September 01, 2004 | View Comments (16) | Category: Whitespace
Summary: Fall redesign begins with some questions.
It's the first day of September so for me that means it's the first day of Fall. Therefore, it's redesign time!!! Dammit Scrivs, chill with the redesigns. Sorry mate. Whitespace's one year anniversary is soon approaching so my baby needs a new facelift.
For the redesign I have two different concepts in mind and I won't make this a public redesign or anything, but I would like some feedback. The question I have is how many of you actually still “use” the homepage of blogs?
With RSS I can't recall going to too many blog homepages unless I am bored and just randomly surfing. Andrei's v.2 was cool for a homepage, but I don't think I would use it simply because I go directly to the entry. Bowman and his bleached look (soon to disappear) has a nice homepage structure that I would never use as well.
Heck, my homepage has been a non-default blog homepage since last year, but I don't know how useful it is to anyone. So what do you expect from a blog's homepage? Anything at all? Is mine useful?
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I remember I started reading Whitespace shortly after you redesigned with the entry excerpts laid-out as they are now. It was refreshing to visit a blog without being 'assaulted' by large amounts of text but at the same time I was a little confused as to how the site related to the community.
These days I click straight through Bloglines and into the archives since the homepage only holds a preview to the content. I think it would be the same for any regular reader of this site. Even the readers without aggregators most likely will have developed the habit of clicking on the newest entry title and jumping straight into the articles.
My suggestion would be to keep the content on the homepage similar to what it already is but maybe with some stronger branding or more emphasis on a mission statement.
Jack (http://boxofjack.com)
dude, you must have too much spare time on your hands, can you lend me some;)
i use an rss newsreader, but strangley still find myself visiting the homepage of the few blogs i read regulary, like this one
david arthur (http://www.justride.co.uk)
If you come to a site, as a first time visitor, usually the Homepage is the point of entrance. Even if you enter over a link to one of the subsites, you will have to go to the Homepage to get an overview of the sites content. But after you made your bookmarks on things you are interested in, or got the feeds for your blogreader, there is no need for further visits.
The entrance to your site serves the need, so it is useful.
Axel (http://www.meprojekt.dk)
I recommend that you keep your homepage as the central point to start. One might not need to sum up all pros and cons, but at least for me a central point to start from is very useful and orienting, too.
Besides that, keep in mind, that possibly not "all" of your readers use RSS to access the contents of your website.
HTH > christian
Christian Machmeier (http://www.redsplash.de/)
Scrivs,
Obviously you know your users and traffic better then anyone here, so obviously make use of that and see what kind of trends you see.
How often do people come to your homepage?
Do you see most of your traffic going straight to a particular post?
Keep in my web usability as you do this redesign (like I even have to mention that to you :) ). The homepage, even though its a blog, is exactly that. Its a place where one feels like they are starting "fresh". Its the "beginning of the site" and usually makes a user feel better about where they can go since it acts like the "starting point".
To be honest, Whitespace is your blog, so I don't quite see what steps you can take for the homepage that won't be "blog" like. Whitespace is different then 9 rules, businesslogs, the vault, etc... so it has an "ora" about it, if its a blog, shouldn't it act like a blog too?
When Design by Far did his "newspaper" type layout, it was interesting and obviously experimental and I give him props for that, but I completely hated it. It didn't fit the way one browses a webpage IMO.
If you redesign, just follow your stats and make good use of it. I mean, thats how one makes the best money on the internet with a site.
I don't want to say they "control" the movement of their users, but one that makes good money with their site knows how to direct their users and get them the information they are after.
That turns into repeat visitors.
But I don't have to tell you this, as you already know.
just my 2 cents but I look forward to whatever you can implement the best.
Bryan (http://www.juicedthoughts.com)
But that's the crunch Bryan; In my mind whitespace isn't just a weblog, it's a discussionpoint on subjects that Scrivs choses and other noteworthy events.
The blog on 9rules is much more of a typical blog and (kinda) acts like one. I feel that Whitespace does feel enough like a blog when it needs too - which isn't often actually.
I do infact use the homepage quite a lot. Sometimes, if I come in via a post that I've commented on, I'll go to the homepage to see What's New and What's Cool (in true netscape fashion).
That's pretty much what the homepage gives me at the moment and that's great. I do however have a few 'elements' I would change/scrap.
For instance, I find myself hardly using the monthly index of posts at all. Not just here, but on every weblog I've visited. Categories and the list of previous posts are much more helpfull, so you might want to extend the spotlight your giving to the previous 3 posts and have 4-6 posts in the (secondary) spotlight.
I have no idea if other people actually use the monthly index, but I'd scrap it to make room for a clearer and larger category list. What I also just though of would to include the last 2 posts of a category as a subitem for the category listing. This would give the user an easy and quick idea of what they can expect to find in the respective categories.
AkaXakA (http://akaxaka.gameover.com)
Well like I mentioned, the two ideas I have in mind have two completely different philosophies. One is the Design by Fire type approach (which was sketched out about 2 months ago) and the second is somthing that I have never seen done before, but makes perfect sense to me.
I think I will go with the second approach and fall flat on my face :-)
Scrivs (http://businesslogs.com)
I have to admit that I was thinking about the same general thing. Most regular readers never see the homepage; they come in through RSS directly to the permalinks of new entries.
That in mind, I think the real purpose of a blog's homepage has changed. Now that RSS is more and more prevalent as the method for keeping up-to-date, the blog homepage is probably better adapted as a way to ease new readers in.
Think about what a new reader is looking for and put it there. Show what you're all about, what you write about. Maybe a list of the categories you write in. Definitely a list of the past few recent posts (as the most recent post isn't always a definitive of typical content).
Chris Vincent (http://dris.dyndns.org:8080/)
You know, I never view the homepage of any of the blogs I read but simplebits and Mezzoblue, and it's really only for their extensive amount of links on there to find other information. Other than that, what's attracted me to blogs from their homepage was information about the blogger and brief cuts of posts. That's just my take:)
Brady (http://www.dotfive.com)
I rarley see your homepage, or any blog's homepage, due to RSS. That having been said, the homepage is still quite important. First-time visitors will almost certainly see it before they discover your RSS feed.
I think it's valuable to understand that most of your readers come from RSS and don't see your homepage and design accordingly. However, I don't think you can just "throw away" or "forget about" the homepage alltogether.
Jeff Croft (http://jeffcroft.com)
Well, I for one don't care to much for RSS-feeds..
Design is pretty important to me, although I don't like all this fancy-schmancy shit, like 2advanced is full of.
Your site is extremely reader-friendly, without too many contrasts and unneeded accessories. I like that.
I do have a RSS-feed over at my site, but I haven't even made it official, because I know that most of my readers are people that I know, and they rather use a browser than a silly RSS-reader.
If you descide to redesign, keep a smooth and simple style, like this one.
1976design/blog and whitespace is definitely my two favourite sites when it comes to readability.
Keep up the good work, Scrivs!
Henrik Lied (http://misinterpreted.net/)
Like you say it on the post > "Dammit Scrivs, chill with the redesigns."
You have created the whitespace brand with this minimalist designs, that make the user read the important, the content.
I think that you minimal designs are just user centric so, if you wont change your filisophy, its ok that you redesign just for the fun.
Jose Silva (http://josesilva.portaltm.com)
Oh it will still be minimalistic, no worries about that. It just needs to be refined even more.
Scrivs (http://businesslogs.com)
I don't use an rss feeder. I have a list of bookmarks I churn through.
As much as I like the content, I also like seeing the article embedded in a pretty design when I read. If I wanted a newspaper, I'd go buy one.
Jason Berry
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#1
Any of your ideas will be fine!
GaBuBu (http://www.nv30.com)