Beware Redesignitis

Yes, it’s back. I have a horrible case of redesignitis, and this site will probably be the unwilling victim. In the past week, I’ve been tempted no fewer than five times to offer to redesign blogs for people. Why? I have no idea. I need the pain of wrangling more CSS, I guess. I didn’t get enough wrangling miles and miles of it for work this week. What’s wrong with me?

Maybe I’ll start a charity… Redesigns For Ugly Sites. Maybe it should be: Redesigns For Sites Who Still Use MT’s Default Templates. Yes, I know the templates are fine and it’s the content that counts, but I’m not in a particularly sensative mood – so, come on people!! At least try to make your site look different/special. And adding that little gif that has the girl and the weather on it doesn’t count.

So, here’s the deal. I’m feeling weird and generous. Post a link to your ugly blog in the comments, and I’ll pick the ugliest one to redesign. Of course, you don’t have to use the new design. You also aren’t allowed to whine about it either. You get what you get. It’ll be fine and work and be reasonably standards compliant. No, it will not support Netscape 4.x or any other ancient piece of browser trash you have laying around your computer. It will work well in modern version of IE, Mozilla, Safari and any browser based on one of the above.

Oh, and it may not be fast. I may take a month to redesign the winning abomination. And you may get some unexpected features and could end up being a guinea pig for some new weirdness I want to try. Oh, and no stupid weathergirls! Is that enough rules?

UPDATE: I’ll be making my decision tomorrow (5/7) and posting the winner tomorrow night. May the ugliest / most default templatey blog win!

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Categorized as computing

By Kevin Lawver

Web developer, Software Engineer @ Gusto, Co-founder @ TechSAV, husband, father, aspiring social capitalist and troublemaker.

8 comments

  1. My site isnt ugly, but it isnt mine design either. Sooooo, if you want to start from stratch and use Grey Matter instead of MT…be my guest.

  2. Makeover Contest For Ugly Blog Sites

    I belong to a yahoo group for webloggers and wanted to share this post from Kevin. He’s been a…

  3. My site is ugly, but I’ve never had any design skills (pesky right brained engineering types), so hey, if you’re offering 🙂 And you can go right ahead and get rid of that silly little weather girl.

  4. Woo-hoo, a Movable Type user too! I’m giving this thing two more days, and then I’m picking a winner. The response has been less than overwhelming…

  5. I have no web site, but if I did I would nominate it. I’m sure poepl would line up a across the block to get a free red-design but blogs just arn’t that common. At least everyone I know doesn’t have 1.

  6. My site is Classic MT American Chese. Mainly because I don’t know how to re-design it …
    I really liked your handling of Photos
    If you judge my site as the ugliest i would love to have you build in the photo section along with your other whims ….
    Keep in mind it is a family site and my family is challenged when it comes to navigation and small type….on black backgrounds…
    Happy judging!!
    Marty

  7. Grey Matter is complely customizable…and I just used that one cause it looked easier to install than MT. *looks around*

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