I don’t rant enough often about design issues here (that was what my old, deceased C-Blog was for, four years ago or so), but while skimming my newsreader this morning, I happened upon this post about Technorati’s revamp of yesterday. I can’t possibly, possibly put it as eloquently as Greg did (which is precisely why I read Airbag), but I have no qualms about posting it here and raising my placard declaring, “It sucks.” The longer I look at Technorati, the more my eyes cross (seriously), due to the overbearing presence of color.

Justification on their part found here.

[minutes pass] I keep going back and looking at it, trying to find something good to say. I really liked the old site, it was distinctive, and in a web-era of intense color, having a monochromatic (plus black and white) scheme has a certain impact to it. I still have to look around quite a bit (now, mostly distracted by the colors flying at me everywhere) to find the login and blog-owners functionality, which is in fact the only reason I visit. (If this is their attempt at social bookmarking, I have Ma.gnolia for that. Much prettier, more intuitive.) What strikes my eye first? An AD. Okay, fine, they have big ads now, most sites do. Then my eye bounces up and down, between Top Blog Posts (orange header) and Featured Bloggers (pink header), a strip of pointless avatars.

Blah. I’m closing the window now, left with the thought that I’m glad I don’t go there often, but I feel sorry for those that do. If the circles of subjects I tracked were any larger in radius, I probably would be there often, and that would be sad, because in truth, the new design reminds me vaguely of a few other social sites I’ve seen. (I never use sites like that.)

(By contrast, something extremely funny but completely unrelated here.)