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The death of the blog post (and rise of the blogazine)

smashingmagazine.com

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Re: The death of the blog post (and rise of the blogazine)

#11

Post by allenp »

hegemonicon wrote: post #9

If I'm reading something, I don't want to be distracted by the fancy text layout and bright shiny colors. I just want clearly presented text with a minimum of complexity. In rare cases special formatting can enhance the effect or help interpret something written, but in most cases it adds nothing except clutter. I found this article nearly unreadable because of the "interesting" and "exciting" way they presented it.

I thought this article wasn't well done, but they do link to some examples that are better. This is one:

http://gregorywood.co.uk/journal/top-5-spielberg-films

I really think consuming that article is more satisfying than yet another top 10 list with a hastily pasted thumbnail of the movie art.

Re: The death of the blog post (and rise of the blogazine)

#12

Post by jlees »

I actually really like the blogazine concept, but it's very unlikely for me to have the time and the effort to put into creating a unique, story-led layout for a post. On the other hand, doing it for content that really deserves it would certainly stand out. Even at the base level the 'blogazine' approach of using illustrations alongside text is something that blogs are forgetting how to do.

Re: The death of the blog post (and rise of the blogazine)

#13

Post by unalone »

mattlanger wrote: post #3

Great survey. Their question as to whether blogging is "too easy" really resonates with me: I began prototyping a CMS a while back on the premise that Blogging Should Be Harder (a reaction of sorts, I guess, to services like Posterous and Tumblr [full disclosure: I am a very happy user of the latter]). And what I found is that if it's hard to design a "blogazine"--manually setting type and choosing colors for each in…

Hey, it's Langer! I didn't know you were an HNer.

What's the difference between your theoretical CMS and a WYSIWYG HTML editor? Something like Weebly or Google Sites? I'd think they already cover the "custom HTML" tactic pretty well. Beyond that the only thing you could possibly offer is custom graphic design, right? Or were you thinking pre-build templates in certain styles, the way iWeb offers for web design?

Re: The death of the blog post (and rise of the blogazine)

#14

Post by allenp »

unalone wrote: post #10
allenp wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not? What is content? Is it possible for the appearance to "mingle" with the content in a way that enhances or creates greater content? At that point is the appearance part of the content? Or is it more like a "content additive" ?

In this case, content is material that I the consumer am interested in. I'm potentially interested in writing. I'm less interested in design. I don't read blogs to look at the design, I read blogs to read blogs. So if you're capable of creating logical, readable designs time and time again, go for it. But that's not happening. This article was not very readable: It broke itself up into fractious chunks, highlighted w…

Thanks for your detailed response. I agree that smashing did a piss-poor job in presenting this stuff - but I think they linked to some examples that do it really well. You are 100% spot-on with the font size/color/weight stuff.

I think the idea with some of the posts is that it allows for random access rather than linear - and I think there is some value in exploring a page to see what it contains for some readers. Quality is still probably the most important aspect as you said.

Re: The death of the blog post (and rise of the blogazine)

#15

Post by mattlanger »

unalone wrote: post #13
mattlanger wrote: post #3

Great survey. Their question as to whether blogging is "too easy" really resonates with me: I began prototyping a CMS a while back on the premise that Blogging Should Be Harder (a reaction of sorts, I guess, to services like Posterous and Tumblr [full disclosure: I am a very happy user of the latter]). And what I found is that if it's hard to design a "blogazine"--manually setting type and choosing colors for each in…

Hey, it's Langer! I didn't know you were an HNer. What's the difference between your theoretical CMS and a WYSIWYG HTML editor? Something like Weebly or Google Sites? I'd think they already cover the "custom HTML" tactic pretty well. Beyond that the only thing you could possibly offer is custom graphic design, right? Or were you thinking pre-build templates in certain styles, the way iWeb offers for web design?

Hey!

Well the difficulty really arises when you want to go a step beyond full HTML control and allow for JS and AJAX (think pagination with really artful page transitions). How do you allow users complete control without turning your service into a cesspool of XSS attacks?

Re: The death of the blog post (and rise of the blogazine)

#17

Post by aik »

jsm386 wrote: post #6

On that note, check the redesigned Engadget...not quite a 'magazine,' but edging in that direction... http://www.engadget.com/ (not in the sense that every post is designed differently, but in the way content is highlighted)

Yeah it's nice looking and pragmatic. The quick stats on the right are useful and a great visualization.

Re: The death of the blog post (and rise of the blogazine)

#18

Post by mkinsella »

This article fails to mention one of the best magazines on the market: The Economist. It is always the same: simple title, one picture, and lots of columized text.

In addition, they also forget the newspapers. They are always identical from day-to-day. Just because it might be easier to style a "Top X" list doesn't mean it still isn't a useless "Top X" list.

Re: The death of the blog post (and rise of the blogazine)

#19

Post by mattlanger »

unalone wrote: post #10
allenp wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not? What is content? Is it possible for the appearance to "mingle" with the content in a way that enhances or creates greater content? At that point is the appearance part of the content? Or is it more like a "content additive" ?

In this case, content is material that I the consumer am interested in. I'm potentially interested in writing. I'm less interested in design. I don't read blogs to look at the design, I read blogs to read blogs. So if you're capable of creating logical, readable designs time and time again, go for it. But that's not happening. This article was not very readable: It broke itself up into fractious chunks, highlighted w…

I think you make a number of really valid points here.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately through the lens of late-19th- and early-20th century European philosophy and literary theory, when guys like Gautier and Baudelaire and Mallarmé and Benjamin and Kraus were livid about the rise of the newspaper and, later, the feuilleton (early serialized novels). These men--poets, mostly, or at least advocates of the form--saw the confines of the newspaper column as a reduction of writing proper, where writing (in their strict poetic sense) necessitated a careful consideration of the placement of each word on the page.

The same considerations can well be applied to blogging, at least on an abstract formal level. You're very right: it all falls apart if there's not ample content to back up a thoughtful design. But it is probably still the case that while a great design may do little for mediocre writing, great writing can be held back by mediocre design.

Re: The death of the blog post (and rise of the blogazine)

#20

Post by ikhare »

Ever since I read Jason Santa Maria's article on his "rethinking" (http://jasonsantamaria.com/articles/a-new-day/) I've been thinking about doing something similar with my personal site, where the frequency of posts has reduced over time.

I agree with the comments here that the smashing article went overboard; what particularly annoyed me was the use of different colored words for emphasis instead of bold or italic. I kept thinking those were links and obsessively moused over them to check. In their overzealous sale of the idea I think they definitely missed the mark about how design should work with the content. This is exactly what Jason Santa Maria points out in his post.

He specifically mentions that he may not always have time or the inclination or possibly even a need to do something special for each post. If that's the case he has a great default template for such articles. I highly recommend reading Jason's original article of a more sane and reasonable version of the idea.

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