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:
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.
A lot of bloggers live for the comments left by readers on their posts. While not all bloggers may not feel this way, it cannot be denied that comments can make a blogger’s day – positive comments, at least. However, there are always two sides to a coin, and if you get positive comments, you are sure to get negative ones as well. What do you do when you see these negative comments? How do you deal with them?
Before we take a look at the answers, let us make one thing clear: it is one thing for people to leave comments expressing their disagreement with what you said; it is another thing for people to leave negative comments which are not at all constructive. Needless to say, it is the second kind that we are talking about in this post.
So, what do you do when you see those kinds of comments in your blog? You have two simple choices: to reply or to ignore.
Reply.
If you do decide to reply, you can do so via the comments section or via private message or e-mail. Whichever mode you choose, it is important to bear in mind that you should never rise to the bait. Oftentimes, people who leave “destructive” comments are merely trying to get your goat anyway. Nothing will come out of replying in a similar fashion. The best thing you can do is to reply in a civil, even friendly, manner. You might be surprised at how a little kindness can go a long way! Here’s a nice guest post over at Problogger to help you more with this tactic.
Ignore.
Alternatively, you can choose to simply ignore the comment. Even better, if the comment is really bad and not constructive in the least bit, hit that delete button! You do not want your other readers to feel put off because of someone who feels like trolling your blog, do you?
Time for your input – what do you do when you get these kinds of comments?
Photo via yoshiffles
Tumblr is no longer just the home of reblogged pictures, quotes, music, videos, and journal entries of friends you follow; it’s also gaining favor with the more discerning content creators in the design and technology circles, turning it into a truly professional publishing platform. This phenomenon is thanks to its relatively easy customization while keeping its interface decidedly simple.
My question is, if Tumblr’s audience is becoming more mature, should it shift from its dead-simple appeal and grow up too? David Yeiser prefers its current approach:
What’s neat about Tumblr is it’s not only a great publishing platform but a great tool for content consumption. [...] as self-publishing has changed to shorter forms and varied media the traditional feed reader has become obsolete. I shouldn’t have to click a title of a post to read a quote. [...] I think the way Tumblr aggregates and displays blog posts is the future of feed readers. Though I’m not aware of any standalone readers that take this approach.
Personally, I disagree. I follow a lot of people (and non-people) on Tumblr, producing remarkably varied content genres (e.g. XKCD Explained, 53 Weeks of UX, Sweet Home Style) with no way of filtering which ones I’d like to view at a time. Infinite scrolling in the dashboard can only take you so far in browsing ease.
Unwieldy content consumption is a familiar problem experienced on Twitter and Facebook, and by people who want more options, more control. Except there are now methods of dealing them on those sites. It’s even a big business for third party companies. On Tumblr, that remains to be seen.
Dashboard filtering options would be a welcome addition to the site. The reason is that “following” is a one-size-fits-all option when the truth is we need many.
And there lies the rub with a hosted platform, as well as platform that caters to simplicity first and foremost. Notice that as the concept of feed reading, trackbacking, and commenting are abstracted, if not replaced with Tumblr’s own conventions of dashboard reading, reblogging, liking, answering, one is forced to adhere to a closed set of standards inside its community. For a community that’s got such a wealth of content, consuming and sharing and communicating through that content but with limiting, non-standard methods is a turn off. If I link to a Tumblr post from a non-Tumblr site, will the owner of that tumblelog even know that I did?
Again, all of this wouldn’t be so bad if there were more options available, even as premium features. Right now, there aren’t.
What should Tumblr do? Should it go the WordPress.org and Identi.ca route and provide an open, self-hosted platform? Should it take some notes from the old-but-still-strong LiveJournal? (In some ways their user bases are the same.) Should it push its API more aggressively? Should we just wait and see what they’re up to, or accept that it’s really just a different culture from what we’re accustomed to?
As someone who’s enjoyed a lot of great content on Tumblr and is tempted to migrate her personal blog over there, there are a glaring number of things holding me back.
Dribbble is just one approach to the feedback web app “genre”; I’ve noticed that they’re making it easier than ever to receive and leave feedback on designs, as you’ll discover when you go down this list:
Usabilla
Usabilla has the most features out of the lot, letting you test both images and live websites with click markers, notes, and heatmaps. There’s a free plan but you’ll enjoy more test participants and pages with the premium plans.
ConceptFeedback
ConceptFeedback anchors on a thriving community and and offers special perks for both individual designers and businesses, including compensation for giving feedback. Not only can you get reviews for your current work and inspiration for your next one, your profile, design, or product can get featured to earn better exposure and business—but you need to jump in with both feet and register.
fivesecondtest
As the name implies, fivesecondtest focuses on first impressions as a test-takers look at designs for no more than five seconds and answer custom questions from test-makers. This means judgments can be rash, but the barrier to entry is very encouraging. For extra good measure, the app runs on a karma system where the more tests you do, the more test results you can make.
FineTuna
The Flash-based FineTuna creates a link for every image you upload, which you can send to specific people for feedback. That link is a space where one can insert notes and doodle on the image. You won’t have a community of users at your disposal, but you have complete control and privacy over the feedback process. It’s also available as a Firefox add-on.
CritiqueTheSite
CritiqueTheSite uses hackable URLs, iframes, and JS-Kit’s Echo to let visitors leave comments on a currently loaded site. Append a URL of any website (like Aviary Screen Capture does) after the slash and it loads that site, ready for critique. Public, no-registration-necessary feedback makes the service prone to abuse, but it also means it has a low barrier to entry.
No clear winner here!
If you want a more detailed level of testing, Usabilla is the way to go; if you need something lighter and more accessible, the likes of CritiqueTheSite, FineTuna, and fivesecondtest may be better for you. If you’re all about building your reputation and relationships as an added bonus, pick ConceptFeedback. Or why not use all of them? Using all these tools for online critiquing lets you reap the unique benefits for each.
Take an ordinary blog post, highlight a passage you want to comment on, and have it appear on the comment form without having to scroll all the way down. Or mouseover a comment, then show replies to it as well as all other comments made by that person. That’s all in the spirit of Encouraged Commentary, which is a jQuery-powered script by Jim Jeffers.
Now this, I would say, is what JavaScript was meant to do. Not that fading, zooming, and sliding around are pointless applications of JavaScript. Impressing people is a lot less important compared to making them feel welcome, and that they’re a part of something. In this case, taking part is by quoting text or keeping track of conversations more easily.
Of course, what Jim did may seem more subtle an achievement than what designers and developers try to come up with, or what the ordinary blog visitor would appreciate.
But it’s one more contribution to that great experience. I’ve talked about Issuu last time, so this counts as number two. To that “wow, I had a pleasant time commenting on your blog today, Jim, you’ve made it so easy!” kind of feeling.
I hope that I encounter more examples of this—not just in commentary, but for every other aspect of a website.
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