My suggestions for a blog interface for Gmane have been put in production. Check this:

• http://blog.gmane.org/gmane.discuss

Even the four default designs... Well, they were just the first ones I got at hand for my alternate-CSS-design demo . The Lars design is particularly awful

See the running demos:

I think that Gmane needs just one default style. The rightmenu one has its origin in a creative-commons protected style (Rusty) that was listed at movablestyle.com ... Now the license mention has disappeared fron there.

I think they should find a free-content default style, acknowledging the origin, or create a custom Gmane-style from a friend designer or...

As I see, now it's the user who chooses the style to apply to all lists he/she is watchin'... I thought it would be the other way round. Each list admin could touch the CSS style of his/her list... So each list would have its own design.

This blog thing appeared at Gmane.discuss after Lars mentioned an admin interface and CSS changes. So, I thought it would be on admin's hands to apply a design. Logos or colours associated to projects could make the appeal of blog interaces more logical, that way.

Another option for an admin: The side menu has space for more things. If there was an admin interface, perhaps he/she could edit a section about so some lines with related links or a general explanation could appear at the side menu with the about caption.

The blog option is open to all lists and groups stored at Gmane. Just type the blog domain prefix and there it is:

• http://blog.gmane.org/gmane.comp.python.zope.coreblog.english