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December 23, 2004
Mandarin Revisited
Mid month I posted a link to the site Mandarin Design noting that it was a useful place to find CSS tips and develop a professional looking layout. However, after the owner of Mandarin posted a comment, I went back to my post and saw that I did not quite convey what I was trying to say - so I want to clarify.
First and foremost, I think this is a very useful site for layout. It is also quite helpful that they provide cut and past sections to help you plug in ideas without being a master programmer. However, I also commented that I didn't think that this site was useful for blogging. By that comment, I meant that it's one that would be great for the initial layout, but not one that you would turn to every few times you post - here's why:
A good rule of thumb with web design is "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should." Number 4 on Dean Peter's list of Seven Deadly Sins of Church Website Design talks about Gimmicks, Gizmos and animated GIFs and I agree that special effects are useful, but quit being effective if overdone. Many of the filters on Mandarin are neat, but have a potential to detract from what you are saying if not used in moderation. Remember the Blink Tag from the early days of the Web that would let you make text blink? It was so overused and improperly used that it became a turn off no matter how it was used - in fact, I think it may not even exist any more.
So, Mandarin is worth looking at - you'll find a lot of neat things you can do with design. But remember to use your new found powers for good - don't over do it.
Posted by Jesse at December 23, 2004 11:04 AM
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