Comments on: Does Design Matter in Comparison to Content?

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 13:26:18 +0000

I read your blog with an RSS reader, set to Courier New. I don’t notice when you, or most websites, update your design.

I think that this is the case for a lot of other consumers of web content (not all mind you, maybe 20-40% depending on the site).

So please don’t take it personally if some of us don’t notice, we just don’t know.

By: Craig

Craig — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:38:31 +0000

A lot of people notice a lot of things. I know I do. But so many things compete vigorously for our attention every minute of every day, that only the BIG items get our attention. I would love to comment on every theme and blog design that I enjoy, but I confess I simply don’t have the time or the energy to do so. I would spend all day every day simply responding to stimuli — reacting. Sad but true. Keep up the great work. In my hectic day, yours is one of the very few sites I bother to keep up with.

By: PC Information

PC Information — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 23:02:02 +0000

Hello…Often, design is transparent. If it does it’s job, it allows the user to find that content, interact with it in a meaningful way, and achieve their goals for visiting the site. If it doesn’t work, people may not even be able to find that great content of yours.And of course, as you mention, you are a writer

By: Tim

Tim — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:56:10 +0000

I’ve seen the previous design of your blog and this new one. It seems to me the design relies on what is available in the WP theme you chose to use. I don’t think blogs really need high design. They’re almost always 90% content. How much goes into design really depends on the type of website and functionalities it’s supposed to serve. Blogs don’t require really anything in terms of design except good navigation.

By: PXLated

PXLated — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 05:07:52 +0000

Tom…
—–
A well designed site doesn’t necessarily need to be minimalist and in the whole web world maybe isn’t. A good design (complex or minimal) should communicate something and enhance, not distract, but isn’t necessarily transparent. It’s very hard to generalize.
—–
You seem to favor minimalism (a bias, we all have them) so you naturally will like the themes that are.
—–
I’m not surprised that you’ve gotten very few comments on the design or any changes you made. People don’t visit your site every day like you and will be less familiar with the exact design/layout. Unless the redesign is radical, most won’t notice. And even if they do, most won’t comment.
—–
And of course, as you mention, you are a writer

By: Tom

Tom — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 04:06:41 +0000

I don’t mean to minimize the importance design. I like to see a well-designed site. As several of you pointed out, a well-designed site is usually minimalist, transparent, makes it easy for users to find and interact with information, and so on.

I’m just saying that so few people ever comment on my design, it seems a low priority compared to the site’s content. But of course, this is coming from a writer, not a designer. I heard a database engineer the other week explain that the data — its structure, integrity, and security — were the most important aspect of a project because the data would well outlive any design. So we all have our biases.

Many sites that are design-heavy often look terrible. If you’ve ever looked for a new WordPress theme, you know what I’m talking about. I don’t know why, but about 95% of the themes out there get a D+ for design. Most of the appealing themes are fairly minimalist. As you say, they put the focus on the content.

Thanks for all your comments.

By: Ben Minson

Ben Minson — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:13:22 +0000

Tom, your followers may not notice your changes because I’d guess most of them don’t often physically visit due to RSS.

Chris, I think there’s a difference between formatting and design, or perhaps formatting is an aspect of design. Designers are often concerned with things like sizes, shapes, colors, and behaviors of onscreen elements. Formatting, as your comment highlights, has more to do with how you arrange the text itself. I agree with you that formatting has a huge impact on how well users can locate and digest information.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:12:47 +0000

I agree that content is the most important, but this doesn’t give design enough credit. To compare it with the print world, I think about a writer I worked with 15 years ago. She was always miffed that other people in our group pushed “design over content,” at least in her opinion. She took great pride in her content, and she chided others for wasting time worrying about formatting issues.

To her shock, users often complained about her documentation. I remember her coming into my office one day. She’d gotten a report about some missing information, and she had steam shooting out of her ears. She showed me the document and pointed to a sentence about 2/3 of the way down the page. “Right there,” she bellowed. “The illiterate users can’t see what they’re looking for when it’s right in front of them.”

She was correct. It was right there, buried in a page that had three gigantic paragraphs. Short paragraphs, bullets, and subheads were just a few of the things she considered as wasteful formatting.

Even though the information was there, who in their right mind would want to wade through all the mind-numbing stuff on that page to find it.

So design does play a significant role, particularly when we’re not seeking information for our own personal interest/enjoyment. (For example, I go certain web sites specifically because I want the content, not begrudgingly because I have to. So I’m willing to accept a less-than-artistic format.) In general, though, I can absolutely see the point of “good” design. If there’s nothing about the visual appearance of the page that makes me want to look at it, it may not matter one wit how great the content is. Odds are I’ll never read it.

Of course, we can always argue how much design is “good” design. There are any number of examples where designers have gone overboard or in the wrong direction.

By: PXLated

PXLated — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 15:55:38 +0000

Yes, you need good content or no design can save you, it’s no different than with physical products. Design should enhance, not distract or interfere. But, it can distinguish you from the masses. It doesn’t have to be blatant, a lot of design is subtle.
I’d quibble with your examples…obviously the design in the image to the left is cluttered, overly designed, distracts, and makes the content hard to read. It’s a good example of what not to do. The one on the right is minimalist and clean but gives no sense of personality or brand, and yes, when blogging, you are a brand so I wouldn’t necessarily hold that up as good. The best is probably somewhere in between.
As far as using “major” blogger/personalities as design examples, they have an audience no matter what they might do design wise and it says nothing about site design in general.

By: Jessi Hance

Jessi Hance — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 15:36:01 +0000

If design is neglected, it can indeed get in the way. For example, so many sites are hard to read.

I find this blog easy on the eyes and fairly easy to read. Your typography choices–font, font size, line height, a light background, and the width of the content column–all make it that way.