Are Blogs Borking the Web?
I’d never known anyone to keep chickens out their back garden, until a good friend of mine did just that. She’s now the proud owner of 6 gorgeous little characters who don’t seem to want to lay any eggs. I had suggested to her that she should blog her experience, a challenge that she quickly undertook.
The first few blog posts came faster than I expected and even included photos of the girls. Though she has always been slightly more technical than most, she did manage to bork the blog as soon as I took my eye of it. For some reason she went and turned all of her blog posts into pages, in the process breaking the theme she was using, as it could only handle 3 short page names/links in the navigation.
The next time I visited I offered to show her how to fix the blog (let’s just say she’s still in the process of fixing it). I asked her about changing the posts to pages and she explained “My blog posts we’re appearing in the menu” and when I explained to her about the linear nature of blogging she asked “How would anyone know that my other blog posts were there?” It was then my task to explain how categories and tagging worked, but this surprised me because I knew that she was an avid blog reader and internet user.
It was then that I began truly questioning the usability of blog navigation. We assume that readers are using tags and categories as navigational tools, but what if they’re really stumbling through the content, using the awkward archives and calendar tools? Or simply reading from finish to start? If a user enters a blog via a google search can they successfully navigate back to the home page? If every blog has its own list of different categories, how do users know where to look? Is your blog taxonomy even understood?
I recently read, on the iQcontent blog, about how visually impaired users must listen to every piece of navigation on a webpage with their screen-readers. This immediately made me wonder about the persistent nature of blogrolls, how they feature on the majority of blogs and on every single page. Are they successful at getting hits for other members of your blogosphere? Or are they just social badges, worn to show off your affiliations?
Blogs make it easier for everyone to publish to the net, but does this, in turn, make navigating the web harder for everyone else? This is something that requires further investigation, especially considering that there is a shift occurring online where entire websites are being replaced by blogs. But are they in fact borking the entire web?
October 17th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
I think it all just depends on how your blog is laid out. Some people stick with the classic “posts in one big column, everything else in a smaller one” approach. I take the “complete site” approach, and others do what they fancy.
I’m not too sure how much they affect web navigation in general. I feel I’ve done my bit to make navigating around as easy as possible. It really all depends on the owner…
October 17th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
I know from experience that a lot of people find blog navigation difficult, there is an album blog I run for Live Drive called Critical Junctions that generates a certain amount of listener traffic but while listeners will comment on the album choices by text or on the shows forum, they don’t seem keen to comment on the actual blog. Meanwhile they use the forum to request albums we have already done as the blog format doesn’t allow them see that it’s already been done, if that makes sense? Anyway, it could be the way I am laying things out. That said, a friend commented recently that I never update my personal blog and it turned out she had bookmarked a post instead of the actual blog and didn’t know you could navigate out of it. As for RSS, very few of my non geek peers even know what it is really…..
October 17th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
I haven’t noticed myself ever using tags or categories really but I do use blogrolls all the time. :-)
I’ve found lots of interesting blogs that way.
October 18th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
@theChrisD How do you feel about other bloggers though? Do you think they put any thought into their own navigational structure?
@Sarah You’ve made some interesting points. It’s weird the way people read and don’t comment. I sometimes feel like people don’t realise they CAN, trying to engage with the reader through the blog post itself can help. Hey, I’ve taken a look at the site http://www.criticaljunctions.com/ and I think you could try adding widgets to the sidebar, as a start, especially a search option or a tag cloud. Have you ever considered changing the blog theme that you’re using? Don’t be afraid to experiment with your blog design because if you’re not happy you can always revert back to the default.
@aquaasho How would you describe the way you navigate around a blog?
October 19th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
Sinead! I can’t believe you created an entire topic out of my blunder! I can’t believe ‘bork’ is even a real term. I thought you were joking when you said I had ‘borked it all up’.But interestingly enough, you’ve identified the usability issue. I’ll admit, I can navigate the internet with no problems but when it came blogging( and I have not blogged since I was 19 on Livejournal) I was a little out of practise.
Thanks for your help and the tutorial.
Stace x x
October 20th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Again, I think it all depends on the person. If they’ve simply created their blog for the occasional mouth-off and rant, then they probably don’t care about the layout, just the fact that they can rant off.
Whereas others who put an emphasis on blogging will usually make an effort to make their site accessible and make it easy to find what you’re looking for.
October 20th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
@Stacey I hope you don’t mind me mentioning it here. You’ve totally mastered it now, really enjoying your blog. Those livejournal days feel like a million years ago!
@TheChrisD I do agree that it does of course depend on the person. What I dislike, however, is how websites are being created using blogging software and completely leave out standard web navigation meaning that good content gets buried or placed in obscure categories or tags (which works well for personal blogs but not so much for professional websites).
October 25th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Confession time. I NEVER use tags or categories when I’m reading someone else’s blog. Ever. If I find a new one I might read back a few months but probably no further… I always presume my posts from longer than a few weeks ago are as dead as if they had never been written…
True story.
October 25th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
I’m just glad to have found out what the word “bork” means. I’m sure it’ll come in handy sometime. I’ve very simple when it comes to my reading tastes as many of your commenters seem to be. I just read things I like as I see them.
October 27th, 2008 at 12:35 am
I’ll be using Bork as much as possible tomorrow. I can’t believe I’d never heard it before!
I’m with Rick on this… unless I’m looking for something from memory, I don’t click categories much either :( A blog is only as good as it’s latest post, unless you have a list of your best stuff in the sidebar.
Great post!
October 27th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
I never use categories or tags when searching a blog unless it’s a blog I am familiar with and I am looking for a specific post. Otherwise I tend to simply read some of the latest posts unless I fins a particularly inspiring blog and I have been known to read from the very birth of the blog.
I did have to google “bork”.
October 29th, 2008 at 1:18 am
I’m still pretty new to blogging, I feel I’ve passed the old lady ‘what is the interweb’ phase. But I must admit I’m a little lost when it gets a lot more technical. I stumble accidentally across blogs, and don’t really know how to advertise mine better. Which is pretty essentail to me as it is a business blog.I find most are pretty easy to use as a reader, I just need to be little braver with my own.
By the way this is Ruth from school, I found you randomly link from someone else’s blog.
October 29th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
@Ruth Long time no see :) Great to hear from you. Can I offer some advice about promoting your blog… The best way of promoting yourself online is to take an active interest as a reader first, leaving worthwhile comments on blogs of a similar nature to your own. There’s so so many irish craft blogs, it would be really worthwhile for you to go to http://awards.ie/blogawards/ and take a look at the list of Best Crafts Blog nominees :) also get yourself listed on http://www.irishblogs.ie
Feel free to contact me via email if you want any help with your blog. That offer is open to anyone else reading this too.