March 31, 2008

BBC Junior

Erm... , is it me or has the BBC News front page started to look a lot like George Junior?

I mean, really, take a look at it. I'm not kidding - compare them:

- font and text size
- text colors and strengths in main body and side bar
- gray sidings outside the content area
- relatively uncluttered with plenty of free space all over
- widely spaced, clean links in the side bar
- orange banner sidebar divider
- no advertising and no tip jar (I'm just throwing those two in there)

You see what I mean?

I'm not saying the BBC has copied my blog design - I use a standard Blogger template (I'm putting a bill in tomorrow anyway, by the way). What I'm saying is, the BBC is starting to look a lot less like a news site and much more like a blog. Hell, if you take it down to one column in the main body it is a blog.

It's convergence, baby!

Looking back a few years at Joho's thoughts on the future of blogs, I get the sense that things are happening a little faster than we thought.

Still, however much it might pain the BBC to admit it: imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.