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5 Characteristic of Good Blog Design

Posted by sayzlim • 10/13/08 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: blog design, blog template, good blog design

This is my new blog post, www.sayzlim.net/2008/10/5-characteristic-of-a-good-blog-design/

I often see a blog with a lot of ads, some of the optimized for Adsense template can be found around the web.
bluesense

The design above shows us an optimized adsense blog design, but I won't use that template since it contains one of my defined bad blog design characteristic.

So what makes a good blog design?
1. Relevancy Between Content, Author and Design
Ever visited a blog with colorful design talking about how to earn money online? My first thought will be like this "Is this guy for sure? With this colorful page, is he serious making money online?". And I'll read his content, then realize his writing is not as colorful as his blog design.
meghnaspages.blogspot.com

The blog above is written by a 14 years old young kids. The yellow color give us a hyper-active feeling and you can see her writing is energetic too. The balance between the content and design reflect the author.

2. Guiding Readers to The Content
A good blog design is able to help your readers to navigate your blog. It tells readers where they should go after visiting your home page or finished reading your blog post.

Copyblogger.com embeds the left sidebar only with subscribing button and the resources from his blog. As the readers open up his homepage, the left resources button will give them the chance to dig deeper into his blog.

Another example of good blog design is making use of the navigation bar to guide readers.

Abloggerblog.com is making use of his navigation bar efficiently promoting his blog posts. We can see his latest post and what this blog have in his homepage without scrolling the bar. Once you click the post link, you'll find the subscribing button on the corner right.

3. Clear and Contrast Between Font Color and Background Color
The use of font can be one of the fatal killer move for a blog design. A misused background and font color can kill your reader's eyes.

You can measure the contrast between the font and the background with this color contrast tool. www.snook.ca/technical/color_contrast/colour.html

Measuring the contrast between your font and background color not only let you know if the current font color is readable enough for your readers but also can give you more option in choosing color.

1. What do you think about your blog design?
2. Does it help your reader?
3. Does it reflect your personality and blog content?
4. Will you evaluate and make change into your current blog design?

User Comments

10/13/08

buddhaofhollywood

man i could use some help! i just started my blog and I know it sucks visually. I use a template (from blogspot) but I'd like to change my background and add a picture or a wall paper. Any advice on that. Also I see a lot of sites cut and paste. what is the legality of downloading pictures or content from the net and add it to your blog? Any thoughts on that?

[reply]
10/13/08

sayzlim

Sure you can edit any blog, the easiest one is to customize the minima clean template. Maybe you can use the photo from www.sxc.hu/ and edit it with photoshop.

If you use some time to design your own template and convert it into CSS code (blogger template). If you're really interested in blog design, you can use this e-book (sample) sitepoint.com/books/design1/design1-sample.pdf

As for the stock photo, remember to read its copyright thing. I think we can edit it and use it for any purpose. Just check it out. ^^

[reply]
10/13/08

sayzlim

Is this post too long? Nobody answer? ^^

[reply]
10/13/08

wakish

Wonderful effort Lim!

- Wakish -
(wakish.com)

[reply]
10/13/08

linkmandx

I feel that one of the most important mistakes to avoid is to use either a solid background or a passive pattern, not an image. This attempts to halt distractions from the content itself, which is a problem for a blog.

Great post otherwise.

[reply]
11/04/08

kerenfathi

Can you please look at our blog and tell me what you think?
We used a graphic designer but I dont think she had any experience in blogs.
Would love some input from a pro!
Thanks!

[reply]
1. 11/04/08
  
  werelax
  
  A little bland, add some color. Most importantly the text is too light darken it up. I would not have the big blank ad spot there. Wait until you have developed some traffic and have a good chance at getting advertisers.
2. 11/04/08
  
  kerenfathi
  
  Thank you so much for the reply will darken the font color and take the big ad down.
  As for your question - No this post is not too long its very clear and good!
11/04/08

timethief

@sayzlim
This is an excellent post that I will be stumbling. It contains all of the most important points bloggers ought to keep in mind when choosing a blog design.

Remarkably, Glen Graham just published a related guest post on my blog 2 days ago titled onecoolsite.wordpress.com/2008/11/02/why-having-a-well-designed-blog-is-imp...

Not only that but today MeghnaK’s guest post titled onecoolsite.wordpress.com/2008/11/04/writers-block-exists-no-more/ was published today and her blog is one of the blogs you have featured in your own post.

I suppose we can conclude that great minds think alike.

[reply]
1. 11/05/08
  
  sayzlim
  
  @Timethief
  Thanks TT, yup I have read the guest post, especially the blog design... haha, it just makes me want to read the blog post if it contains "design" in the title.