Wisdump

Dumping wisdom on design and the web

Don’t Make Commenting Difficult

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Websites are built almost solely on its communities. In the case of blogs, the communities hang out in the comments section. That’s where all the socialization and exchange of ideas take place. But writing a thoughtful comment alone is difficult enough. Don’t make it any harder for your readers.

This is one of the most horrifying comment areas out there:

techwithoutwires.com comment section

Now that’s a long scroll. This isn’t from a product landing page or a shopping site with pages upon pages of “special” offers. This is a blog, for crying out loud!

Let’s assume for a second that only the top box (which is the actual comment form) exists and focus on that. It’s just too busy! My eyes were all over the place with the sprawling combination of boxes and text.

I know it takes effort to align form elements. (Or not, since this particular site uses tables to do that.) But it would be much easier on the eye if all the input fields appeared in a linear fashion, one after the other, to minimize the confusion.

Linear is not always necessary, but always keep forms as simple as possible, if you can help it. Take a cue from Smileycat’s comment form design showcase and note how functional and uncluttered those forms are.

Okay, so you get through the ordeal of leaving a comment, but this blog says you’re not done yet! It continues to nag you with the “Blog this at your site” and the “Tell a friend” sections. It doesn’t help that the lack of comments subconsciously discourages the reader from actually commenting. Even if there are any comments, those two extra panels have already separated the reader from the “leave a comment zone” since the comment box is now too far away.

The Share This button is certainly more desirable, both in form and function, than these bulky boxes. If you don’t think a button will cut it, what about collapsible panels with JavaScript?

Since the comment form above belongs to a blog in a blog network, many more readers will be turned off and confused by this comment form on several different blogs. It’s not too difficult to elminate this usability problem: Don’t complicate the process. Don’t ask too many questions. Don’t look desperate. Just let them comment.

Siliconera: Blog Network Theme Done Right

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You might remember that I bashed b5media for their general themes, and the lack of blog profiling in them, quite some time ago? If you don’t, then read up!

Anyway, they manage to lay their hands on the excellent videogame blog Siliconera, which wasn’t in the b5media template of course. It is now.

Luckily, this theme update to the gaming blog is well done, and a great example of having a general template adapted to the blog in question. Sure, there are things that could do with some polish, but I think it does Siliconera justice. [Read more…]

Multiple Blogs, Thoughts on the Technical Aspects

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Multiple choicesSo you’ve decided to run multiple blogs after all. Good for you, as long as you’re contributing (or making a truckload of cash) then it’s fine. Or why not just hire someone to blog for you, that always works, right?

Time to install 35 WordPress blogs! Even if that 5 minute install was all that was needed, it would be around 3 hours of work, and that’s not counting setting up your databases, uploading WordPress files, and so on. Then you’ve got your average plugins, API keys to paste into Akismet’s settings, activating the right theme, fixing the permalinks…

[Read more…]

Multiple Blogs or Power Houses?

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Multiple vs PowerI’ve been thinking a lot on whether it’s a good idea as a publisher to focus on several smaller blogs, or try to build a real power house. In my opinion, it’s not an obvious choice for someone that wants in the new media publishing sphere.

On one hand, having a bunch of smaller blogs means that you can cross-link and -promote to launch new projects, as well as drive traffic from one blog to neighboring niches. That’s a good thing, and what blog networks such as b5media does.

[Read more…]

Using sub-networks within a blog network

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A sub-networkBlog networks may not be all the rage as a term right now, but they seem to be alive and well, and even growing.

Networking is good. You should always push your products, services, and whatnot across your network of sites, blogs, forums etc. The idea is to try and catch that visitor who might be interested in your other work as well, and not just the site s/he’s on. While relevant networking usually works best, sometimes you’ll find that people have very broad ranges of interests, and a diehard chopper fanatic might be in to knitting as well. The beauty of the Internet helps this knitting biker to get his fix within a network, nifty and nice everybody involved.

However, while it is true that people might have interests beyond the niche, you’re still better of to push for neighbouring niches rather than random ones. Chances are, someone interested in PlayStation3 might also be interested in PlayStation Portable, or someone reading a blog on HDTV might want to read about Blu-Ray or HD-DVD. It’s the logical step.

So how should blog networks push their readers across their board?

I think that the Splashpress solution is a sound one, which probably doesn’t come as such a surprise since I’ve been involved in it. Establishing sub-networks within the big network makes for more branding. If you visit The Blog Herald or 901am, you’ll see that they both are included in the same network of mainly news-focused sites. Another sub-network includes podcasting site Audival, and blogosphere snarky commenter Jack of All Blogs – another sub-network with a slightly different focus. [Read more…]