February 02, 2005 | View Comments (11) | Category: Information Architecture
Summary: How just by focusing on all the elements of a comment we can take readability and usefulness one step further.
I have hit on the topic of blog design more times than I would like to admit. A plethora of debates/discussions have occurred concerning what makes a good blog design. In the end I believe most of us agree (at least that is my naive assumption) that the blog model (2 column) just fits.
However, after looking at a couple of examples I am amazed to see what a little detailed thinking can do to change the perspective and usefulness of a blog. This is especially true for comment design where I have discussed my displeasure. The two examples that jump out in my mind for quality comment design are Subtraction and Memo (Weightshift) and I will explain why further down.
Here are the elements of a comment in my opinion:
Dunstan's comment paradigm takes comments a step further by adding an "inspired by" option which gives the comments a 'threaded' type of vibe. I assume the reasoning behind this is because the comment format on blogs gives us a linear representation of the discussion when in fact they never follow this route.
Looking at the list you have to decide which information is needed and discard the other items. In my opinion Comment Number for the entire blog and the Comment Time are not needed. I am undecided as to whether the Comment Date is valuable because there are only certain circumstances where I can think of them being useful and that is when someone decides to post a comment a couple weeks/months later. Also, the Commentor Email is never shown, but is still needed for administrative purposes.
So that leaves us with:
That gives us 6 elements that can be shown. If you put the Comment Permalink in with the Comment Number that knocks it down to 5 elements that the reader has to focus on. In a lot of cases people tend to put the Commentor URL and Commentor Name together and therefore reducing the comment elements to 4. I however, like the setup with the url to the side because it reduces the need to hover/click the link.
When it comes to deciding which order the elements of a page should flow many times I have found that it is left to the discrepancy of the designer to decide. Sure for complex pages quality testing can go a long way, but for a comment with 5 visible elements is testing really needed? I hope not.
When it comes to comments there seems to exist two schools of thought. In one instance you have the Comment Text coming first and in the second case you have the Comment Text coming second after the Commentor Name, Commentor Url, and Commentor Number. It seems to be a coin toss as to which side you go on. However, Khoi takes it a step further and gives both schools of thought equal weight.
On his site, if you are the type who only reads the comments written by people you know and respect then you can scan through the list on the left and pick and choose without having to worry about the comments themselves. If you like to read every comment without regard as to who left it you are also given that option. I love this approach simply because it allows for easier scanning and a less cluttered interface (in my opinion) and I will implement it on the next redesign here and next new site launch (*cough*Monday*cough*).
Information Design (to me) is the focus of the minor details in a project. There is so much metadata that can be used on blogs, forums, ecommerce sites, etc. that get overlooked, but if used could go a long way in helping the customer. Designers (I fall into this trap every single time) at times get too caught up in the big picture (how good the whole design looks) and lose focus of the details. If we put a little more time and energy into focusing on the "minor" elements then we can begin to stretch the limits of design.
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Gotta say that I am a fan of Khoi's comments myself; enough that I'm using that layout in my redesign.
I'm also partial to a touch that I added on 54-11, wherebye a users comment has a little hi-lite, allowing them to pick out their comment when they revisit the site.
Oh, and don't launch on Monday, I hear there's a big new site due out that day ;-)
Mike P. (http://www.fiftyfoureleven.com/)
Man, I might have to change the comments format around this week. I don't even like reading my own stuff now. lol
Scrivs (http://9rules.com/)
I spent a lot of time on this thought when I created the comment form for YTS. I admit it was a very personal decision, but I realized that all I ever cared about was the comment, commenter, and their URL if they had one.
The only thing I've neglected is the ability to link directly to a specific comment. Nonetheless, I'm glad to know I'm not the only person who spends serious time thinking about such details.
Garrett (http://www.yourtotalsite.com)
Scrivs, just curious, why don't you think the time's important?
I'm also by chance busy redesigning my comments, and I think it can sometimes be interesting to look at the time gaps inbetween specific comments, especially if it's back-and-forth inbetween two opposing arguments...
Then again, that depends on whether debating's your thing :-)
Martin (http://www.d2.co.za)
Martin, for me all comments are linear and in time-delimited fashion and therefore the time is not important.
Only case I can see time being important is when comments are happening seconds/minutes from each other and you would like to see if someone meant to say something before someone else. Even then I guess it doesn't make much sense because the time shown still reflects the time the comment was posted.
To me it makes more sense to have a date header for all the comments on a certain date then you can disregard putting the date on all the comments.
Scrivs (http://9rules.com/)
OK, I hear what you're saying... Date/time does also tend to clutter, detracting from smooth reading - oh, like on this comment preview page. LOL.
Martin (http://www.d2.co.za)
I think the success in Khoi's design relies heavily on a solid modular grid. I admire his approach on the recent Subtraction site as he's taken Information Design to an extreme (especially for the web), he's stripped away all needless eye candy and focussed solely on communicating the content in the best way possible using typography and grids.
With comments lists we do have to consider what is important to the user - my guess is the name of the person and the content. That's it. As you say, comments are by their nature time-based so the time isn't really necessary.
Mark (http://www.markboulton.co.uk)
You've inspired me to think about these elements in my own designs. Since I've got a new redesign scheduled for May (hopefully) and a whole bunch of other projects, I'm going to give Information Architecture, "Information Design", and Usability greater focus. Especially since I have a few books on the topic sitting on my couch to be read :)
Your assertion is correct. Any site that stands apart from the rest, even if the designs are similar, usually has innovations in the smallest places. Take Ryan Sims' comment preview for instance. While we may have to stick to certain designs (especially while IE sucks with PNG graphics), we can still innovate in places where it really matters — the small, but important, details.
Good article Scrivs!
Joe Clay (http://www.gra-phix.com/)
As a reader (and blog author), I like to know comment times. One format I've seen that I really like is a relative time such as "34 minutes after the fact."
Nicole (http://nicoleswan.com)
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#1
I agree with you Mr. Scrivens, I really like the way that Khoi structures his comments.
With the comment details laid out vertically, I will often get confused as to who wrote what. The horizontal structure allows for easy scanning and association of the comment details to the comment text.
Jeff Adams (http://www.tinyfly.com)