I've always wondered why blogs are all so similar - except for the font, color and column sizes. That's why I like Wizbang - because to me, it' a bit more like slashdot.org , minus the comment moderators, advertisements all over the place and off-the-chart-socialist viewpoints...

None of the following are blogs, but all of these layouts have always impressed me for some reason.

What about a blog where you only scroll left to right? Shitty idea? Who cares if there's good content and an easily accessible "last comments" link...

http://www.kirsanov.com/sites.html

^ Cool left to right design, and a killer "portfolio" section... Maybe the colors, or descriptions - or all of it.

This next one will hang your browser if you aren't ready for the graphics intensive nature of it...

I'm not too impressed with the javascripting, but this dude is the master of dhtml - sometimes it's too much however. Lots of stuff on this guy's site too. http://www.ozones.com/blueprint/

Another flash/graphics site is second story studios...

http://www.secondstory.com/

In case you're interested - check the Pearl Harbor interactive link at the second story site and it'll blow the top of your head off - guaranteed (volume up)...

I've always wondered why blogs are all so similar - except for the font, color and column sizes.

Some -- not all, but some -- of the reason for that is that all but a modest handful of blogs are produced using either Movable Type, Blogger, or Wordpress. And also, most of us bloggers are writers, not designers, and tend to do all of this stuff ourselves.

Most of the reason for the similarity you've noticed is not that bloggers are using the same software, or that they cannot think of better designs. It's that they are following conventions based on their audience's expectations.

Do you also wonder why books are so similar? Title on the front and on the spine, text on the pages, folios at the top or bottom of each page, odd pages on the left, etc.? The reason is that certain design conventions are expected by the reader. Violating these conventions would make a book less readable, so most books follow them. And yet it would be vapid to say, "Except for the cover art and the font size, The Iliad is very similar to The Shining," because of course it is their content which sets them apart.