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Wife of Frankenbrain Posted…

Maybe I’m just getting old and grumpy, but the design trend to make sites that look like this and this and even this is becoming (at least to me) increasingly tiresome. I feel like I’m drowning in a sea of bad blogger design. What was supposed to be clean has become mundane. There’s little variation in layout, certainly none in font (except the size...smaller, smaller, smaller, smaller damn it!), and it all looks the same.

Now I know Andy Dearest will prolly disagree with me and call me names and stuff, but it’s driven me to the point of insanity. Remember the feeling of finding a site and thinking to yourself, “Wow! That’s really cool! I’ve got to email/IM/tell/show my friends this site”? I do. But do I remember the last time something did that to me? Nope. Do you? If so, please, for the love of God, tell me!

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evan Posted…

Alb, I know just what you’re talking about and agree completely. Back in the day when I used to follow K10K religiously I used to see incredible things until one day I realized that every site I looked at was exactly the same. It was only when I got on the alt.sense birthday list (where I could look at the “common” designer sites when I realized that most of the work out there was pathetic crap. The last few sites that I visit just to look at sometimes are hivelogic, what do I know, and lophty. All of those sites are css/xhtml and they all validate. Many props to them. Like the wife of Frankenbrain said, tell us!

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Nate Posted…

Well, that’s a valid point alb. I suppose that providing designs that are pre-packaged and ready to adopt doesnt help matters either. I guess in an ideal world the prepackaged designs would inspire others to adopt and improve, but designing is not like software versioning. Making engaging and beautiful interfaces, especially for blogs, seems to play second fiddle to simply having a voice on the web. I hope that many of the obviously talented folks out there get bored with 45 degree angle shapes and start developing their own visual themes. But I can’t say much more than that, since a new look for this site is both overdue and a bit up the road.

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Wife of Frankenbrain Posted…

Now Nate. You know I love you and your lovely bride Nichole. My comment in no way was an indictment on the web-graphics design. To be honest, I find the content engrossing enough that the design is secondary in my considerations of the site. (Well, and that you and Andy put the site together initially, which makes me shamelessly, hopelessly, and terribly BIASED.)

I think the thing that gets me is that I’m as artistic as a reindeer fart. Therefore, I really enjoy good design—it makes my jaw drop, it makes me gasp, it makes me think “I really wish I could do that!”. I’m not just talking about glittering silly flash pages, either. I’m talking about the real talent and skill that comes from
1. clean code;
2. good navigation (I hate getting lost);
3. aesthetic qualities (good color, good graphics, good effects);
4. content integration with the design;
5. anything NOT relating to the pompous philosophy of that pompous pumpkinhead (who, hysterically—or sadly—enough wrote a forewared to Krug’s Common Sense Approach to Web Usability)
6. something that’s not identical to the site I looked at preceeding it.

I’m a huge fan of pre-fab code examples. I think they’re terribly helpful to the folks who have something they need to put out there on the www but don’t have the $$ to hire the professionals. It’s also a good way to [gasp] look at the source code and actually learn the elements. It can give people a creative springboard to jump from. Sites like flashkit.com really did that for me way back when.

Maybe if there was a larger demand for higher quality work, those of you able to provide it would have the resources and incentive to constantly innovate. But, we all have to pay the bills, and not all of us are as maniacally driven as some to work 24/7 just for the fun and personal reward of it. No, I think the fault lies with the consumers, with the folks signing the checks, with the people not interested in moving forward, but who are happy to play in their stagnant pool of piss.

On that note, I’m off to the bookstore. More Harry Potter, please!