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Diagonal Lines Still Keep Going

Posted by Andrew Faulkner on September 7th, 2005.

Andrew Faulkner is the admin at fadtastic. Andrew prides himself on standards-based, accessible web design in the city of Nottingham, UK. He believes in aesthetically pleasing accessible design and that 'standards compliant does not equal boring.'

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I received an email from a Lana Stewart that inspired a post. It essentially made me think the following:

“How long can diagonal lines remain a web trend?”

Lana went on to explain that she dislikes them (even though she’s guilty - isn’t everyone?), and that even top designers like Shaun Inman are still using them:

1. http://www.shauninman.com/plete/
2. http://www.haveamint.com/

Now we all know that this trend has been around for a couple of years but hasn’t fizzed out like trends tend to do. Is there something about them that’s different?

My view is that they are overused but have stuck around do to the fact that they have evolved. Simple repeated diagonal lines as backgrounds have grown into something more complicated. We now have faded diagonal lines (www.aspiramedia.com - Yes I’m guilty!) and differently sized alternating backgrounds.

But it’s not just the images that have altered, it’s their usage. In the past, diagonal lines had their place on the ‘body’ background of a site but now they have infiltrated headers, borders and imagery. Photographs and banners now have faded diagonal lines and headers are not complete until a nice diagonal lined background image is used.

So diagonal lines are used nicely, overused or simply changing depending on your view. So the discussion naturally leads to ‘Where next?‘ I’ll leave you to throw in some ideas about how diagonal lines will be used in the near future, where they will be used and whether they will be used.

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Maybe people will use diagonal lines not set at 45 degrees. Maybe they’ll use 30 degrees or something crazy like that.

aspiramedia
September 9th, 2005
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Diagonal lines are a good way of breaking up a layout, or image without cluttering it. I just cringe at those that use strong diagonal lines against directly behind text. There’s certainly an art to it, knowing where and how to use it.

Gavin
September 11th, 2005
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One example is CollyLogic. http://www.collylogic.com/index.php

The lines behind the text look pretty good, though I find them quite annyoing when reading a longer article.

Markus
September 14th, 2005
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Thanks for the example, Markus. The lines do get a bit annoying when reading an entire page.

— EDIT —

Just realised that that’s an Agenzia Employee’s journal. They’re in my town. Well not my town. The good old town of Nottingham.

aspiramedia
September 14th, 2005
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I like diagonal lines. They are a subtle way of adding texture to what would otherwise be a boring flat surface. But I agree, they shouldn’t be used beneath text.

Tom
September 17th, 2005
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Another:

http://www.momono.nl/

Andrew Faulkner
October 4th, 2005
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i think that diagonal lines through the web are great as they add more interest to the page with just old plain lines you get bored with what you are reading lots of happy surfing from yet another lana stewart

lana stewart
December 8th, 2005
#

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