Minimalist.

So, this week I've been thinking, talking and writing about my secret love affair with Google Chrome.

I have lots of secret love affairs, most of them are bad relationships: trashy adventure novels I stay up until 2 am reading, Twiglets which are antisocial to munch.  Some of them are wrong but good.  I count Stephen King in there no matter how many people pooh-pooh him, chillies too: sometimes I fear what they are doing to my stomach lining, but they have vitamin C in, so they can't be wholly evil.

I think that the 'don't be evil' corporation's Chrome may be another one of those good for me secret affairs.  I have got the hang of the download function, I'm impressed with how easy it is to create and manage bookmarks.  I'm a bit confused that it's built-in spell checker doesn't recognise the word Google, but there you go.  Xmarks aside- I never leave the house without Xmarks- I've held off on fully exploring the extensions, perhaps that would be too much of a betrayal of Firefox.

Aside from what's under the bonnet of Chrome, what I like about it is the sleek minimalism of the design.  I don't like clutter, I don't like lots of buttons, and I want to be able to customise it so that key functions are where I expect them to be, not where the designer thinks they ought to be.  Customizability and a fuss-free interface are some of the reasons I'm such a fan of Firefox, and why I gave Safari a good long go before I gave it up.  It's also what makes Apple products so enviably gorgeous, but the Scot within is not prepared to pay the price premium for that.

The good news is that you can enjoy beautiful, pared down design for almost-free on the web.  I stumbled across this article from Smashing Magazine on minimalist web-design this morning, via the Librarian in Black's twitter feed.  As well as tips on how to strip back on unnecessary content, use white or blank space to your advantage, and hints on image choices it showcases some mouthwatering examples of good design.  The example on the left is from Anothercompany.  The monochrome image in the centre makes a strong statement and it's fabulously clutter-free.  Sadly it is under construction, so not much more than eye candy at present, but I find it an attractive design, and by far my favourite from the examples featured in the article.

beauty_school_dropout used to sport a basic black and grey design; I have missed the simplicity of the layout since my revamp, but I think it was well intentioned but boring.  Perhaps I'll do a bit more research and have a rethink.