“accessibility/readability standpoint, this blog post was a nightmare.” Accessibility maybe, but as far as readability this is one of the few times I ever read and entire blog post. I found it very easy to read the visuals made it more interesting. I think this will catch on, perhaps not with blogs that update everyday but for publications that update less often this style may get very popular. One of the things holding back magazines from going full web is that they have to restrict themselves on layout, I think this will help convince them make the transition to full web.
Kevin deLeon
November 19th, 2009 7:44 amJoe,
By readability, I wasn’t referring to the blog post being interesting, or fun to look at. It was. I was thinking of people like the commenter referring to his poor vision (tunnel vision) and other readers like him who will suffer from layouts like this. I have perfect 20/20 vision and it was hard for me to follow. Content is all over the place, no flow, type changing size and face every 20 lines. It’s disorienting at best.
“One of the things holding back magazines from going full web is that they have to restrict themselves on layout, I think this will help convince them make the transition to full web.”
Maybe, but I don’t think it will. Magazines will not spend this kind of time, money and effort to produce this product. Unless there is a drastic shift in the way we design pages (code) this is still not an option for most magazines.
I am sure there is some kind of happy medium for all of this. This post however, does not exemplify that in my opinion. I still do commend the author for his time and effort, this just isn’t where I would like to see web design go.
Joe Stevens
November 19th, 2009 7:59 amKevin,
This particular post is probably not the best example. I’m think the examples on Jason’s site are much better, the layout changes for each article but they are still readable, its obvious he has some print experience.
I don’t want the web to look exactly like magazines do, but I would love to see us move away from the template look everything has now, its kind of boring. Like you said, we have go to find some kind of medium.
Aaron Ur. Salmon
November 19th, 2009 11:16 amI was just going to post these sentiments – This is the first blog post all week I’ve read start to finish without skimming. So it clearly worked on me. I love this idea.
Mark Dingman
November 19th, 2009 11:25 amDesign should not be held back by worrying about those who cannot effectively pull the style off, don’t you think?
Kevin deLeon
November 20th, 2009 8:22 amMark,
I can agree with that sentiment, and I am not advocating holding back design. That is just my personal worry.
At the same time however, I just feel most users will be at a disadvantage trying to find the content in all the flashy trees. Once again, I think this can work fine for example on designers’ blogs and the like. You surely have the freedom to “show off” in this style. However, most blogs are not the appropriate arena for the designer to be showing off in. They are about the information being communicated to the user in the “easiest” way possible. It has been shown, time and time again, that users don’t want to “work” for the information the are looking for.
CoryMathews
November 19th, 2009 7:17 amHaha seems either people really liked it or really hated it.
Natrium
November 19th, 2009 7:18 amstrange but interesting!
myows
November 19th, 2009 7:18 amWell, I think that styling unique pages for each blog post is a very impressive effort! kudos to the featured artists.
Andris
November 19th, 2009 7:19 amThis post is very inspiring. It made me think of my design. And that’s always a good thing. Thanx SM.
Tom
November 19th, 2009 7:20 amI don’t want to scroll 15 screens for a story that can be put on one screen. This page lost my attention. When I’m behind internet there’s e-mail, IM, RSS from my favorite blogs and tweets from my Twitter-friends. A lot of information and I need to decide what I’m going to read. So if I click a link to a blog I want to see quickly if it’s interesting.
Aaron Burrows
November 19th, 2009 7:21 amAwesome article! I have been a huge fan of Jason Santa Maria’s and I love his “blogazine” approach. This article is well written, VERY well designed, and inspires me to follow suit. Very cool.
Lindsey
November 19th, 2009 7:21 amVery interesting! I wish I had time to do a blogazine but there is no way right now. Great article to read!
Joe Stevens
November 19th, 2009 7:21 amThis article is fantastic. I hope this catches on because it’s going to bring some excitement back into web design and maybe finally convince laggard magazines that they can move to being web only and still have kick ass creative. I think the timing is right for this kind of style, web pages are moving away from the PC screen and onto touchscreen phones and tablets, also it is easier then ever to use different fonts.
Time to go buy some magazines for layout inspiration.
Jaber !
November 19th, 2009 7:21 amAwsome² !
Alex
November 19th, 2009 7:21 amI love this post. The naysayers just don’t understand.
Kris
November 19th, 2009 7:22 amI haven’t been that engrossed in a blog article for quite some time. Usually I just skim over all the fluff to try and find anything remotely interesting, but this had my buttocks firmly planted to my chair.
Is this the new bandwagon? I sure hope so. It might make people actually use more than one brain cell before spamming feed readers across the world with crap.
Peter Hughes
November 19th, 2009 7:23 amGreat work Paddy, i love it
nFormas design
November 19th, 2009 7:23 amThis kind of pubication give more liberty to layout , perhaps i think that the time spended to create them is so long! But soon i think that someone can create a simple way to post in this way, link wordpress do.
Dominik Porada
November 19th, 2009 7:24 amBlogs are not printed magazines, so they doesn’t have to change their layouts every “issue”. Blog is blog. Magazine is magazine.
Mark Dingman
November 19th, 2009 12:17 pmSo blogs shouldn’t evolve?
Fanie
November 19th, 2009 7:24 amThank you for a very inspiring article. I’m not too sure yet where this blogazine thrend is going, but it sure is interesting to follow and even try!
JulienL
November 19th, 2009 7:25 amI really liked this post, interesting way to present a post, different and inspirating. I’ll really enjoy a practical guide to make a blogazine.
Neil
November 19th, 2009 7:25 amGreat post. The state of things to come?
Daniel
November 19th, 2009 7:25 amInteresting POV. Amazing job.
Jordan Moore
November 19th, 2009 7:25 amAwesome as always Paddy, feels like a revolutionary article. Very inspiring, something I want to start doing.
Matthias
November 19th, 2009 7:28 amThe idea of individually designed posts is great but in this post you used too many and too different styles which makes it hard to read. At least in this example you did not waste 1/3 of the page with a sidebar that nobody is reading – this is what i find the most boring (because predictable) on all these blogs out there: the uniformed parts around the post itself, that do have nothing to do with it – huge (though nice) headers, pubicity, twittermessages, flikr photos, bloglist, latest posts, latest comments, google adds…
Anyway, I agree with you that it is really time-intense to public individual posts but I think as soon as the twitter-hype is over (where everything is reduced to the max and tweeted and retweeted again), time is definitely right for something more than the message itself.
Stanley
November 19th, 2009 7:28 amBeautiful, and more importantly encouraged
me to read
rather
than scan.
Kim
November 19th, 2009 7:29 amLove the content of this article. I believe the blogazine will be my solution for never being satisfied with my personal website layout. I’ve seriously been trying to get it up and running for a year now! I do agree with some of the users above though, the layout of this article was a little all over the place.
LaDonna
November 19th, 2009 7:32 amgood message and content. Hard to read and follow. Pretty though.. but confusing.
winst0n
November 19th, 2009 7:33 amfantastic, was half expecting this to link through to a normal style post on smashing, really nice job.
Edgar Leijs
November 19th, 2009 7:34 amGreat article, layout super… not the average blogpost! Compliments…
Astromer
November 19th, 2009 7:35 amIt looks great from a designers perspective, but from a user perspective its a headache to read on screen. Magazines are different from web. I think someone who is an artist could make good usage of this, they have an need to be unique. But are your readers among the normal masses I would advice not to.
Also I think its way too much work to be profitable. I would prefer not reinvent the wheel everytime, just a waste of time.
But thanks for showing us a unique blogpost!
Catalin
November 19th, 2009 7:37 amI love the fact that this post practices what it “preaches”. I was reading it in Google reader and half way in it suddenly occurred to me that i should read this one on the website :).
However this is one of the problems with this kind of post, you always have to go back to the website to get the full experience.
Nathaniel 'Flannol' Rosa
January 23rd, 2010 3:53 pmIs this not a good thing? ‘Forcing’ people to return back to your website, I can see many benefits in that.
zt
November 19th, 2009 7:37 amblogs are for blogging. don’t use a blog system if you want to create a magazine…
Jesse
November 19th, 2009 7:39 amPaddy-
Interesting article, but perhaps better sold as “hey this is cool how these designers are blogging” and not the Fox-esque “The Death of the Blog Post” (you can still get milk &coke in bottles remember).
The reasons are legion but I just want to highlight two:
1. I presently have open about 30 tabs open, yep, I’m taxing my machine, but I read a lot on the web & I have articles lined up for every spare second I have at work. This is common among most web readers that is the nature & beauty of the web and hyperlinks, which is why even the “cool” design of your post was frustrating, because my computer kept stalling. In the meantime I clicked over to other tabs to read pages that were meant for reading on the web. The only reason I overcame my frustration & tabbed back, was because it was Smashing and they have gained my trust and interest. Had I stumbled on one of the very talented folks you highlighted and encountered the same problem, I wouldn’t have gone back, just not going to fight to read something, if I am not sure it is going to be worth the fight. Seems fair.
2. Good content, I read articles for Good content and I think Gregory Wood, who you featured said it best himself:
I’m not a great writer, and I probably write a lot of bullshit, but because it’s all nicely designed, readers are drawn in and end up reading more than one post. It’s also very fun to create and helps me grow as a designer.
So I would gladly go to his art opening, or even an online gallery of art, but I have a mountain of books I want to read, a pile of work on my desk, and friends to talk/share with, if I’m reading on the internet, it’s not to make my eyes whiter, it’s for good informative content. I think it’s great he is growing as a designer, but if I am to also read his work, then I hope he would grow as writer as well.
Speaking of, there is a blog on a regular old easy to read blog that is full of other reasons why this form is a flop for content. Don’t worry it’s fast, poignant, won’t stall your machine & easy to read. (and no it is not my post)
http://j.mp/46NWn9
Maybe the next Smashing Post should address some of the valid points there or perhaps an ode to our strangely Victorian obsession of pre-mature burials, is that what they teach in Journalism classes these days? Call it Dead before the next guy and you’re a journalist?
jesse @dmdxd
Kumail Hunaid
November 19th, 2009 7:40 am@canha
“Are you commenters insane?
This is absolutely AWESOME.”
- I second that
keif
November 19th, 2009 7:40 amOkay, I get what you’re doing. I’lle cho what’s being said:
This is not usable. It alienates. It’s TOO different. It’s creative. It’s not thinking about the end user, it’s trying to be as visually appealing, while ignoring accessibility, readability for the masses. This is GREAT for designers. BAD for consistent offerings.
I agree – e-commerce stores are boring to the point of being cookie-cutter sites, for “usability” and “familiarity.” But reinventing the wheel would do more to turn people AWAY then causing people to go “gee, I no longer know how to use this site, I should figure it out instead of going somewhere else to buy it quickly and easilly!” It’s like making someone solve a rubik’s cube before they can order lunch. Some people will try, most people will skip it *because they are hungry.*
This creates obstacles and barriers between a user and the site. *This has its place* and I’m really interested in how this grows and gets integrated with the mainstream. I know this article is an extreme example, but I look forward to seeing how people run with the concept in the long run.
Brandon
November 19th, 2009 7:41 amI love it. I’ve recently started digging into wordpress myself, and as my own project I decided to try and emulate the concept behind Jason Santa Maria’s website. It was a great way to learn how to make WordPress bend to my will. Oh, and then I found out about the Art Direction plug-in.
While I agree that this particular post was a bit all over- it’s because it had to be! When you’re trying to explain a concept to someone, especially when you’re trying to open their eyes to a new way of doing something, you have to exaggerate! C’mon designers, you should be use to doing this :D
Thank you, SM, for proving to my friends that this format is going to be the next step in web design. I know I’m excited for this change.
gjotto
November 19th, 2009 7:41 amI personally haven’t read so punctually any post in this week like this one. Everything was about 30 this, 25 that, which are good, because sometimes we need portfolios of things. It saves us the time of search and probing. But in the late times I just scanned the pages, posts. If one image was good, I stopped a little. This post is fantastic, really. It was like a storytelling. The design accompanied the content and showed us what to read. This post is the incarnation of ideas which we talk about every day in the web development and design community. Thank you smashing magazine, now I found out about Dustin’s blog too. Good luck
Chanh Nguyen
November 19th, 2009 7:42 amI love how the print aesthetic is coming more and more real online. And when I say print aesthetic, I’m basically talking about real design rather then what you have been talking about. The only flaw or at least the issue people haven’t addressed with these blogs is readability. Jason Santa Maria is an exception. For example, with this post when you list the Advantages and Disadvantages towards the end. With two different column lengths we have to scroll down then scroll back up. What really gets me is when bloggers begin another paragraph in the next column.
A lot of the other blogs do the same so I’m not trying to pick on you. There is a certain way you read things online then on print, which we all know. Once people fully understand how users read content online, this new trend will become even stronger.
Jeffrey
November 19th, 2009 7:43 amIMHO, too much of a good thing.
To quote the above article, “These guys aren’t using standard WordPress themes or cutting corners to make their lives easier. Rather, they are challenging themselves and producing some fantastic content.”
Wrong. They are challenging themselves and producing fantastic LAYOUT and graphic designed FRAMING. They are mistaking the container for the content. They are pushing the chrome-trim over the car itself. The web is first and foremost (though not exclusively) a writer’s medium. Graphic design serves to support, emphasize and enhance that message but it is not the message itself!
Many traditional magazines have a consistent graphic designed *system* that defines the *character* of the magazine. That’s done for a very good reason – it creates a sense of familiarity that builds trust and finally a sense of the content coming from an authoritative source.
If the character of your blog/webzine is changing all the time (though tailored graphic design for each and every article), that path to connect to your readers is made unclear.
Joe Stevens
November 19th, 2009 8:07 am“Graphic design serves to support, emphasize and enhance that message but it is not the message itself!’
Agreed. This article is an extreme example and may not be the best. However what it’s suggesting is brilliant. One of the things I have always dreaded about magazines disappearing is that the art of laying out articles will disappear. Not saying each article should be dramatically different, there should definitely be consistent styling across the whole site. Its like you said there should be a system.
Steven
November 19th, 2009 7:43 amInteresting article, but truthfully, the amount of ‘work’ required to comfortably read it (read, scroll, read, scroll…) became tiresome rather quickly. I applaud the author for thinking differently, after all that’s what we all try to do, but i find this style to be change for change’s sake.
Irish Cheesehead
November 19th, 2009 7:45 amGee, and here I thought it was all about content.
Otto Coster
November 19th, 2009 7:45 amGreat article, kept me reading a lot longer than I normally do. I also like the nice typographic features as the callouts and the large body text.
Guess it’s time to start using InDesign for the web. Coding this in CSS by hand is undoable. :-)
Michael Alden
November 19th, 2009 7:46 amI agree with both sides of the argument. When the page first loaded and I scroll-scanned the content it was utterly confusing and disjointed in appearance. However, upon reading the article, it was exceptionally well written with excellent information. It truly has me inspired to a new way of thinking about blog design.
gjotto
November 19th, 2009 7:46 amIt is true, that reading every day a post like this would be very tiresome, but one post like this would be awesome per day. It slowed me. All day we scan very fast many webpages, blog posts, google searches, twitter …. We learnt how to scan for information very very fast. But sometimes it’s good to be slower, like reading a book. Yeah this was like reading a book, where we imagine the things and don’t get quick. This was the last comment :)
STPo
November 19th, 2009 7:47 amWaw.
Great, great idea. Do this again. And again!
Byron Edwards
November 19th, 2009 7:48 amYup, interesting for a few tugs on the scroll wheel, but eventually I thought, “Fuck it…” and just gave it a once over scan.
Pat
November 19th, 2009 7:48 amI thinks this post might not follow the traditional usability rules, but I felt compelled to read, and even if it was a long scroll, I found that the different styles made it more interesting and easier to scan different posts.
Absolutely loved it.
Geoff
November 19th, 2009 7:48 amI love SM as well, but the layout of this article is very difficult to review. I’m all for the change on the front page of SM, but this article’s layout is difficult to consume.
nWODT_Cobalt
November 19th, 2009 8:00 pm“Don’t normally comment here… You guys rocked this time.
I remember there was a time when I visited a designer’s site, I saw personality, I saw soul. Nowadays, every blogger with a templated site is a web designer. Everything looks the same, so commercialized, so boring.
kudos.”
+1
Jin
November 19th, 2009 7:48 amDon’t normally comment here… You guys rocked this time.
I remember there was a time when I visited a designer’s site, I saw personality, I saw soul. Nowadays, every blogger with a templated site is a web designer. Everything looks the same, so commercialized, so boring.
kudos.
Joe Stevens
November 19th, 2009 8:08 am“Everything looks the same, so commercialized, so boring.” So true.
Sander
November 19th, 2009 2:04 pmSame here Jin, SM Rocks!
And finally a great discussion, for the first time at SM I’m actually reading all the comments. Love it.
nWODT_Cobalt
November 19th, 2009 8:03 pm“Don’t normally comment here… You guys rocked this time.
I remember there was a time when I visited a designer’s site, I saw personality, I saw soul. Nowadays, every blogger with a templated site is a web designer. Everything looks the same, so commercialized, so boring.
kudos.”
+1
Aman Anderson
November 19th, 2009 7:49 amThis is awesome. I have no issues with the layout. I am a magazine designer, going on 6 years, and think that this truly represents how magazines are portrayed. Maybe add some drop caps, but not a necessary for the web for the complexity of CSS/XHTML. CSS was not made for graphic heavy web sites but pure static text. Over the years I will say that web designers with there talent have used CSS/XHTML in a way that was never thought to be used before, even with the blogs. Just by how graphics and design have been implemented into what was used for the Military, and mono-tone text for colleges. . . aka the internet. (lil’ less profanity.)
chopeh
November 19th, 2009 7:49 amMind-blowing.
I really loved this, I feel properly inspired now.
My main enemy is time, I can barely find time to upload a picture to my portfolio let alone design a whole page around a piece – but it would be amazing if I could acheive something like that, its definately added to me “Things to find time for” list.
Thanks SM, this is probably the best thing you’ve posted in ages – and something I read from top to bottom.
To those saying its hard to follow… You read from left to right, top to bottom no? I found it extremely simple, like a flow diagram.
Sam Miller
November 19th, 2009 7:50 amGreat article Paddy, obviously alot of work has gone into it. Particularly liked the advantages and disadvantages styling. Shame you can’t see the effort in an RSS reader
Parsons
November 19th, 2009 7:51 amMan, this is really thought-provoking. When I clicked on this in my reader at first I was like, “What happened to SM’s site?” And then I saw the topic and I realized, “Oh, they’re practicing what they’re preaching”. Congrats on that!
Personally, I loved it, I think Paddy did a great job with it. But I also see where the others are coming from with complaints about accessibility. And I totally agree with Jen that it removes that fun, impromptu nature from blogging. I suppose it definitely depends on the purpose/audience of the blog, but I know I’ll be considering this with my blog. Somehow I get the feeling this might be like some of those articles on AListApart that we’ll look back on in a few years and see as a turning point. Thanks, and excellent work!
JMattR
November 19th, 2009 7:52 amCool, nice to see something different. I think the article makes a good point. Though perhaps a bit over done, everyone always has their own design preferences and I think it definitely shows how spending a little bit of extra time designing your post can add some personality to your blog.
David
November 19th, 2009 7:54 amThanks for the inspiration!
Jason
November 19th, 2009 7:55 amI must commend you for the hard work on this blog post. I admire your passion and think this post was great. However, I do believe that it was a bit over done and almost too distracting. I would be in the middle of reading and then suddenly find myself staring at something else. I think for such a long post it would have been better to not design it on such a large scale. Great work though!
Daniel Correia
November 19th, 2009 7:58 amWOW!! I really loved this post.
I think you guys should do this from time to time.
Cheers
Barry McGee
November 19th, 2009 7:58 amA very interesting post even it has seemed to polarise opinion..
I liked it, though I think an older target audience, that of a knitting/gardening blog for example, would find it very hard to follow..but for the web to mover forward and evolve, surely we must try these things?
Great work Paddy!
John Sly
November 19th, 2009 7:59 amExcellent post, loved the design and very-thought provoking. I especially like the idea of using in-line styles for each post instead of trying to keep all the CSS in one big master file.
And hopefully the author or someone at Smashing Magazine will read this comment, because the first link the Erskine Design site leads to erskine.com not erskinedesign.com
Joe Stevens
November 19th, 2009 8:09 am“using in-line styles for each post instead of trying to keep all the CSS in one big master file.” Thats the one thing I hated. :-) Why not just use different style sheet for each article.
Erwin Heiser
November 19th, 2009 8:00 amThis article misses one main point: “Content precedes design” in other words design for your content, to enhance your content, not solely for the sake of making it look pretty.
Mark Miller
November 19th, 2009 8:00 amThis idea is fascinating. A possible solution within a WordPress blog is to setup a custom field, “Layout”. Each article/post would have a “Layout” field attached to it, which could then be used to determine which specific layout to use for that particular page.
The use of the basic themed, magazine style interface, using Brian Gardner’s work as an example, would give a consistent look to the entrance, but then feed down into the customized layouts for each article. This usage will also be helpful for the end user since specific types of articles will maintain a consistent look and feel.
I really like the idea. I’m not a designer, so mine would really suck, but someone with a good design sense could easily generate a dozen or so layouts and have a really slick online blog magazine
Mark
Rob
November 19th, 2009 8:02 amI’m sorry but this post was not well designed at-all.
You need to have design bones to do something like this, and whenever a ‘web guy’ ( usually designer/developer hybrid ) gives it a go it’s almost always a laughably feable attempt. I don’t want to offend but you just have it or you don’t. Personally I don’t see it in Dustin Curtis’s articles and neither in this author Paddy’s work.
- Resonating what others have said, a designer worth his salt ( not a web guy ) will be able to design for the content while making it look impressively good see: JSM. This is just a new fad for web folks to try and beat into the ground.
P.S. I’m/Everyones a critic.