The xBlog, located at xplane.com/xblog, (XPLANE relocated it to here: xblog.xplane.com) is a place to find (mostly) visual communication links: Visual thinking, web design, web development, art, creativity, information design, information architecture, graphic design, logos, symbols, typography, photography, information graphics, illustration, interface design, usability, technology, language, searching, media, culture, et cetera… You’ll find a variety of old and new resources here.

The archives are arranged by subject (the long list to the left) and contain many more link resources than just the daily effort. You can consider every page of the xBlog an individually updated weblog—so bookmark the one you like.

Like I said, the xBlog has a visual thinking / visual communication / design focus. But you will find other topics here: The internet and technology, of course. Sites and tips for searching the Web. Music. History. Space. Privacy. Even food and beverages. Whatever catches my eye and whatever I think someone will find useful or interesting. Obviously, I cannot read every page of every site I link to. So I can’t help it if something weird or wrong turns up. And a link here is not an endorsement by me or XPLANE unless I say something like “this is great!” It just means “check this out — maybe it’ll be useful or interesting to you, maybe not, I don’t know.” Don’t flame me if I post a link you think sucks.

You don’t have to think of the xBlog as a corporate weblog just because it’s part of the XPLANE site, although it’s definitely not a personal journal or anything like that. I just wanted to start a weblog/link collection that had a very tight focus on visual communication. Not just Web design. Not just usability. Not just programming… but not just a random collection of links. Visual communication, in all forms, is something all of us benefit from in business and life. And we all should learn more about it.

So, unlike a lot of other weblogs, there will not be much personal commentary or reflection on the links posted. So I probably won’t be letting you know how the taco I had for lunch was, or what kind of mood I’m in. There’s enough of that out there—and other people do it better anyway.

I’m just looking for useful links.

Thanks. Pass it along.

Bill Keaggy | XPLANE

Update, spring, 2004: I have decided to take a break from XPLANE but I will continue to write xBlog.

Update, summer 2007: I’m back at XPLANE!

Update, winter 2011:  XPLANE was acquired by Dachis Group and xBlog is supposed to cease publishing December 31, 2011. R.I.P. 1999-2011. It was a good run.

Update, summer 2013: Happily, XPLANE—and xBlog—lives on… but I no longer work there. They have redesigned the blog and removed my name from the 7,000+ posts I wrote. They also changed its location and broke all the links that had been on the web since 1999. Boo… and bullshit.

Update, summer 2014: Even more happily, xBlog has been redesigned and is looking spiffy, they’ve put my name back on my posts, and there is lots of new activity too. Kudos, XPLANE.

Update, November 2019: As of 7 Nov 2019, xBlog is 20 years old!