Yesterday I questioned the validity of the weblog design styles that Jakob Nielsen describes as best practices for usability.
I was thinking last night, right before I drifted off to sleep, that the main problem of Usability in the Blogosphere is the lack of unnderstanding that so much of corporate marketing is about the packaging. What makes weblogs refreshing is their man on the street approach to life.
This is important for companies to understand, because we've reached a point in our culture where the "man on the street" is more believable than anything you read on a corporate website. Slick packaging, killer graphics, and buttons going in the right place may enable readers to quickly surf a site - but slick sites make me put my guard up. I don't want a slick site - I want a site where I'm involved in a conversation, and the people I'm writing too are trying to hear that conversation and contribute.
This community mentality is exactly what Nielsen doesn't get - and in general, the "design mentality" isn't ready for. Nielsen has defined weblogs as websites. If you start from that premise, you're bound to get it wrong from the get-go.
Today we tackle his points 4-10.
4. Links Don't Say Where They Go
Many weblog authors seem to think it's cool to write link anchors like: "some people think" or "there's more here and here." Remember one of the basics of the Web: Life is too short to click on an unknown. Tell people where they're going and what they'll find at the other end of the link.Generally, you should provide predictive information in either the anchor text itself or the immediately surrounding words. You can also use link titles for supplementary information that doesn't fit with your content. (To see a link title in action, mouse over the "link titles" link.)
A related mistake in this category is to use insider shorthand, such as using first names when you reference other writers or weblogs. Unless you're writing only for your friends, don't alienate new visitors by appearing to be part of a closed clique. The Web is not high school.
This attitude is one of the issues I have with Nielsen. The Web is not high school? Don't be one of the cool kids? He needs to get involved out there more if he thinks that the Web is some pristine portal of pure thought. Cliques get a nasty name - but collaboration and communities do create an "grou pidentity" that resembles the real world.
Online writing is not the same as writing for a column or for a website. There are rules to learning it, and there are rules for reading it. Learning to click here may not fit pure usability standards, but it sure makes it easy to click HERE.
Trying to read source materials without interrupting the flow of the author is hard enough. Adding vague references is a way to get you readers to click on source material. This is only possible if you already have a built-up readership that trusts your judgement, but taking the time to label every link is one of those top-heavy, do this because it's in the style guide type of commands that frankly turns more people off than it helps.
5. Classic Hits are Buried
Hopefully, you'll write some pieces with lasting value for readers outside your fan base. Don't relegate such classics to the archives, where people can only find something if they know you posted it, say, in May 2003.Highlight a few evergreens in your navigation system and link directly to them. For example, my own list of almost 300 Alertbox columns starts by saying, "Read these first: Usability 101 and Top Ten Mistakes of Web Design."
Also, remember to link to your past pieces in newer postings. Don't assume that readers have been with you from the beginning; give them background and context in case they want to read more about your ideas.
This is great advice. I would add only that you refresh your best of links regularly. You can expect that some of the stuff you are very proud of readss much differently once you have some experience under your belt. Wait until you send a link that has a dozen typos to someone, and you'll know what I'm talking about. Worse yet, wait until you go back and realize just how poor a writer you were when you started. If you don't find this, you haven't been blogging enough.
6. The Calendar is the Only Navigation
A timeline is rarely the best information architecture, yet it's the default way to navigate weblogs. Most weblog software provides a way to categorize postings so users can easily get a list of all postings on a certain topic. Do use categorization, but avoid the common mistake of tagging a posting with almost all of your categories. Be selective. Decide on a few places where a posting most belongs.Categories must be sufficiently detailed to lead users to a thoroughly winnowed list of postings. At the same time, they shouldn't be so detailed that users face a category menu that's overly long and difficult to scan. Ten to twenty categories are appropriate for structuring many topics.
On the main page for each category, highlight that category's evergreens as well as a time line of its most recent postings.
Two for two. Another excellent point -and one that is frustrating. Bloggers really should go back through their archives regularly to see what they posted. Categories are a great addition. Learning to add categories in the beginning, to give yourself a good architecture, makes searching for that important post all the easier.
7. Irregular Publishing Frequency
Establishing and meeting user expectations is one of the fundamental principles of Web usability. For a weblog, users must be able to anticipate when and how often updates will occur.For most weblogs, daily updates are probably best, but weekly or even monthly updates might work as well, depending on your topic. In either case, pick a publication schedule and stick to it. If you usually post daily but sometimes let months go by without new content, you'll lose many of your loyal -- and thus most valuable -- readers.
Certainly, you shouldn't post when you have nothing to say. Polluting cyberspace with excess information is a sin. To ensure regular publishing, hold back some ideas and post them when you hit a dry spell.
My only quibble with this is the idea that blogging is a job, and not a joy. There is no faster way to burnout than posting on a schedule you can't keep.
8. Mixing Topics
If you publish on many different topics, you're less likely to attract a loyal audience of high-value users. Busy people might visit a blog to read an entry about a topic that interests them. They're unlikely to return, however, if their target topic appears only sporadically among a massive range of postings on other topics. The only people who read everything are those with too much time on their hands (a low-value demographic).The more focused your content, the more focused your readers. That, again, makes you more influential within your niche. Specialized sites rule the Web, so aim tightly.
If you have the urge to speak out on, say, both American foreign policy and the business strategy of Internet telephony, establish two blogs. You can always interlink them when appropriate.
I'm torn here, and I think it's terrible advice. The problem Nielsen doesn't plan for is lack of material. By all means, focusing on one topic is a great way to drive traffic. If people know what they are getting, they will come to you as an expert with time, material, and following good blogging guidelines. At the same time, if the blog truly an expression of you, then why would you write two blogs? Readers have other sites to go to read the specifics. They go to blogs for the human touch. Splitting your readership and your focus is another road to burnout, and it doesn't work if you're not terribly discplined, or if you're not doing this for money and have more time than the rest of us.
I know because I did this. Several times. I do it now - and the timing to run three blogs runs me ragged. You can always categorize - but Nielsen is mistaking a blog for a wiki here.
9. Forgetting That You Write for Your Future Boss
Whenever you post anything to the Internet -- whether on a weblog, in a discussion group, or even in an email -- think about how it will look to a hiring manager in ten years. Once stuff's out, it's archived, cached, and indexed in many services that you might never be aware of.Years from now, someone might consider hiring you for a plum job and take the precaution of 'nooping you first. (Just taking a stab at what's next after Google. Rest assured: there will be some super-snooper service that'll dredge up anything about you that's ever been bitified.) What will they find in terms of naïvely puerile "analysis" or offendingly nasty flames published under your name?
Think twice before posting. If you don't want your future boss to read it, don't post.
This is good advice. No one follows it, because writing online is like driving in your car. You think no one can see when you pick you nose, sing a song, or talk to yourself.
If you've done a really good job of posting your picture, identifying the About Us, and writing tightly organized web entries - chances are that your identity online is out forever.
Searches like these are inevitable. If you're worried about it - you ought to be making sure that you're not online at all. Maybe another reason for anonymity?
10. Having a Domain Name Owned by a Weblog Service
Having a weblog address ending in blogspot.com, typepad.com, etc. will soon be the equivalent of having an @aol.com email address or a Geocities website: the mark of a naïve beginner who shouldn't be taken too seriously.Letting somebody else own your name means that they own your destiny on the Internet. They can degrade the service quality as much as they want. They can increase the price as much as they want. They can add atop your content as many pop-ups, blinking banners, or other user-repelling advertising techniques as they want. They can promote your competitor's offers on your pages. Yes, you can walk, but at the cost of your loyal readers, links you've attracted from other sites, and your search engine ranking.
The longer you stay at someone else's domain name, the higher the cost of going independent. Yes, it's tempting to start a new weblog on one of the services that offer free accounts. It's easy, it's quick, and it's obviously cheap. But it only costs $8 per year to get your personal domain name and own your own future. As soon as you realize you're serious about blogging, move it away from a domain name that's controlled by somebody else. The longer you delay, the more pain you'll feel when you finally make the move.
Fair enough. I wonder if the advice might not be more helpful explaining how to pick names and what to call yourself? I'm not sure how this advice applies to usability - but it's a sign of blogger maturity to own your own domain name. {cough}stlrecruiting.com{cough}.
So there you go. Nielsen isn't an idiot. Much of his writing does make sense. If you're searching to have the exact same blog as every other "expert" on the net trying to make it big - go ahead and follow his advice.
Or you could just let yourself run free - trying new things - starting and stopping, and allowing yourself the freedom to explore, to learn, to fail, to fall down, and ultimately, to find your niche in the World Wide Blog.
Here's the story. You are not unique. You are not a delicate, precious snowflake. Your success on the web can't be bought with slick graphics and usability guidelines. Your success on the web will mirror your success in life. It's not what you know, it's who you know. It's not who you link, it's who links to you. Bloggers who want to really excel in their niche, will build a community around that niche. Time spent on your weblog is like time spent on your resume. You're better off going out THERE, then spending time navelgazing on whether or not you've picked the right category.
The essence of the web is exporing. If Nielsen wants to make a real impact with blogs - he ought to think about community - not design.
