Blog Design - Tips from the experts

A few short weeks ago I became aware of a new title to be published dedicated to blog design. I've always been a bit of a bookaholic, so I picked up a copy on Amazon. Blog Design Solutions has no fewer than eight co-authors who include names that may be familiar to bloggers. So what does the book cover? Who is it aimed at? Should you buy a copy? The book covers everything from the basics of blogging through setting up a local development environment right through to writing your own blogging engine. Overwhelmed? While you may feel that a volume covering such a broad range of topics would be a huge tome that yells boredom from its covers you will be pleasantly surprised. The authors do not presume that you know anything (apart from having an interest in the subject matter naturally) They lead you gently into the realm of the blogger and then dedicate a chapter each to four of the more popular blogging solutions currently available:

• Wordpress
• Movable Type
• Text Pattern
• Expression Engine

Each blogging tool is introduced and discussed by an experienced user / developer and its indvidual merits discussed. They then move onto showing you in easy steps how to take the basic installation and templates and make them your own. In the case of Movable Type, for example, they build a full template style without using the original templates and then add the MT specific tags and directives into the templates to give you a fully customised look and feel. The chapter on Wordpress is fascinating, as it covers some of the more pertinent topics related to template design and development. While I may have been using Wordpress for quite some time I honestly was not aware of some of the simple, yet effective, techniques discussed. Of the four blog engines featured all except one are available under some form of "free" license. The exception is Expression Engine. According to the authors EE is well worth every cent, but I am yet to give it the chance to prove itself. Overall the book is a good read. For more advanced blog users some of the tips and tricks may prove to be useful, while for designers may find the easy to follow instructions helpful in customising blogs for their clients' use. The last chapter, which discusses developing your own blogging software solution is interesting, though whether it will be of much practical benefit remains to be seen. Blog Design Solutions