Web Design

A week or so ago Problogger launched a new design and generated a lot of buzz in blogging community. And yesterday, another daddy blogger realised how much he was missing out on by sticking to the conventional blog design, and followed Darren’s lead.

This leads us to think, should we also invest in a new design and abandon the traditional blog layout?

For old time bloggers, I think this is the best time to put money into a redesign. With new and improved designs, you can benefit from improved ads placement and better visibility of your key content. Not to mention you’ll be creating plenty of buzz among fellow bloggers.

If you are considering revamping your blog layout, you should keep in mind a few general guidelines.

What to consider in a new design

A blog layout with a header, a content pane and a sidebar is so ubiquitous that it has limited our ability to think of new things to try out. By leaving the traditional blog layout, you are entering a whole new world of variety and change.

Here are a few things you should consider to implement in your new design:

• Decluttering - Decluttering the most cluttered areas of your blog must be your first priority. If your sidebar - like all other sidebars - is too cluttered, take a few things from your sidebar and place them in the footer or just below the header. This way you’ll minimize the clutter by ordering it across the page. And though your blog would still look busy, it won’t look cluttered anymore.
• Visibility of the most important content - What do you want your visitors to see when they first arrive at your blog? Whatever it is, put it in the most noticeable area of your new design. I’d recommend putting your most popular posts, your own recommended posts, and your feed subscription link just below, or within the header.
• Maximum exposure for ads - If you don’t mind earning some more money, you can have your new design already customized for improved ads placement. One of the drawbacks of using premade themes is that you have to force your ads and affiliate links into a crowded design. But with your own customized design, you keep the control in your hands.

In short, don’t be afraid of experimenting, totally revamping your design, and leaving the traditional bloggy look and feel altogether.

What not to consider in a new design

While you are free to choose whatever you want to do with your new bride, don’t go overboard with the changes. The last thing you want is your visitors mistaking your blog for a news site. Or what if you go wild with a lots of assorted ads and affiliate links and your new visitors dismiss your blog as an MFA site?

My overall thoughts are that every design should focus primarily on enhancing user experience and.. enhancing user experience. Yes, it’s so important that I’ll repeat it a thousand times. Your readers can create or destroy your blog, so if you forget your readers in your enthusiasm to earn more revenue or to show your love for bright pink color, get ready to face a rebellious gang of readers.

Are you going to change your blog design anytime soon?

I am, by the way, thinking of experimenting with my blog’s theme. Expect to see a few prominent changes in a couple of days.

HTML that lies at the heart of web pages is going to be upgraded to level 5. That’s a welcome update, because the development of HTML had stopped in 1999.

A lot of much needed new elements such as section, header, footer, nav and article has been introduced. This gives a lot of meaningful structure to pages. Just drop these elements in your code and viola!

The good thing is that HTML 5 is backward compatible, that is, even browsers like Netscape 4 and IE5 can render HTML 5 pages as well as new browsers. Well, at least they aren’t expected to break up the layout.

There is a good article at IBM with a lot more detail and examples. Be sure to check it out!