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I think this is about right. I am a minimalist for user interfaces of any sort. That's what happens when you go to a Bauhaus design program. What they teach is form follows function.
I only use google as a search engine so I have little to say about its other `features'.
I decided long ago, the less design the better when it comes to computers and other tools. I enjoy good looking tools that handle well. Nice looking and forgettable. This is actually the Mac secrete. It's also something Snap-On works at. (This is a brand of hand tools, for those who don't know. It's almost universally preferred by the mechanical trades)
Then turning this around. A blogger's webpage is basically personal display space so a lot more attention to design and presentation fits. The design goal is different. Google on the other hand wants to fade into the ground, essentially disappear. If they are controlling the process they want control hidden. Bloggers and a lot of corporations want to stand out.
Even so, I am usually interested with `what' is presented in the text or photo or video. So I would still stress the function side, rather than the decor.
One corporate internet site that I used for parts and pricing was so bad, I would sometimes call customer service people and go over the web page together so we both knew what I wanted to order. So another part of design is making communication as simple as possible. This gets very difficult with technical parts catalogs that go on-line.
There is a lot of technical detail that has to be worked out, because these are custom data bases with mostly custom search engines. These have to be custom programmed and maintained because it seems every company in the world uses different production tracking, and inventory systems.
I finally figured out why this one company was so bad. It was a conflict between their marketing department and their computer people. The marketing department was responsible for the web design and had no idea what the end users needed or wanted.
CG