MySpace Layouts 101

You may not know what a ‘flashing flying fairy’ is but when someone posted this to my blog with reference to the copious use of glitter images on MySpace profiles, I knew exactly they were talking about.

It’s no secret that few MySpacers give a rat’s behind about some of the time-honored niceties of web design like don’t-crash-my-web-browser or don’t-make-me-scroll-sideways or go-easy-on-the-eyeballs. And with the MySpace user rollcall now topping 174 million (and counting), that adds up to a lot of ugly.

So how did this massive motley crew of web-2-nauts and their collection of hopelessly hideous home pages become the subject of great ridicule amongst other more techno-nerdly social networks (like Digg)? One might jump to the conclusion that MySpace is overrun with teenagers who simply don’t know better. But the plain fact of the matter is, it’s not. Recent studies show that over two-thirds of MySpace users are, in fact, 25 years of age or more.

So what’s the real reason?

Well it could be that when you give the average joe-blow/jane-blow –who knows diddley about HTML and CSS– the opportunity to instantly deck out his/her own little corner of the internet with any of a profusion of free ready-made layouts, tweaks, add-ons, bells and whistles then well… things are gonna get a little messy.

And it could also be that MySpace users just simply don’t compare their web pages to others on the net. They have their own standards. They are in their own world where the name of the game has somehow become ‘My MySpace Layout Has Ten Tons More Glitter / Flash / Falling Hearts / Videos / Slideshows Than Your MySpace Layout” and that’s that. It’s like a little private competition that has set its own bar (however low) that is oblivious to what is truly attractive on the web.

My personal take on the matter is that when you take away the use of Javascript (MySpace forbids the use of user-defined Javascript), the only way you can seemingly make your web page snap, crackle and pop is to load it up with a glut of animated GIFs (hence all the glitter) or a whole bunch of Flash add-ons.

But whatever the reason, many will agree that when you come upon a MySpace profile that is simple and plain, has paragraphed text and loads quickly, it’s like a huge breath of fresh air. And it seems –thankfully enough– that more and more MySpace users are starting to realize this (if the Google Trends results for ‘plain myspace layouts’ is any indication).

Hopefully, this growing group of MySpace minimalists (and otherwise classy profile makers) will make a stand and deliver a crowning blow to the MySpace glitteratis.

So to all the flashing flying fairies: Get ready to sing your swan song.

:o)

Robert Darrell is the chief cook and bottle washer of the Iron Spider Web Design and Resource Center where he serves up a tantalizing array of easy-to-understand tutorials on HTML and CSS as well as a batch of free quality templates. You are currently one click away from his personal collection of free and highly original MySpace Layouts.

For those who want to take up the good fight against the flashing flying fairies, you can check out his collection of plain MySpace layouts.

And for something completely different, take a gander at these MySpace DIV layouts.