Jakob Only Has Two Weblog Mistakes Right
I read through Jakob Nielsen’s Weblog Usability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes. As someone with a couple of weblogs, I only agree with two of his “mistakes”. The rest of them have valid, strategic uses.
- No Author Biographies
Sure, a general “I like puppies and long walks on the beach, I dislike mean people” is useful. We’ve got that here at MNteractive, just click on one of the authors’ names. In the end though, the archive of posts provides a much more accurate picture of the author. - No Author Photo
Speaking of pictures of the author. Um, two things; first - only real estate agents have their photo on their business cards, second - “face for radio”. Sometimes it’s better not to have a photo. With a photo, you always run the risk of having the wrong photo, without a photo - you don’t. - Nondescript Posting Titles
Yes, I agree with this one. Same as email, give me an idea of what I’m getting into. Secondly, search engines read post titles - put some keywords in your post title. - Links Don’t Say Where They Go
I disagree with this one, for the same reason I agree with the the previous point. Linking to sites using specific words is a vote in the eyes of Google - there are times when you want to talk about something without boosting their Google Juice. - Classic Hits are Buried
As much as this might be helpful in the hands of the author - I’m happy to outsource this to the rest of the world (i.e. other bloggers) and Google. The rest of the world knows better where the gems are. - The Calendar is the Only Navigation
Agreed. Actually, I don’t understand the value of posting a month-view calendar on a weblog. All it shows is whether or not I’ve posted on a specific day - without any additional information (how many posts, what topics, any good?) the calendar is useless. - Irregular Publishing Frequency
This is what RSS is for. Publish when you have something to say. Not before. Weblogs don’t have a press time to meet. If you need a schedule to publish regularly, great, make one. There’s nothing inherent about this medium that dictates one. - Mixing Topics
As someone with 5 different weblogs (not counting flickr & 43things) I strongly disagree. Don’t use your pre-existing format as a reason not to say something you think readers will find interesting. Besides, what if my topic is mixing topics? - Forgetting That You Write for Your Future Boss
If there was ever a edict to not blog, this is it. Jakob also assumes hiring managers and bosses won’t have a weblog of their own in 10 years. If “your future boss” is going to give you crap for something you wrote on a blog a decade back, do you really want to work for them? - Having a Domain Name Owned by a Weblog Service
This must be the addendum to the previous point. Frankly, unless the weblog service is slogspot it doesn’t matter.
One Comment
I’ve noticed that there’s a disconnect between ‘creative writing’ and ‘useful titles’.
From a purely functional standpoint, the title of the post should be as clear as possible. From a creative writing standpoint, though, I’ve always found titles to be much more entertaining when they are puns or subtle references, etc.
The solution, I suppose, is having two titles. The creative one, and the practical one. ;o)
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Jakob weighs in on blogging
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