Weblog Usability!

Weblog Usability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes

Of all the things I never expected to see, a list of guidelines for weblog usability is probably amongst the top 10. In fact, I'd have to have imagined someone putting it together to have it in that list!
Now for the science bit (it's like a cosmetics advert!):

Links Don't Say Where They Go -- There is nothing on this earth that annoys me more than reading a website and encountering links which say click here. I know I've done it in the past and it's a disgusting and bad habit which I'm going to try and break myself of. A hyperlink should be self-describing and you should have a fairly good idea of where it's going to take you. Unfortunately, this has its downsides. People (not necessarily stupid people, just people that don't know any better) trust what the hyperlink says. So a link which goes to www.a-really-bad-site-which-steals-your-online-banking-password.co.uk but actually says Click here to log onto LlloydsTSB Internet Banking. But that's a completley different kettle of fish.

The Calendar is the only Navigation -- Arrrrgh, a calendar is by far the worst way to navigate a weblog. Notice the layout to the left, the default MT calendar has been disabled. There is no value in a month-to-view calendar in a weblog that I can determine. I could well be (Read: probably am) wrong about that, but it's my opinion. Also note the "Categories" listing is above the listing of months. Which is above the listing of recent postings. That's my opinion as to the usefulness of the different methods of sorting entries that MT provides.

Irregular Publishing Frequency -- Admittedly this is something I'm guilty of, but it doesn't preclude me from being annoyed with others who do the same! There are some really interesting blogs that I read which are only posted to sporadically and they leave me salivating for more everytime a posting does turn up. Thanks to having discovered RSS I don't have to check to see if someone has posted anymore. Maybe RSS will make this one less of a problem... It won't make it any less frustrating for readers waiting for new entries, but it'll make it more likely that sporadic bloggers will retain their readership.

Having a Domain Name Owned by a Weblog Service -- Are Livejournal/blogger/typepad turning into the next "virtual social-pariah" like aol/geocities? I hope not! Besides, the wholw aol/geocities stigma thing only really applies to "net geeks" no one else really gives a toss. I don't. One exception is business use. XYZCoSales@aol.com sounds un-professional whereas sales@TheXYZCompany.co.uk dosen't. Again maybe that' just because I've been using the 'net for years...