Normally, I’d consider designing web pages the very antithesis of my vision of what the web ought to be. I’m dreaming of a network of information, free of representations. Or, to put it differently, I’d like every web page to look the same. Design is irrelevant, I just want the data.

However, since most web site– and browser developers are putting their efforts toward further shoehorning of applications into a document format, I’m confident this text will stay relevant for at least a couple of years. With “good design”, I mean “functional” rather than “visually appealing”; a blog is first and foremost about text, and this text should be readable. Everything else is secondary.

By the way, the rest of this post will be a list of N things. I know, I should avoid it, but I couldn’t help myself.

1. Do not re-implement windows or window handling or any sort of GUI. At all. In fact, this shouldn’t even be the web browser’s responsibility, but the window manager’s. Despite this most modern web browsers re-implement window management in the shape of tabs. So if you find yourself thinking about pop-ups or lightboxes or similar: don’t. They are slow and they are annoying and they force certain browsing patterns on the viewer needlessly.
2. Avoid needless Javascript. In fact, keep away from it entirely as much as possible. Also avoid frames or iframes like the plague.
3. Don’t impose your screen size as the norm. Avoid fixed width and fixed font sizes and your blog will have a greater chance of rendering well on both very small and very large screens.
4. Keep the screen clean, focus on the text. Use a bare minimum of widgets, menues, links and similar attention-hogs. Imagine your typical reader being a four-year-old with ADD. If possible, consider displaying only one post at a time.
5. Try to stay away from Angry Fruit Salad colour themes.

Of course, my current theme (the WordPress default) makes many of these mistakes. In particular, it seems to put a unproportionate amount of focus on the background, leaving only a thin streak of text in the middle. Why this is I can only speculate, but I welcome proposals of better WordPress themes!

Normally, I'd consider designing web pages the very antithesis of my vision of what the web ought to be. I'm dreaming of a network of information, free of representations. Or, to put it differently, I'd like every web page to look the same. Design is irrelevant, I just want the data. However, since most web site-- and browser developers are putting their efforts toward further shoehorning of applications into a document format, I'm confident this text will stay relevant for at least a couple of years. With "good design", I mean "functional" rather than "visually appealing"; a blog is first and foremost about text, and this text should be readable. Everything else is secondary. By the way, the rest of this post will be a list of N things. I know, I should avoid it, but I couldn't help myself. Do not re-implement windows or window handling or any sort of GUI. At all. In fact, this shouldn't even be the web browser's responsibility, but the window manager's. Despite this most modern web browsers re-implement window management in the shape of tabs. So if you find yourself thinking about pop-ups or lightboxes or similar: don't. They are slow and they are annoying and they force certain browsing patterns on the viewer needlessly. Avoid needless Javascript. In fact, keep away from it entirely as much as possible. Also avoid frames or iframes like the plague. Don't impose your screen size as the norm. Avoid fixed width and fixed font sizes and your blog will have a greater chance of rendering well on both very small and very large screens. Keep the screen clean, focus on the text. Use a bare minimum of widgets, menues, links and similar attention-hogs. Imagine your typical reader being a four-year-old with ADD. If possible, consider displaying only one post at a time. Try to stay away from Angry Fruit Salad colour themes. Of course, my current theme (the Wordpress default) makes many of these mistakes. In particular, it seems to put a unproportionate amount of focus on the background, leaving only a thin streak of text in the middle. Why this is I can only speculate, but I welcome proposals of better Wordpress themes!