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Friday, February 25, 2005

Remember when they were called, "Web pages?"

I'm not usually what Tess calls, "A slow processor." But it just dawned on me that what people are referring to ad nauseam as "Blogs" are simply what we used to call personal Web pages. I had this epiphany while I was waiting for the the timer to expire on some blog I was looking at that had at least a dozen shots of her opening gifts at a wedding shower (yes, I'm ashamed to admit I have been sucked into Blog Explosion's little "you surf mine, I'll surf yours" pyramid scheme to make us all read each other's blogs).

The difference between when the first Web page stepped out of the primordial ooze of the early Internet and what has happened with the current "Blog Explosion" is that you basically had to know HTML to create a Web page back then. Now everyone (including moi) uses cute little templates. At least having to know HTML weeded out many of the technically challenged who have now wandered onto and into the blog scene. What baffles me is that, even with a foolproof template, some people out there are managing to create blogs that have all the design esthetics of a ransom note. Just a little hint if you are launching a Web page or "blog." Less is more. Leave lots of white space, and lose the endless series of buttons and banners. Hell some of your blogs make me feel like I've wandered into a virtual Pachinko Parlor.

I suppose the explosion of blogs or personal web pages is inevitable. When they first invented desktop publishing, everyone had a newsletter.

But there will remain a few unfailing truths when it comes to creating a newsletter, a Blog or even an e-mail. You still have to be able to write a complete sentence before it's worth the electronic impulse it's written on. And even if you are the greatest writer since Tom Robbins, it will all be for naught if you bury your words in a choppy sea of crappy graphics slapped on the screen like an Alaskan dispatching a baby seal. Finally,even if you write well and have some design sense, it still has to be interesting. Generally what you had to eat today is not.

That being said, I had this killer smothered burrito for lunch. But I am feeling a bit gassy now.

Get my point?

4 comments:

Naughti Biscotti said...

I love this post. Finally someone said it. Stop with all banners and links. I even hate that chat box on the side. Besides that...stop with the chat lingo. Blogs should have full sentences with recognizable words. And...for Christ's sake, check your spelling and grammar. Does anyone proof read anything???? Thank you for saying it. BTW (oops.. by the way) your blog looks a lot like mine. I've blogmarked yours and will be back to visit.

Time said...

Well, can I hear an amen! Thank you for being one of the few who seem to appreciate that we don't have to abandon grammar and spelling to expess ourselves on the Web.

It is a banner day indeed...sorry.

TCB and take care!

Gamesplorer said...

Sir, you are the example of your own words. Well done. And yes, everybody and his brother is always trying to stay one step ahead of the consolidation of signifigance. :-)

Time said...

Thanks (I think). I'm not sure what that means, but it means a great deal to me.