The Ten Characteristics of Good Blog Design

There are many resources available for designers to seek inspiration from the design of high-quality blogs, but it is also important to understand the details of what will influence and determine the success of a good blog design. In this article I will discuss about the 10 characteristics of a good blog design:

What Makes Good Blog Design?

1. Easy to Read

Padding
Delimiter that separates content writing can help readers to focus visually and content as well as separate content on it without interruption.

Short paragraphs
Paragraphs that are too long will be difficult to read and confusing your readers. A short paragraph often draws the reader in, as they can be fast reader.

List
Use lists (bulleted) if necessary. By using the paragraph format exclusively, the list can help to break up the text so that it does not look monotonous and allows the easy scanning. Points will also be a reader's attention.

Bold Text
Have a full-screen text will certainly impress 'heavy', and the same size makes it more difficult for the reader to quickly see what is important. Most visitors will not read the entire blog post content word for word, so your choice to make it easier for them to scan or see them leave your blog.

Line Spacing
Special to the publisher's blog, create content in more detail, it is important to have enough space between lines of text. No spaces between lines that would cause the text look 'heavy'.

Sub Headers
Sub header can be used to classify the parts of a post (usually h3 h4 or tag). When designing and styling themes, sub header should be given much attention. Because they will help for easy reading, scanning, and they will help you as a writer to make it easier to make the points clear.

2. Sidebar

Some common elements in blog sidebar:

• Popular posts
• Latest post
• Blog roll / friend list
• Advertisement
• Category
• Archives
• Link to RSS feeds
• Latest comments
• Promotion of products / services

3. Unique

With millions of blogs and thousands of different blog themes out there, good blog design will be able to stand out from all the free themes and the same design. Designers can take a number of different approaches to achieve this goal, but the important part is that the design will not only be memorable, but also should match the message and purpose of the blog.

4. Design in the comment area

Comment area is often a last priority for the designers, but the comment area is designed to give the blog a totally different feel to the reader. Designers have the option of including an avatar for comments, styling, or using speech bubbles.

5. Ad integration

Most blogs these days use some sort of advertising to monetize the site. This can include AdSense, affiliate ads, or banner ads instantly. While advertising is a necessity in many cases to keep the blog running, they also can have adverse effects on the design and user experience if they are not properly implemented into the design. So it's good to consider this carefully.

Some bloggers and designers choose to place an ad on a few areas that will attract a lot of attention, such as in the context of a blog post. While this may help to generate more ad revenue, it will reduce the overall look of the blog. This is a decision that should be made by the owner of the blog, from the perspective of the designer; the best thing is to keep the advertisements placed specifically aimed at targeted visitors.

6. Effective navigation

Navigation is one of the most significant factors in determining the user experience on the site. There is nothing more frustrating than not being able to find what you are looking for, and visitors will surely leave your blog if this is happening to them.

Develop and maintain effective navigation is a challenge for designers, because the content will continue to continue to grow, making it easier for older posts for buried in the archives. There are several steps designers can take to improve navigation.

There should be a main navigation menu that allows the visitor to visit every important page on your site (such as About or Contact page).

Sidebar should be used to nudge the reader toward the most important content on your blog. Popular posts widget is a good method of doing this.

Sidebar must also include standard navigation elements such as the blog link or a link to a category archive page.

The bottom of the blog post unit can be used to include a link to the related post, or this can be done manually by a blogger when they want to link to some particular links.

7. Images or photos

Part of the effort of an author in order to make the post easier to read and look attractive is to use the image. Of course, the use of the image is outside the control of the designer, but the designer can contribute to this aspect by including styles for photo post. Images can be far more effective and interesting when styled with CSS to provide a nicer touch.

Designers may want to provide different classes of images, such as the use of a common border and padding, sometimes along with the background color.

8. Footer Design

When designing the blog, or website, the footer is an area of design that usually gets very little attention. Most blog are concerning copyright, a link to the homepage, and probably a few other links. While many visitors will not scroll down to even see the footer, they will be able to benefit from a well-designed footer.

What should be included in the footer? Nothing is definite, but in general, most blogs use them essentially as an extension of the sidebar, such as the latest entry into Twitter. In addition, some blog links to popular posts, recent comments and blog roll.

9. The color scheme

Color, of course, one of the most significant factor in any kind of design. Finding the right color scheme for the theme of the blog is something that usually does not happen instantly, but getting the right color is very important. Colors will sometimes make an attractive appearance or even destroy the overall design.

Fortunately, there are many tools and resources to find a color scheme. The color scheme of a blog will play a significant role in terms of blog branding, and thus is critical to the long-term success of the blog. Some blogs use bright and vibrant color scheme, while many other use fewer colors or a monochromatic color scheme.

10. Icon

Icon can be used to improve the look of the site and to improve the usability at the same time. The essence of the icon is to present a message to the visitor without using any text.

For example, house-shaped icon usually is the link to the homepage without saying so, and speech bubbles are often used to represent a blog comment. Designers can design their own icons, or use a free icon sets that have been widely available.