Making your blog look nice

Since I started this blog, I've been looking around for tips and ideas on how to make it catchier and more interesting. Just today I found an article on web-info called The Web Sensibility,
with a number of tips on creating a more effective blog. Here are some of the more relevant tips.

First the writer makes a distinction between the easier changes, like altering pre-existing widgets, and actually getting to the nitty gritty and messing with the CSS, etc. The most important point he makes, to me, is that web design should essentially boil down. "a focus on simplicity, where the function of a page, ideally, inspires its design." So for example a general blog like mine can look like anything, but a blog about cooking should have cooking designs, a car blog should have car images, etc. Good idea, to me.

Other helpful tips he gives include using lots of white space (always a good idea for improved readability), using bold simple type - this is definitely good - and using colors and icons instead of relying on images. Well for me an image speaks a thousand words, but I can see the use of striking colors and icons as well. So long as you don't go overboard and turn it into a Myspace-type horror. At the end he talks quite a bit about editing the XHTML of the site directly, something you need to think about before doing, if you're a newbie like me.

All in all a good article for the beginning blogger. I've been reading other articles on the web-info site as well, such as this one: Advice for the Wise Home Owner. It's never too soon to start thinking about home ownership!