Weblogs are often too internally focused and ignore key usability issues, making it hard for new readers to understand the site and trust the author.Jakob Nielsen in Weblog Usability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes

Quite recently, Jakob Nielsen published an interesting article on Weblog Usability. It's an interesting spin on the Top Ten Web Design Mistakes Jakob wrote about earlier. After reading Stoyan's analysis on his own blog decided to have a look at Jakob's the design mistakes and see how well my own weblog does. I turned out to agree with quite a lot of points Jakob states but not with all of them. Here's my full analysis on Jakob's issues, how they can be applied to this weblog and last but not least: where I disagree or believe it's not relevant to my own situation.

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1. No author Biography

It's a simple matter of trust. Anonymous writings have less credence than something that's signed. And, unless a person's extraordinarily famous, it's not enough to simply say that Joe Blogger writes the content. Readers want to know more about Joe.Jakob Nielsen

I agree with Jakob here. A blog with no page about the author doesn't have any personality. Good thing I didn't make the first mistake. my about page is here.

2. No author Photo

Even weblogs that provide author bios often omit the author photo. A photo is important for two reasons:

• It offers a more personable impression of the author. You enhance your credibility by the simple fact that you're not trying to hide. Also, users relate more easily to somebody they've seen.
• It connects the virtual and physical worlds. People who've met you before will recognize your photo, and people who've read your site will recognize you when you meet in person (say, at a conference -- or the company cafeteria if you're an intranet blogger).

Jakob Nielsen

Even though I have pictures of my ugly mug on my about page I disagree here. I can perfectly imaginge quite some bloggers (especially female ones) to not want their picture on the internet. There are plenty of reasons for not wanting that. But... this blog has mistake 2 covered as well.

3. Nondescript Posting Titles

Sadly, even though weblogs are native to the Web, authors rarely follow the guidelines for writing for the Web in terms of making content scannable. This applies to a posting's body text, but it's even more important with headlines. Users must be able to grasp the gist of an article by reading its headline. Avoid cute or humorous headlines that make no sense out of context.Jakob Nielsen

A mixed bag here I guess. Sometimes my titles are very descriptive but sometimes I like them to function as teasers as well. I agree with Jakob that it's important to use descriptive titles if you want the article to reach an audience as large as possible. A descriptive header helps for a higher search engine ranking too. When it's just personal babble I guess it's not all that important really. Let's say it's 50% covered on this blog.

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.Jakob Nielsen

Sometimes guilty! I must admit my links aren't always all that descriptive. I try to do my best by using the surrounding text to indicate what it is but it's not always as clear as it could be in my postings.

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.Jakob Nielsen

Guilty again. Some articles on this site have a rather high popularity compared to the rest. Therefore they deserve extra attention which they aren't currently getting. Weak excuse: Pivot can't really track popularity of individual articles so it would need to be done by hand.

6. 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.Jakob Nielsen

Definitely not guilty. This blog can be navigated in various ways. There's not only a timeline and dated archives but I have a categorized master archive page and you can associatively browse through my post with the tags system as well. My bases are well covered here if I may say so.

7. Irregular Publishing Frequency

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.Jakob Nielsen

Jakob states it's important to post by a publication schedule. While I agree this has importance when it comes to corporate websites I wholeheartedly disagree with him that it would matter for personal weblogs such as mine. We all use feedreaders these days and those who are really interested will spot any updates I make at any time when they're reading their feeds. And even if it WOULD matter: my blog isn't a business so I guess everyone will have to live with my irregular posting frequency. When I have something to say AND I have time to write it, I publish. In all other cases I don't.

8. Mixing Topics

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.Jakob Nielsen

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.Jakob Nielsen

Guilty! I agree with Jakob on specialized sites being more successful than sites with many different types of content. However, sometimes I feel the need to post a personal opinion or something else personal. Even though this weblog is mainly on technology and cyber/net culture I don't feel like creating a separate blog for personal rants like Jakob suggests. Again, whether you should stick to this principle really depends on what your goals are with your blog.

9. Forgetting That You Write for Your Future Boss

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?Jakob Nielsen

A very good point is being made here. I for one have always kept this rule in mind. I'd never write on a 'shock blog' or any other site that publishes material that might harm my reputation. The internet is an enormous archive. What's posted is almost 'carved in stone'. There'll always be some dark corner on the net from which people will be able to dig up dirt about you if the dirt was once posted on the internet. Therefore it's important to make sure there isn't any dirt to dig up.

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.Jakob Nielsen

I fully agree. It appears much more serious if a site has it's own domain. It keeps me in control of anything which is completely impossible on some hosted service. Having your own domain simply adds more weight to your site in many ways. It comes across more professional (if the domain isn't a silly name of course) and it can help for search engine efficiency if the name contains words or phrases relevant to the field you're aiming at with your posts. These days domains are ridiculously cheap so I guess there's really no excuse anymore to not have your own domain.

Closing Notes

All in all I'm rather satisfied. It seems I have the most important bases covered. On some areas I didn't agree with Jakob when it comes to applying the usability mistakes to a personal weblog. Since this site is a personal weblog I considered my 'violations' in those areas not all that important. Generally speaking, Jakob's article stresses a lot of important isssues and hits the nail on the head in many occasions. If you haven't read his article yet you should really do so and maybe re-think some aspects of your weblog, depending on what your goals are of course.

My personal points of attention for the future after some consideration:

• I should mind my posting titles and make sure they're at least somewhat covering the topic the posting is about
• I should pay attention to my links whenever I place them
• My site needs a 'classics' section to highlight my best / most popular postings

Other than these I'm quite happpy with the way things are on here right now!

Weblog Usability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes

Some tags: usability, nielsen, weblog, design, interface