keeping it simple

My blog probably looks a little simple, a little sparse. There's a reason for this.

I'm fond of pretty things, but not of unnecessary decoration. Minimalism and accents work best for me in webpages. Back in library school (University of sheffield department of information studies represent!) I wrote a fairly critical paper comparing the Google homepage with the Yahoo homepage and pointing out why the Yahoo page didn't work in my opinion. Chief among the reasons for me was that they were trying to do too much.

A good blog, for me, is all about the text, and all about transmitting the text in as effective a way as possible. The key to this for me is simplicity: a decent font, text that contrasts well, decoration as an accent rather than a feature.

So, my block is black text on a white background. My other blog is black text on a pale grey-green background. I use a font I can read easily.

If you've read this far, imagine this blog post had all been in brush script in neon pink on a blue background. Once your yes have recovered, I think you'll understand why I keep my blog simple.

so, does that make this the 24th thing? The 25th?

wow, long time no blog.

This is the blog I originally set up for 23 Things back in 2006 when I was working for PLCMC. Opening it again, on a different continent, is more than a little weird.

So, what am I expecting to get out of doing 23 Things again? Increased familiarity with new media, the ability to be a change leader with web 2.0 stuff, maybe just a chance to see how different it is this time. Hell, the last time I did this, Twitter didn't even exist. (or maybe I just mean I wasn't using it yet).

So, yeah, I have pulled the bones of this old blog from the ground (better to use this than my writing blog or my podcast page, I suppose), and hopefully will be clothing it in flesh 2.0. And if that sounds disgusting, I'm very sorry.