How do you feel about blog navigation and design?
October 20th, 2008 Posted in Internet
This is a follow-up to my previous post regarding how easy or how hard it might be for internet users to navigate standard blog designs.
To help answer the question I’ve created a short 5 question survey, which I’d be delighted if you would fill out. I’ll keep it open for a week and post the results here and provided some commentary. If you have anything you’d like to add on the topic of blog navigation and design, please add your comments here.
October 20th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Just done,
There is one tiny problem with blog navigation… if you use/abuse RSS readers, you’ll never see the blog design.
October 20th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Thanks Will!
You know, sometimes I get pretty bored looking at Google Reader and go direct to the source if there have been lots of updates. Find all that scrolling is bad for the eyes, heh. I’m pretty sure there is a desktop RSS Readers that keep the blog design, but the name escapes me.
October 20th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Just completed your survey. In Netvibes you can toggle between website view and RSS view. Handy for when some people decide to use partial RSS feeds or if a video doesn’t present itself properly…or if you want to comment :)
October 21st, 2008 at 3:12 am
Hi Sinéad, great post, am in the middle of writing a response on my blog… watch this space for trackback :)
October 21st, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Sinéad, I filled it out too though to be honest I’d wonder about the value of my opinion as I’m a fellow blogger and familiar with all the conventions and patterns for blog navigation.
There was a major internet use survey a couple of years back which said that X% of people didn’t read blogs. But it also claimed that Y% didn’t know what blogs were. It struck me at the time that if people didn’t know what blogs were, how would they know that the sites they were visiting weren’t necessarily blogs?
I think people are in different places in terms of how they use sites, blogs or other kinds, and usability itself is evolving as people’s habits grow.
For now though, as publishing is so easy, I don’t think most non-tech or non-commercial bloggers give much thought to how their site is navigated by others.
October 21st, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Just submitted there Sinéad. I think your last question about the content being well designed is the key for me. If it is easy to read and easy to search and find what I’m looking for, then generally I’m happy. I’m looking forward to your findings.
October 21st, 2008 at 4:34 pm
I like your blog and enjoyed your survey. A nagging question for me is font size and overall post structure……how do you keep a viewer reading until the end? Content is important, but what layout techniques do you recommend?
F
October 21st, 2008 at 8:40 pm
@frankp Looking forward to the read.
@eolaí Getting the opinion of experienced users is just as important though. I’m disappointed there hasn’t been a study into blog vs weblog navigation, across user-types (experienced, non-experienced). It’s potentially interesting.
@Darragh I feel the same because I can rely so heavily on rss feeds. If content is well structured, with keywords highlighted or with headings I find it much easier to digest. When a post is broken up with relevant (which is the keyword here) images, I find that… pleasing too. Sometimes there might not BE a relevant image, but they’re thrown in anyway. Always leaves me wondering… why?
@Frank I would suggest that when composing a blog post not to increase or decrease the default text size unless it’s for a heading/sub-heading. I think the big mistake that is made (and I’m sure I’ve done it myself) is including nondescript links within a blog post (using HERE, or THIS etc.,) as the text for a link. Meaning the user doesn’t know where these links will take them. Breaking a long blog post into headings/sub-headings is a great way to keep the user reading though.
October 21st, 2008 at 8:48 pm
Done missus.
Look forward to reading your bloggy blog.
Since Im new to it all, It’s difficult for me to grasp blog stuff. Getting there tho.
x
October 22nd, 2008 at 7:45 pm
You’re doing brilliantly. Just so you know, although I don’t get the chance to comment often, I do read it :)