Aug
15
Adventures in Great Blog Design
WeBreakStuff has a nice backgrounder on their work redesigning the TechCrunch site. It looks supersweet, but even better are the things they kept in mind throughout the redesign:
1) Rule number 1: KISS. You know, the good old “keep it simple, stupid”. Aim for looks, yes, but only if information is first on your priority list. Stop giving me the “if it looks good, it has to be good” thing, because it’s not always the case.
2) Second rule, immediately dependant on the first: aim for the fastest loading website possible. People can only stand a website loading for a certain ammount of time. There are raw statistics on this, believe it or not. Have you ever found yourself immediately closing a browser window if you don’t see any content after 5 or 6 seconds of waiting? Right, me too. That’s why clearly structured and fast loading content is so important – you need people to read. It’s your goal.
3) The obvious rule: write great content. TechCrunch covers the web 2.0, something that’s on the tip of every tongue right now. With the plethora of websites, projects and entrepreneurs out there it is quite easy to start profiling and talking about everything. One thing to have in mind at all times is that one piece of good content beats 10 pieces of poorly selected news bits. It will gather attention, because profiles will be exclusive – if you get profiled it means you’re worth it. This leads to a much better, concise and homogeneous audience: people who read your content, want to read your content.
4) Finally, the last rule: Don’t over-do things. Don’t add links you don’t need, don’t add images that will clutter the looks of an article. Don’t add a paragraph that looks like a filler. Great content means select content most of the times, and if you keep that in mind, you’ll be respecting our rule number 3."
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