I normally read Planet MySQL from RSS, but for some reason I ended up on the actual site today in a Web Browser (Epiphany to be exact) and saw this:

And thought, “wow, ugly”. I don’t keep my browser “maximised” because I think it’s a stupid way to work – I often switch between tasks or like to have an editor open while referring to something in a browser (e.g. some tech details of some source module), or monitor IRC or IM. I remembered that Epiphany has an Ad Blocking extension, so in an effort to de-uglify, I enabled it. I now see:

Hrrm… much better. Notice how the links on the left to the most active are actually useful now (I can read them).

Note that this isn’t a rant on adverts on web sites – I can handle them (the google ones which aren’t obtrusive) – I’m against the uglyweb.