17 Resources for Creating a Blog Design

1. Weblog Usability - Top Ten Design Mistakes
Jakob Nielsen gives us the run down of the top 10 blog design mistakes. When Jakob talks, I listen… sometimes. I can’t help it, he has a lot to say. But his breakdown of the top 10 design mistakes is quick to the point so give it a read.
Cliches suck, here are 13 of them for blogs. Yes, the calendar is one of them! Get rid of them please, they clutter blog designs and serve no real purpose.
3. 10 Principles of effective web design
Smashing Magazine does an excellent job of breaking down 10 important principles when it comes to web design, which also applies to blog design. Go read and learn.
4. What Makes Good Blog Design?
Well if you have been wondering about this question all along, Steven guides you through 10 important points to blog design.
5. 11 Factors to Consider When Designing Your Blog Theme
DailyBlogTips takes the usual lists of 10 points and tops it by adding one more. Go read it to find what that one more is.
6. 8 Reasons to Redesign Your Blog
This is for the people who are still unsure if it is worth the time to invest in a new blog design.
7. If your blog looks crap, it IS crap!
I think someone forgot to give him a hug when he was a kid, but he does make some good points.
8. 20 Types of Pages that Every Blogger Should Consider
That is about 20 more different design variations to consider when designing your blog. Of course you could make every page look exactly alike, but adding little tweaks here and there for different pages make it looks nice and lets the reader know they are on a different page.
9. Five Blog Design Mistakes that Make You Look dumb
Yeah, they really do make you look dumb. Ok, maybe not. But they definitely make your blog design worst. Check them out.
10. 5 Simple Ways to Make Your Blog Design POP
Article focuses on different things you can experiment with in order to make your blog design POP and get noticed more. This article was part of my blog design 101 series that is still ongoing.
11. 99 Sites All Designers Must Know
Jacob gives us not only a great list, but one that includes a screen shot of each site as well, which is cool. There are 99 of them so you better get started.
12. Best Design RSS Button Collection
A ton of RSS buttons to make sure no one misses your feed. On top of that, it makes your subscribe button look cool.
13. 20+ Free Web Design Ebooks and Guides
For those who are unwilling to spend a dime on real books.
A ton of links to web design resources all on one page. One downfall to this list is that it doesn’t seem updated with the latest, but there are still a lot of great stuff here that is relevant.
15. 101 Typography Resources for Web Designers
Steven at Vandelay Design searches the web using his super powers to bring us 101 typography resources. Great list of resources on typography.
16. Top 25 Free Icon Resources for Web Designers
All the free icon resources gathered in one place. Great for adding some visual interest to your blog design. Don’t get carried away and make everything into a button.
17. 25 Must Buy, Borrow, or Steal Books for Web Designers
My take on 25 books that are valuable for web designers and blog designers alike. Yes, I have read them and scribbled along the sides of the books with notes and epiphanies. I think some very old and wise guy once said “A book is not yours until you scribbled the hell out of the insides of it” or something along those lines.
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Great resources but why all blogs looks the same
Thanks for the link.
Awesome blog design BTW. Your own design?
Mohsin … I guess not. Look at what I found in the footer
http://www.vinhlewebdesigner.com/
I really like those RSS buttons
@Mohsin: You’re welcome and yes, the design is my own. It would be sort of weird for me to talk about blog designs while using a template I didn’t make.
@Sava: Thanks for linking my portfolio. Now more people can see it. Yeah, those RSS buttons are pretty sweet.
Thanks for this. I’ve been trying to come up with my own template and this one is a very helpful resource.
Thanks for all of this information. I’m trying to figure out how to create my own blog and haven’t the slightest clue how or where to begin. I currently have memberships with sites like StumbleUpon, Twitter, Facebook and MyBloglog.com, but is there a way to REALLY create my own page FOR FREE without having to go back to myspace? Any advice?
I am very jealous of your comment design (the white square speech bubble). Tis great!
Thanks for the link too
nice post!i love the links and something..very interestic topic..but more interesting is.,the “good Blog Design” link..you can really comment on that post,.because it’s a very intersting topic. That’s why you have lots of comments on that topic..good job!;-)
@Javi: Your welcome.
@Janelle V.: You can try blogger.com or wordpress.com if you want to start a blog. They are pretty good places to begin with.
@Jacob: Thanks and your welcome. Every time I see your name now, your picture pops in my head. You did a pretty good job with that.
@ken: Yeah, Blog design is an interesting area for discussion. Thanks for stopping by.
Great tips. I have a few resources on my blog too.
40+ different RSS icons for your website
http://www.instantfundas.com/2007/12/40-different-rss-icons-for-your-website.html
Web designing tricks that suck!
http://www.instantfundas.com/2007/12/web-designing-tricks-that-suck.html
just my 2 cents.
Great tips will come in handy for any other blogs i create!
Thanks for the tips!
Hello…Thanks for the nice read, keep up the interesting posts..what a nice Monday . Sofia Vergara
Thanks for the tips.
http://www.squarespace.com is another great blogging / cms software for a solid starting point.
Is the rss button on this site to small?
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