Monday Aug 28, 2006
Things I'd like to see in blogs
Posted at 09:38:37 pm by hari under Internet and Blogging (241 views)
Please don't take me wrong - I'm no blogging guru and I'm not pointing fingers at anybody and I gladly agree that my observations are subjective, but for what they're worth, I thought I'd share some of my thoughts on what makes blogsites usable from the perspective of a visitor.
Comment submission without captchas
Captchas are annoying in general and some captchas are so twisted and unreadable that they make me feel like I'm on a visit to the dentist to get my teeth pulled out. There are better ways of spam prevention these days and captchas do absolutely nothing to prevent trackback and referrer spam. Please avoid captchas - at least the unaesthetic ones.
Proper navigation tools
Please do have a good navigation structure in your blog. Please provide archive links because a lot of us care about reading older posts on your blog which we may have missed. Please provide a "back" and "forward" link on your home page as well so that visitors can easily go to older posts.
Permalinks to individual articles
Please use a permalink structure in your blog. A url like http://yourblog.com/index.php?postid=2903 makes it unreadable and less friendly to SE bots. Please have a link structure which gives a unique page for each post like http://yourblog.com/date/category/post-name or similar.
Fluid (percentage) width columns
Please consider using a percentage width to define your post body width rather than a narrow fixed width column. A fluid style is more compatible with different screen resolutions and provides better utilization of browser real-estate.
Proper categorization
Please use categories to tag your posts. Category archives provide an additional intuitive way to browse your blog. If you're using blogger, then you really ought to be using something else. There are plenty of free alternatives to blogger now. Try wordpress.com. Or better still get your own webspace and host your blog. It gives you much more flexibility.
RSS feeds
While most blogging systems have an RSS feed, many blog themes do not provide a link to the RSS feed on the home page of the blog. It's rather inconvenient for many of us to search for the RSS feed link on your blog. Besides the little "Feed" icon provided by browsers like Firefox, we sometimes prefer to get the RSS URL to paste into our feed readers, so it's nice to have an RSS link from your home page as well.
In-page commenting forms (no popups)
Please use the standard commenting system provided by your blog. And please avoid popup comment boxes. It's quite annoying to have to post comments on popup boxes rather than as part of the main post.
Personalization
If you're using one of the pre-built themes for any of the popular blogging tools, chances are that your theme is being used by hundreds of other bloggers. Please do personalize your blog theme. A customized theme gives your blog an identity of its own.
18 comments
Okay, let's see. . .
Comment submission without captchas - Oh dear, fallen at the first hurdle
I tried all the "passive" anti-spam measures available for B2, none worked. Removing all of them and putting in a captcha solved the problem completely. Besides, it's a pretty legible captcha that I use, so I make no apologies
Proper navigation tools - Yep, no problem there: A month-overview, a load of links & a search field.
Permalinks to individual articles - Yep, got those.
Fluid (percentage) width columns - Hmm. Nope, fixed. The right sidebar pretty much has to be fixed-width, since it's got graphics & a calendar & the like that just can't be wrapped. And I don't like the idea of mixing fixed & variable - that's asking for trouble.
Proper categorization - I'm still not convinced by categorization, TBH - as far as my stats show, very few visitors use them, and I never do on other blogs. But I find them handy ways to indicate that a post is a rant rather than serious, without putting a "Don't take this seriously" line, so I use them anyway
RSS feeds - very important, all blogs should have them!
In-page commenting forms - As I've mentioned in the past, my bugbear is more about people not telling you how your plain-text comment will get parsed when you submit it - Do smilies get turned into icons? Do you use "
Comment submission without captchas - Oh dear, fallen at the first hurdle
I tried all the "passive" anti-spam measures available for B2, none worked. Removing all of them and putting in a captcha solved the problem completely. Besides, it's a pretty legible captcha that I use, so I make no apologies
Proper navigation tools - Yep, no problem there: A month-overview, a load of links & a search field.
Permalinks to individual articles - Yep, got those.
Fluid (percentage) width columns - Hmm. Nope, fixed. The right sidebar pretty much has to be fixed-width, since it's got graphics & a calendar & the like that just can't be wrapped. And I don't like the idea of mixing fixed & variable - that's asking for trouble.
Proper categorization - I'm still not convinced by categorization, TBH - as far as my stats show, very few visitors use them, and I never do on other blogs. But I find them handy ways to indicate that a post is a rant rather than serious, without putting a "Don't take this seriously" line, so I use them anyway
RSS feeds - very important, all blogs should have them!
In-page commenting forms - As I've mentioned in the past, my bugbear is more about people not telling you how your plain-text comment will get parsed when you submit it - Do smilies get turned into icons? Do you use "
Monday Aug 28, 2006 @ 22:59
Oh dear, it's parsed the HTML - I was afraid of that. . . See if you can fix it when you get a moment, will you?
Monday Aug 28, 2006 @ 23:00
I think I pass 
I even redesigned my template to make it look how I wanted it to look - an I have a wee preview thingy.
Do I win an ice cream?
I even redesigned my template to make it look how I wanted it to look - an I have a wee preview thingy.Do I win an ice cream?
Tuesday Aug 29, 2006 @ 02:43
Here's my take:
Captchas: Last resort in my opinion. I don't much care for them. I've also realized that if you force a preview and then submit to post, less likely a spammer will actually post, as most program their kiddie scripts to hit enter once to submit, not twice. I currently do this on my site now and also moderate, I figure I login at least once a day (not counting being online all day while at work), what's a few minutes to check the comment queue.
Navigation: I agree with you but to an extent. Different sites can have different layouts. What's more important to me is no hidden links and easy to navigate to other parts of your site. If it's there and there's no links, what's the point of having it there.
Permalinks: This I actually can care less about. I don't look at the address on a blog after clicking and reading an entry. It's kind of like, reading the newspaper and then throwing it away when your done. Sure it's nice to look at clean links but even then, when I link to something, it's usually in the "href" tag and I just put punchline like "Click Here" or the like. I can rename it to whatever I want that way. So messy or clean, doesn't matter, I never look at that anyways.
Columns: I disagree to an extent. Depending on the site, sometimes a fixed width won't break things when a % will.
Categorization: This I'm even pretty anal about as I try to organize most things in life cause it just gives me that warm fuzzy feeling. Though, on another persons site or blog, unless it makes it impossible to find something, I can care less. I organize my own site for myself, not anyone else.
RSS Feeds: I don't use these so really doesn't matter to me. I'd be suprised if anyone uses mine, so I try to include it when I can to make those few little people happy..
Comments: I've got both, click on the link from main article and get a popup to read with only the comments (saves that few amount of bandwidth per click) and or click on the article title and read the comments there and post a comment. The best of both worlds. But really, doesn't matter to me.
Personalization: Yes, Yes, Yes. If your blog looks like the default install, you might as well just use www.blogspot.com or something like that cause you just wasted money buying a domain and most likely paying money for hosting. And don't use mySpace either, it'll make you dumber by even browsing to it.
-drew
Captchas: Last resort in my opinion. I don't much care for them. I've also realized that if you force a preview and then submit to post, less likely a spammer will actually post, as most program their kiddie scripts to hit enter once to submit, not twice. I currently do this on my site now and also moderate, I figure I login at least once a day (not counting being online all day while at work), what's a few minutes to check the comment queue.
Navigation: I agree with you but to an extent. Different sites can have different layouts. What's more important to me is no hidden links and easy to navigate to other parts of your site. If it's there and there's no links, what's the point of having it there.
Permalinks: This I actually can care less about. I don't look at the address on a blog after clicking and reading an entry. It's kind of like, reading the newspaper and then throwing it away when your done. Sure it's nice to look at clean links but even then, when I link to something, it's usually in the "href" tag and I just put punchline like "Click Here" or the like. I can rename it to whatever I want that way. So messy or clean, doesn't matter, I never look at that anyways.
Columns: I disagree to an extent. Depending on the site, sometimes a fixed width won't break things when a % will.
Categorization: This I'm even pretty anal about as I try to organize most things in life cause it just gives me that warm fuzzy feeling. Though, on another persons site or blog, unless it makes it impossible to find something, I can care less. I organize my own site for myself, not anyone else.
RSS Feeds: I don't use these so really doesn't matter to me. I'd be suprised if anyone uses mine, so I try to include it when I can to make those few little people happy..
Comments: I've got both, click on the link from main article and get a popup to read with only the comments (saves that few amount of bandwidth per click) and or click on the article title and read the comments there and post a comment. The best of both worlds. But really, doesn't matter to me.
Personalization: Yes, Yes, Yes. If your blog looks like the default install, you might as well just use www.blogspot.com or something like that cause you just wasted money buying a domain and most likely paying money for hosting. And don't use mySpace either, it'll make you dumber by even browsing to it.
-drew
Tuesday Aug 29, 2006 @ 07:20
Thanks for the insights guys. I agree that many of my points are subjective, particularly regarding the layout - fluid width and the fixed width issue. And of course, many are a matter of individual choice.
What I probably find annoying is lack of navigation - meaning no way to browse to previous entries or archives. Many blogs don't provide easy to browse archives and there's no "back" or "forward" button on the main page which really makes it difficult to browse. And a combination of the above factors also makes it difficult for blog readers.
Of course, Ray, you get an icecream. I'll send you one by e-mail if you want.
What I probably find annoying is lack of navigation - meaning no way to browse to previous entries or archives. Many blogs don't provide easy to browse archives and there's no "back" or "forward" button on the main page which really makes it difficult to browse. And a combination of the above factors also makes it difficult for blog readers.
Of course, Ray, you get an icecream. I'll send you one by e-mail if you want.
Tuesday Aug 29, 2006 @ 08:15
>> Oh dear, it’s parsed the HTML - I was afraid of that. . . See if you can fix it when you get a moment, will you?
I wish I could. But it's a Wordpress issue and I simply haven't time or the ability to fix it at the moment since it will involve digging into the code. I'll probably have to add explanations below the commenting form on what gets parsed and what doesn't.
I wish I could. But it's a Wordpress issue and I simply haven't time or the ability to fix it at the moment since it will involve digging into the code. I'll probably have to add explanations below the commenting form on what gets parsed and what doesn't.
Tuesday Aug 29, 2006 @ 08:41
Hmm..
Comment submission without captchas: I hate CAPTCHAs. No - I abhor them. Instead, I use a passive spam catcher - it works just as well as a CAPTCHA, and doesn't annoy the user.
Proper navigation tools: Hmmm, I guess my blog could do better here. I only have a "latest posts" list on the right, and a back (and forward) button to read the archives, as well as a search bar if you are looking for something specific. But, it doesn't have a "browse by month" list, or anything similar to that. Damn... I'm only on the second and I've ALREADY failed something!
Permalinks to individual articles: I agree with you, Hari. Having full permalinks to articles is much better than having ?p=127, IMHO. Not only is it easier to remember the article's name (hehe), but it also gives the site a classier look. But, I think this comes down to personal preference.
Fluid (percentage) width columns: I disagree. Some themes will break if using variable width instead of fixed, and some simply look better with a fixed width. This also comes down to personal preference.
Proper categorization: Definitely.
RSS feeds: I try to add one if I can, as I know that a lot of people use them (myself included), and it keeps people coming back to the blog. So, if it's another free traffic bringer, why not add one?
In-page commenting forms (no popups): It's not much of an issue if the form pops up, but I do prefer a static one on the post's page. But, again, I'm not really fussed
Personalization: This is a must! I can't say how many blogs I've visited which use the default Wordpress theme... No, BAD blogger! Part of the art of blogging is finding a cool theme and adding your own little twist to it (or making your own, of course).
Well... IMHO
So, Hari - do I get one of those ice creams too?
Comment submission without captchas: I hate CAPTCHAs. No - I abhor them. Instead, I use a passive spam catcher - it works just as well as a CAPTCHA, and doesn't annoy the user.
Proper navigation tools: Hmmm, I guess my blog could do better here. I only have a "latest posts" list on the right, and a back (and forward) button to read the archives, as well as a search bar if you are looking for something specific. But, it doesn't have a "browse by month" list, or anything similar to that. Damn... I'm only on the second and I've ALREADY failed something!
Permalinks to individual articles: I agree with you, Hari. Having full permalinks to articles is much better than having ?p=127, IMHO. Not only is it easier to remember the article's name (hehe), but it also gives the site a classier look. But, I think this comes down to personal preference.
Fluid (percentage) width columns: I disagree. Some themes will break if using variable width instead of fixed, and some simply look better with a fixed width. This also comes down to personal preference.
Proper categorization: Definitely.
RSS feeds: I try to add one if I can, as I know that a lot of people use them (myself included), and it keeps people coming back to the blog. So, if it's another free traffic bringer, why not add one?
In-page commenting forms (no popups): It's not much of an issue if the form pops up, but I do prefer a static one on the post's page. But, again, I'm not really fussed
Personalization: This is a must! I can't say how many blogs I've visited which use the default Wordpress theme... No, BAD blogger! Part of the art of blogging is finding a cool theme and adding your own little twist to it (or making your own, of course).
Well... IMHO
So, Hari - do I get one of those ice creams too?
Tuesday Aug 29, 2006 @ 14:42
J_K9, another icecream sundae coming up...
Yeah, I agree about the variable width vs fixed width issue. It's subjective, but if a theme is fixed width, at least it should be designed for 1024x768 and not for 800x600 as that would make it too narrow.
Yeah, I agree about the variable width vs fixed width issue. It's subjective, but if a theme is fixed width, at least it should be designed for 1024x768 and not for 800x600 as that would make it too narrow.
Tuesday Aug 29, 2006 @ 15:07
>> Oh dear, it’s parsed the HTML - I was afraid of that. . . See if you can fix it when you get a moment, will you?
I wish I could.
Ah well - until then, can you edit my comment to remove the opening bracket of the "a href" tag so that the rest of the comment becomes visible?
I wish I could.
Ah well - until then, can you edit my comment to remove the opening bracket of the "a href" tag so that the rest of the comment becomes visible?
Tuesday Aug 29, 2006 @ 18:57
I just checked and I'm afraid the rest of the comment doesn't exist. It must have got stripped away by the comment parsing system Many apologies.
WP has a few quirks in the comment parsing. I'll try and figure it out later and see if there are any plugins which can correct this problem. If anything that is the weakest aspect of an otherwise great blogging platform.
Many apologies.WP has a few quirks in the comment parsing. I'll try and figure it out later and see if there are any plugins which can correct this problem. If anything that is the weakest aspect of an otherwise great blogging platform.
Tuesday Aug 29, 2006 @ 19:22
Ah, pity. Oh well, serves me right for putting it in in the first place!
Tuesday Aug 29, 2006 @ 20:46
>>It’s subjective, but if a theme is fixed width, at least it should be designed for 1024×768 and not for 800×600 as that would make it too narrow.
Thursday Aug 31, 2006 @ 23:08
Grr.. My previous comment got destroyed because of the less than symbol!
Luckily, I copied my text before I submitted it. I tend to do that these days
"It’s subjective, but if a theme is fixed width, at least it should be designed for 1024×768 and not for 800×600 as that would make it too narrow."
I disagree (hehe). There are still many people who use 800x600 - whether because they think they can see on-screen text better (it's usually the elderly that do this for this reason), or because an organisation or enterprise has not seen the need to buy new monitors when the ones they have are working just fine, and their employees are not complaining.
Most web developers still design for 800x600 when creating fixed width websites, especially if they want to attract as much traffic as possible.
Thanks for the ice cream, though
Luckily, I copied my text before I submitted it. I tend to do that these days
"It’s subjective, but if a theme is fixed width, at least it should be designed for 1024×768 and not for 800×600 as that would make it too narrow."
I disagree (hehe). There are still many people who use 800x600 - whether because they think they can see on-screen text better (it's usually the elderly that do this for this reason), or because an organisation or enterprise has not seen the need to buy new monitors when the ones they have are working just fine, and their employees are not complaining.
Most web developers still design for 800x600 when creating fixed width websites, especially if they want to attract as much traffic as possible.
Thanks for the ice cream, though
Thursday Aug 31, 2006 @ 23:09
If I design a site with a fixed width, it's always for a 800x600 resolution. You'd be amazed and suprised at the amount of people who still use 1024x768 or lower. 800x600 is a very safe standard to use.
Friday Sep 1, 2006 @ 00:48
12% of my site's visitors use 800x600 or less - that is a huge number of users, and I would be missing out on a lot of hits (and possibly cash, if I were running an e-commerce site) if I did not design for 800x600
Friday Sep 1, 2006 @ 02:06
So you see, as I said before, if you start designing for a specific resolution you end up having a lot of factors to consider. That's why I like the percentage widths.
True, some themes cannot live with percentage widths, but I believe with careful design a lot of sites can easily be made resolution independent.
True, some themes cannot live with percentage widths, but I believe with careful design a lot of sites can easily be made resolution independent.
Friday Sep 1, 2006 @ 09:46
Hari, I'm with you 100%
I feel there's nothing worse than a blogger blog that has only one or two posts, and the sidebar still has "google links" and whatever else comes standard!
I feel there's nothing worse than a blogger blog that has only one or two posts, and the sidebar still has "google links" and whatever else comes standard!
Friday Sep 1, 2006 @ 17:32
Yeah, there are plenty of those one-post wonder blogs out there when you click "Next Blog" on blogspot.
Friday Sep 1, 2006 @ 19:25
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