Standard blog templates

Posted on August 22, 2002 @ 13:58 in Research

I always wonder why people choose to use a standard template for their blog. A blog is a rather personal thing isn't it? If you use a standard template it's not really personal anymore. I find myself immediately closing windows of blogs that use a standard template. I think my subconscious is telling me that if you don't care enough about the form then you probably don't care much for the content either. That's probably not correct and it certainly is a good thing that even if you don't have the skills to dig into HTML and CSS to customize your site that you can have a platform to say what you want/need to say, but a generic site just doesn't feel inviting to read.

Comments and Trackbacks

  1. I agree with you. I suspect that a lot of people who use standard templates are more interested in writing than they are in designing. :-)

    Posted by Jenna on August 22, 2002 @ 19:43

  2. You can't tell a book by it's cover...

    Posted by Will on October 23, 2002 @ 07:37

  3. I agree... there are some blogs I like to read that use standard blog templates, but to me it's more of a question of personality. Well designed book covers try to somehow convey or add a certain understanding to what the book is about. Of course it's a little different for blogs, but if we depart from the point of view that a blog is a personal or creative outlet for its author, I'd really love to see some of that author's personality shine through in its design.

    Posted by Frank on October 23, 2002 @ 11:04

  4. There are tons of blog tempaltes out there. However, almost none talk about or give the actual code.

    Posted by Valerie on October 23, 2002 @ 16:45

  5. I also believe that a standard blog is unwelcoming and often deters me from giving the blog a second look. But as Jenna said they probably care more about wht they're writing.

    oh yea, I love this template! ;-)

    Posted by Girl on November 12, 2002 @ 04:34

  6. Thanks for the compliment, I worked hard to make it look okay and especially to make it work in _all_ browsers. Maybe that's also part of what made me write up the original post: through hand-crafting this layout I've made it my own and I know every nook and cranny of it because I built it that way. Call it the joy of the workmanship :-) For me the apparatus, the technology and its mastery are tightly intertwined with the 'content', because they influence eachother in unexpected ways.

    Posted by Frank on November 14, 2002 @ 09:49

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