Linden Research has updated the software for one of their blogs today. The overall improvement looks great. It’s a little confusing at first to figure out what is where and what everything is doing. Eventually I’ll adapt. One thing that I keep wondering is why they didn’t do something similar for their home page for new visitors. Instead, the improvement for the home page ended up being a dark page that is not only unprofessional in business environments, but also causes strain on the eyes. The other thing that I am noticing is that their is a lack of a consistent theme along all of their websites. The home page is black, the blog is white, and the rest of the site is white with complementary shades of blue. From a branding perspective, it appears that you are visiting different websites all together. The logos and orange login buttons help pull the branding together to identify the site.

I like the new blogs, especially that they have sections for lindens of various trade (technical, community, etc), and the look is better than the old blog. I do agree with Crap that now it’s TOO white and they need a little bit more color.
But you’re definitely right about their new SL homepage, I still haven’t changed my opinion on that one and I don’t think I will. It just doesn’t do it for information or presentation.
I find myself a bit embarrassed when demonstrating it in a professional environment.