SixApart to dump Blog for portal on main page
SixApart President Mena Trott has announced that SixApart will be releasing a new site design this week for their SixApart, TypePad and Movable Type sites that in Mena’s words “have been made [to] convey our desire to present all of Six Apart’s websites in a cohesive and standard way. ”
The preview provided indicates a move from the current blog residing at the SixApart.com company address to a new portal layout with some limited text, most likely MT powered, to hawk the companies wares.
Whilst admitedly commerically sensible for the growing company, the move from blog to portal further demonstrates the companies SixApart’s move away from grass roots blogging to serious corporate money makers, and also bucks the idea that a standard blog layout can provide commercial benefit and gain.
No word yet as to whether the design will also incorporate SixApart LiveJournal as well.
You can tell all that from a 150px thumbnail of a screenshot, eh? that’s amazing.
Looking at the disjointed voice across the Six Apart product families, I’d hazard to guess that the change in design reflects their desire to be able to effectively promote their brands. the movabletype.org site has so many product pitches shoehorned into the design that the blog is below the fold on many screens anyway. And the product links aren’t very compelling. You can barely read the TypePad graphic on the home page.
A corporate prospect visiting TypePad wouldn’t have a clue that the company offers a product better suited to the enterprise.
And LiveJournal isn’t really mentioned anywhere on the site.
SixApart.com is a corporate information site with scant product promotion.
So my thought is that the new site doesn’t “further demonstrate the companies [sic] move away from grass roots blogging to serious corporate money makers” but rather demonstrates that they have a severly fractured brand and are unifying everything under a single name.
Also your headline doesn’t wash. That column in the lower left with the title “Six Apart News” is probably a blog.
And although you say that the site will be “most likely MT powered” all you really needed to do was read the original post on SixApart.com that says definitavely “all the pages are generated through Movable Type.”
How about you stick to reporting the news like it says in your tag line? This mishmash of investigative journalism and opinion doesn’t suit you. And you aren’t even very good at it.
Adam, a few comments
1. You say its too hard to take from the pic then quote from it?
2. Most likely MT powered is fair comment, its not up yet, they say its MT powered but a radical change may see a mish-mash of ideas and tools used. Trust is not something I hold when reporting anything Mena says and done, and SixApart have become the kings of spin when it comes to talking about their product, whilst transparency and often honesty are often a foreign words, but despite my own bias here I have tried to give her the benefit of the doubt.
3. SixApart popularised the columned blog layout familiar on many blogs today (2/ 3 column). They are now abandoning it for their main corporate site. I’ve noted that it makes commercial sense, as you’ve pointed out in your comments, however its still a big change from their traditional format, one THEY popularised.
4. Yes their branding is all over the place, but again, they are now selling a concept they are not supporting on their main website (well by the look of it they’re not), unless of course they are about to branch off into CMS portal tools
5. You note SixApart LiveJournal in your comments but agree with exactly what I said: there is nothing there about SALJ yet.
6. Investigative journalism in this story? Its reporting fact: Mena posts a change, provides a shot that indicates dropping the blog layout for that of a portal, and its posted. The provides a positive comment (commercially sensible) it also notes the move away from the grass roots blogging style, again, THEY POPULARISED
Seriously, how is this not news? Next time I’ll tag every tinny little bit of commentary, no matter how small, that is provided just to make you happy Adam.
By the way Adam, has Pheedo got a deal coming up with SixApart, or does your defence of the company stem solely from the fact your an old friend of the Trott’s and a MT Plug-in Developer?
To quote Mena (it’s written right next to the tumbnail in Mena’s Corner):
“One of the coolest things about the redesign is that all the pages are generated through Movable Type.”
“Trust is not something I hold when reporting anything Mena says and done,
Judging by what you’ve posted in the past with regards to the company, that would be fairly obvious.
In all honesty, you would be doing yourself a favor by not reporting on them anymore because — and I hate to break this to you — it makes you look like an ass.