Comments on: How Much Time Do You Spend On Blog Design?

By: mankes

mankes — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 12:59:36 +0000

Hi, I personally design my blogs 2-3 days, so it’s taking a long time, how can I do it faster? Thanks.

By: Matt

Matt — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 02:38:25 +0000

I love the look of this blog. In fact I kinda modelled my latest design of my blog at mattgeri.com after it.. hehe, hope you don’t mind…

Anyway, looking forward to seeing the new design.

Matt Geri

By: Burt

Burt — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 14:53:41 +0000

I’ve been promising to redesign my blog for ages. I have so many things going on, that it is really low on the list of priorities.

As a website designer I should take more care of my blog, but for me, my blog is just an outlet, it’s not anyting that impacts on my core businesses (so it can wait!)…

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 05:12:42 +0000

Yaro- I am looking forward to seeing the new design here and at Small Business Branding.

By: daz

daz — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 03:57:55 +0000

Jakob Nielsen, the usability guru, has an interesting take on design. I think his principles are a great starting point with regard to web design (http://www.useit.com/). Particularly these points – http://www.useit.com/about/nographics.html

Prior to having done human-computer interaction subjects at uni, I was obsessed with designing and then constantly redesigning sites, without even being conscious of the quality of the content. What can I say, I love the creative feeling of web design. However, you’re right Yaro – in the end, its the content that keeps people coming back.

I’m not sure where I’m going with this diatribe, but I guess it was to point out Nielsen’s usability guidelines!

By: Matt Breckon

Matt Breckon — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 18:39:47 +0000

I’m using one of the main wordpress themes (Green Marinee) but I keep playing around with it to get it to my liking – I’m still not entirely happy.

In my opinion, dodgy design is one of those things that can take the edge off good content – for instance if you continued to use the classic WordPress theme on your Small Business Branding site you’d need to provide some pretty good content to get me to keep coming back.

By: Yaro

Yaro — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 10:43:48 +0000

Unfortunately I haven’t been able to get the new design into the 800*600 resolution without some horizontal scroll bars. I’ll have another go but it’s may not be possible given the elements I’m trying to squeeze into the design.

The main thing about the new design is that it allows me to highlight some important features and provide some guides for new users. At the moment I don’t like that a first time visitor to this website may not understand what it’s purpose is given the random nature of the front page articles.

I have no doubt though that some people won’t like the new design, but I think the majority will.

By: Aitch

Aitch — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 10:39:09 +0000

Hi Yaro.

Design, and re-design, and designing again will be the ruin of me if I donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t get a grip!

IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ve mentioned before that I have an unhealthy obsession for perfection and itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s not until I stop and take a break from my own head that I realise IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ve just squandered away the hours on a micro detail that could have been spent far more productively.

Whenever thereÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s Ã¢â‚¬ËœdynamicÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ content that needs to be applied to my site, I use the services of my web developers, but itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s impossible for the poor soles to meet my unreasonable standards when doing a bit of design work. IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ve actually had quite a falling out with them this week over a job that I considered to be sub standard with little attention being paid to detail. IMO!!!

Hmm! Good post and it reminds me not to take myself quite so seriously and focus more on the end product than the micro details.

Cheers

Aitch

By: Lee

Lee — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 03:51:35 +0000

Can’t wait for that ebook btw!

By: Lee

Lee — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 03:49:48 +0000

I am a web designer (amongst other things) so I spend a lot of time fussing over a few pixels. It is frustrating at the time, and it is obviously blowing the very important 80/20 rule to pieces. But as a web designer, it is my job to get it looking perfect, and I always feel accomplished when I get it just right, despite the ‘wasted’ time.

The fact the clients usually come along later and wants it pink, purple, and yellow with animated flying cows everywhere is another story…..

By: Jason

Jason — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 02:54:30 +0000

Yaro,

I do notice when I use my desktop that your blog runs off the page. I have my display set to 800 x 600 — in your new design make sure the pixel width is in the 600-700 range…that way your blog will be easily seen on 800×600 or 1024 …displays — not to mention it will make me less cranky as I will not need to scroll to the right!

By: Miles Baker

Miles Baker — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 02:40:53 +0000

I agree. I have spent many a time debating wether something looks better one pixel to the left or one pixel to the right. At that point I know it’s time to regroup and focus on what really matters. I spend enough time on my blog as I need in order to get the look I want, I never settle for sloppy design. I believe that design does matter, just as wearing a suit and tie makes a more professional appearance than a t-shirt and jeans. But it really depends on what you are selling, if you are selling boat repair it won’t matter as much as if you are selling yourself or a professional service.