The Basics of Blog Usability
Jul 6th, 2007 by Anthony
Something as simple as not having proper navigation menus on a blog can really put people off reading your content and coming back for more. So here are some simple things to remember when designing your blog:
Less Clicks The Better - Your readers won’t want to make multiple clicks to find your content. Don’t make the huge mistake of just having one post per page and let readers easily skim through your your posts. And further more dont create a landing or splash page for your blog - this is ultra annoying.
Fast is Best - Does your blog take a long time to load? Think about optimizing some of the graphics by reducing there file size and get rid of some of the widgets. Tracking codes for stats applications also slow down your blog - if you don’t need them, remove them.
Go with the Flow - Don’t try and reinvent the blogging wheel. Readers expect a certain layout when it comes to blogs. This consists of multiple posts per page, comments, headings, categories etc. Removing any of these components could really damage your blog.
White Space is Cool - A blogs content should be well spaced with a clear heading and a nice readable font. All your page elements should line up nicely and make sure your blog doesn’t feel cramped.
Well they are my basic tips for Blog Usability - what are yours?
There should always be a link to the comments form at the end of an article. It drives me crazy having to scroll all the way back to the top of an article to leave a comment; it is completely illogical for bloggers to have the link at the top! Why would I comment before reading an article?!?
It amazed me just how many blogs I come across that do this. I wish they would see sense and get that comment link at the end of their posts!
It is also a little frustrating when I cannot click the blog logo to return to the homepage. It is pretty much a usability convention these days that visitors should be able to click the logo and be sent back to the site’s index.
- Martin Reed