Compare and contrast

I've been thinking about site design a lot lately. It started when Adriane was looking at some website that was pictures of baby bunnies, but had such a bad design that it was hard to focus on the cuteness.

Then, a few days later, I found the blog of a certain extremely pretentious Smithie whom I've never met, but I have seen her aggressive self-promotion on Facebook. She has a blog that's much like A Beautiful Mess and The Lovely Undergrad in design and layout, but it's profoundly irritating instead of attractive and charming. In fact, the thing I found the most annoying about her blog (aside from the fact that she photographs her outfit every day) is her little signature at the end of every post. I forget what it is exactly; something along the lines of "Love, Freedom, Rainbow Cookie-Farts" with each word a different color. But my point is, that's exactly the little detail I appreciate about Zoe and the Beatles (she signs using "namaste") and The Lovely Undergrad (who signs with "Stay lovely!).

Where's the line?

I read an interview with Krista from Effing Dykes in which she said that she uses a lot of pictures in her posts because nobody wants to read a wall of text, and that's true. It is exhausting, even when I'm reading something I wrote myself. But there are so many blogs that I read that have almost no information about the person writing them, which is just going to an extreme. Pictures of Seattle and adorable kittens are nice, but I read blogs because I'm interested in the authors, and that kind of layout doesn't help me build a rapport with the author at all. Then, too, I don't understand the point in having a website where you just show and tell things that you like, as opposed to things about you.

Can anyone explain this to me? What's the appeal of a site where you just post pictures? Don't you want to write about your life, what you think and feel? Is there something that I'm just not seeing here?

And should I post more pictures?