Visually appealing blogs

Like many of us, I am also not into blogs. However in an effort to figure out what good blogs look like I visited some random blogs (including the one mentioned in the previous post- Smashing magazine). What particularly steers me away from a website/blog is too much clutter and information overload. Sometimes little is better and lack of options (few links, few menu items)....more so, especially if the viewer is not losing out on vital information. If your blog is more about text (writing) than pictures or graphics, it is important to keep pictures to the bare minimum because together text and graphics make content too overwhelming for the viewer. Probably information overload is the single-most reason why people ( like me) find it so difficult to sustain interest in one website/blog, excited to explore-but too much to cover-in limited time!!

In my opinion, Smashing magazine is also one of them. Unless people visit the website for specific information like tutorials or design template ideas, it may easily overwhelm people because there are a lot of visuals and multiple links going on in each page. Still, I agree that it is a well designed website because it makes use of ample white space and content is organized quite effectively.