Why the Design of this Site Will Never Change:
Because way back in the long forgotten days of 2002, I approached a young designer who was also a friend named Mena Trott to spice things up here at Where There’s Smoke. She was smart, talented and I liked her aesthetic. At the time, she and her husband Ben had designed and were marketing a weblog tool named MovableType. I had agreed to shift over to it from Blogger as part of Mena giving me a serious bargain on the design. We settled on that and the Gone with the Wind Deluxe Box Set as payment.
I read today that Mena and Ben and the other 70 employees on three continents in their company Six Apart have acquired LiveJournal, the third largest weblog tool provider. In this space, it’s the equivalent of Ford buying Chrysler.
Someday in the not to distant future, I predict a large media company like Yahoo or Apple will swoop in and buy Six Apart. Ben and Mena will be millionaires, then march off, design something else, and have the same kind of success. I’m still amazed that, when I met with Mena at their apartment to talk about the design, Six Apart was being run out of their spare bedroom.
So I can’t move things around here too much. The design is like a historical relic of the weblog’s teenage years. It’s got one of the giants of the medium’s finger prints all over it.
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6 Replies to “Why the Design of this Site Will Never Change:”
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Uh, yeah. That’s why, um, I’m not redesigning either!
😉
Uh, yeah. That’s why, um, I’m not redesigning either!
😉
I think that explanation will stand up in court…I wish I would stay content with my typepad design – I frequently get the urge to change everything.
I think that explanation will stand up in court…I wish I would stay content with my typepad design – I frequently get the urge to change everything.
You nailed both elements: that Mena and associates are rockin’ the world through their passionate application of their cool technology (that purchase is inevitable… God, how I hope it’s not Bill & Friends from Redmond)…
And getting TypePad to do my design bidding is still a bit of a mystery. Even when you get the TypeLists happening, and some graphics, the dang “presets” in their CSS stylesheets and HTML are frustrating as hell to workaround.
I suspect there’s a real business in the redesigns. Anyone want to join me? I’m ready to launch that effort…
Best,
ME
You nailed both elements: that Mena and associates are rockin’ the world through their passionate application of their cool technology (that purchase is inevitable… God, how I hope it’s not Bill & Friends from Redmond)…
And getting TypePad to do my design bidding is still a bit of a mystery. Even when you get the TypeLists happening, and some graphics, the dang “presets” in their CSS stylesheets and HTML are frustrating as hell to workaround.
I suspect there’s a real business in the redesigns. Anyone want to join me? I’m ready to launch that effort…
Best,
ME