Beautiful Blogs
1st edition — by Patrick McNeil — Aug. 11, 2006
The Site Type
A new type of site classification has been added to the mix. It is groupings
of sites by type or purpose, in this case blogs. I had originally not
planned on doing this, but I believe it fits very well with the theme
of the site. My goal is to catalog sites and by doing so provide inspiration
to those seeking to implement what ever the topic is. Site type is a
major part of all this, I have grown to feel that this new type of classification
is essential. Originally I didn't want to catalog by site type simply
because many others were already doing this, but in the end, the Daily
Slurp generates so many beautiful sites I can easily expand to a
wider variety of catalogs and still have more then enough links. I hope
people find this as interesting and useful as the "traditional" Design
Meltdown content.
It might surprise some to see only a meager 12 sites on an article discussing
blog design, especially considering Technorati indexes
many millions of sites and it would be rather easy to find hundreds of
beautiful blogs. These 12 sites were very carefully selected for the
initial article, and I fully expect this to be a section bursting with
links in future editions. I selected these sites because in some ways
each of them challenges me to think differently, or at least consider
less typical ways of doing things. I have seen countless blogs that all
look the same because they use the default structure. Of course many
of them have implemented fancy templates, and yet they blend into the
crowd. For many blogs it doesn't matter, the audience doesn't care, but
if you are trying to grow it to a level where you will have a broad base
of users, a distinct identity is important.
You might have noticed that I am linking to myself here, strange you
might think, but I want to comment on the idea of Design Meltdown as
a blog. I have always been a bit puzzled at the idea of DMD being a blog.
To me it has always felt like more of a magazine and less like a journal.
In one major way it is a blog though, it is a single person, and only
one mans opinion, and I should embrace that. I used to think I needed
to look big, saying we instead of I, but I soon realized how silly that
was. Blogs have an inherent grass roots feel, they are personal and non-corporate
and I think Design Meltdown has captured that feeling. In terms of
design I am very pleased with the fact that the site doesn't resemble
in any way a default or standard blog template. I think this is really
the theme behind this article, not just designing a beautiful skin for
you blog, but a unique and interesting structure. Enough tooting my own
horn, lets look at some other sites.
I REALLY love the
Christopher Scott
site. The blog is only a portion of the site, but still a very significant
one. Look at the layout of the site, it defies the traditional default
blog template, and as a result has a distinct and memorable feel. I think
one really important thing to point out is that he only has copy from
the latest entry on the home page. I find most blogs to be overload,
I don't want 10 screens of content. I find this reduced way of presenting
the freshest content incredibly appealing. Perhaps this works so well
because he is just trying to highlight one thing, instead of trying to
cram everything in. Remember if you try to emphasize everything, you
will emphasize nothing.
Like I said, this list might be short, but very inspiring. Like I mentioned, I expect the next editions of this category to be flowing with many many beautiful blogs. For now, enjoy these beautiful blogs and be inspired!
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