15 Design Decisions That Annoy Readers

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[Snoskred]

Are you committing any of these sins?

15 Design Decisions That Annoy Readers

I believe I am committing only one, which is - Having the Subscribe Box Higher Than the Search Box - however my search box is still above the fold - at least on my screen it is.

Interesting to note that number 10 is - Obtrusive Subscription Requests - I had a discussion about this with one of my bloggers the other day. I do find it annoying on blogs that I am subscribed to - to be reminded to subscribe when I am already a subscriber!

And interesting to note that number 11 is - Hidden Subscription Options - so get yourself one of my huge here it is you can't miss it! click on it subscribe buttons.

[Kelley]

I think I am only guilty of the search box one...... but the searches seem awfully unpredictable anyway.  Even when I am searching for one of my own posts I can't seem to find it in the search results.  And I know what I am looking for.

I must say I can't think of ever using the search function.  I tend to use the categories if I am interested in a particular subject that a blogger writes on.

But then again, most of my fav blogs are personal or humour blogs.

[Nomesque]

None, willingly. A couple of those are wordpress.com standard behaviour, though. Maybe being a tech writer has soaked some design stuff into my head over the years.

Although - the only blog I have a 'search' function on is my brisbane one - the others don't need it (in my opinion).

[Snoskred]

The wordpress search isn't too good, which is why I use a scroogle search box myself. I think Sephy did a post on how to put one of those in somewhere..

[Lani]

I'm in agreement with the annoyance factor on all of those!  I know i've found myself inputting search terms in a subscribe to email box regularly.  Grrr.

I don't thing it's always a question of higher or lower though, unless they are both just dumped in the sidebar.  It's more about having a recognisable area for them.

[Lightening]

Interesting the way he's intersperced reader comments into the article (well, around the article).  I thought that was kind of cool.

Pop Ups - I don't get how he says to stay away from in text advertising and then uses it part way through the article???  The kind where you hover over a link (the double underlined ones) and get a little ad bubble pop up.

Time Stamp - I didn't even know you COULD do this until more recently (remove it that is).   

Pop Up Windows - this one I think is debatable in my mind.  When I didn't know *how* to click on a link to make it open in a new window, I preferred sites that did this for me.  I used to get frustrated when I would click on a link and end up somewhere else and have to find my way back to whatever I was reading.  I know a lot of my readers are not what you'd call "net savvy" so although I no longer do this with my links, I'm not sure if that's always a great thing.

Snap Shots - those snap preview things that wordpress.com accounts have driven me bonkers!!!  Not sure I read any blogs that have them now though (thankfully).

Having a subscribe box higher than search - oh dear, I don't even have a search box on my main blog anymore.  But if I add one, I can't add it in higher than the subscribe via email box.

Dark Background - I do find them harder to read but some of them sure do look effective.

Auto-Play Music - yeah, that does drive me bonkers too.

Separating Trackbacks & Comments - mmmm......mine are all mixed in together ATM.  Personally, I don't get so many that it's really a problem.  It doesn't take much to scroll past the occasional one.  I can imagine on the really popular sites it could get frustrating though.

Talking Ads -  :thumbdown:  I've not heard of anyone that likes them.  It's hard from an advertising viewpoint though isn't it.  How do you get noticed?

Obtrusive Subscription Requests - I seem to just tune these out mostly now so they don't really bother me.  I can see how they would be annoying though.  Since I don't even know how to create one, it's not likely to be a problem on my blog anytime soon.  At least it's one thing I don't *need* to learn how to do. 

Hidden Subscription Options - I'm a BIG fan of Snoskreds buttons.  I *know* they make a difference.  I had 20 subscribers via feedburner when I shifted and almost instantly went to 60.  I'm SURE it had a lot to do with my beautiful big pink subscribe button.   

Interlinking Posts - I'm getting better

Obtrusive Advertisements - not sure if I've seen any of these?

Small Font Size - well, for now I have what I have.  But I copied someone who knows about these things so I'm fairly confident I'm safe there.   

Some of these I still think is going to depend on WHO your readers are as to how much they matter.  And sometimes you have to compromise. 

I do need to find me a search box.  Sephy, can you link to your article for me????   

Where to put it will be my next challenge.  I want my subscribe button above the fold and Have to have my blogher ads above the fold.  Which means it has to go lower.  Interesting that when I chose my theme for my blogworld blog, one thing I really liked about the one I chose was that all the subscription and search/category etc information was all nice and compact and up the top of the blog so easy to find.

Oh dear....I really didn't intend to write an essay on this.  Sorry.   

[FormerAdmin]

Hi Snos,

while I agree with some of what Ronald has to say, he still misses the point in a couple of places - talking about positioning page elements and font size without looking at visual hierarchy (or balance) is probably not going far enough, and quoting Jakob Nielsen (while mis-spelling his name) is probably just going to annoy real usability people

My take on this is probably best contained in Three user-centered ways to make your blog rock.

Uasbility and User Centered/Centred Design are fraught with formulaic approaches - to the stage where a lot of people don't like using these terms for what they do any more. My beautiful friend Donna wrote a post on this recently - if interested, please see Why I don’t offer a usability testing service.

Best regards, Andrew

[Lani]

The Time Stamp removal issue - I can only think of one blog I know of which does this and it really does come across as arrogant to me.  In fact, although I found the site very useful when i first started blogging, I'm close to loathing it now.  It is especially bad because it is a computing related site and it isn't immediately clear whether the article you're reading relates to current versions etc.  You have to check the actual URL.  Unless someone is planning on updating every article they have ever written constantly, you just can't remove the time stamp and say "my whole blog is a resource". (Rant Over  )

Nice article from Donna, btw, Andrew.

[Sephyroth]

I'm also guilty of the feed before search (though the search box is just below the feed button :wink2:), along with not separating trackbacks and comments - I know there's a way to do it, but I haven't gone through and done it, or really taken that much time to figure out how to do it.

I think Sephy did a post on how to put one of those in somewhere..

I did the post on putting a Google box on there, but not on Scroogle (yet (if y'all would like one, I'll do it) :wink2:). However, I'd venture to say that Scroogle's instructions are fairly straightforward (all you do is change the code to suit your site, and then put it in (if you're using WordPress) a text widget on your sidebar). :001_smile:

[FormerAdmin]

Nice article from Donna, btw, Andrew.

Thanks Lani,

I'll pass that on

Cheers, Andrew

[Lightening]

Thanks.  I now have a search box on my site.   

[Anja]

Ooops, I have a dark background on my blog.   

I can't imagine having a light or bright one, but apparently having a dark background is a major blogging no-no. 

[Snoskred]

That's why I chose the theme I did - so I could have dark behind it, but still a white main area.

For me I prefer a dark background on a blog with a lot of photos, or at the end of a long day of looking at white. it is soothing on the eyes then.

[Lani]

Anja, that particular point is really personal preference.  There ar people who hate light backgrounds as well.  The key with text on a dark background is making sure that the contrast is high enough that it can be read.  Especially if you use a small font-size.

I find yours just fine to read and although I prefer light backgrounds generally, it doesn't "annoy" me at all.  So don't worry about it.

[Sephyroth]

I used to be anti dark backgrounds, but then I got an LCD screen, and now I really like dark backgrounds - so much so that I would rather view a site like YouTube with the dark script that I use than its original white version. :001_smile:

Another thing that I did was to take the theme that I use on my site and changed it to all black, and I gotta say that I love how it came out. :001_smile:

[Hugh Jorgan]

So what would be the general consensus if I tried to incorporate these 15 no-nos into my new blog? Would I be setting myself up for failyre? 

[Lightening]

So what would be the general consensus if I tried to incorporate these 15 no-nos into my new blog? Would I be setting myself up for failyre? 

Some of them you might get away with.  All of them, well......  I guess you could give it a try and see if you can prove everyone wrong if you really wanted to......  I reckon it would have to be an EXTREMELY good blog to succeed though.

There are always "exceptions" to every rule......

[KirstenL4W]

I used to have the time stamp with the date and exact time that I posted something.  Then I realized I didn't want my employer to find out exactly how much time I spent blogging by looking at the timestamps, so I took the timestamp off completely.  Now I just stick to the date.

Those Snap previews get in the way so much.  I hate them even more now that LiveJournal uses them as a default.  It makes it really difficult to scroll down without carefully placing the pointer out of the way of everything.

Regarding the subscribe and search boxes, I think that has to do more with regular websites rather than blogs.  I don't know too many people who actually search blogs, especially when going through categories is so much more fun.

I don't think that NOT showing related posts is an annoyance to other readers.  I think that having it is a convenience to readers and designed to keep people exploring the site.

I have seen some very nicely done blogs with dark backgrounds, so I don't discount that completely.  It all depends to the level of detail one uses, and I find that a slightly larger and/or bolder font helps, since not all monitors are the same as far as clarity goes.  A dark background will quickly tell you how clear your monitor display is.

[Lani]

Regarding the subscribe and search boxes, I think that has to do more with regular websites rather than blogs.  I don't know too many people who actually search blogs, especially when going through categories is so much more fun.

I use search boxes fairly frequently and rarely touch people's categories because they are often so poorly defined, especially when they put posts in more than one category.  I really don't like that.

[Snoskred]

I created a new topic - linking to favourite posts - which took out a couple of posts from this thread.

Just because I think it deserves its own thread.

[secludedhabitat]

I have to say I was committing a couple of those infractions. All fixed now, looking from that point of view I realised things like the Preview Sites plugins could get annoying.
Stu

[Snoskred]

Well the harsh truth is this..

Nobody who reads your blog will ever tell you the truth about stuff like this. If they find something annoying, they'll find a work around, or avoid your blog entirely. If they hate the design, they won't say so. If they don't like something your blog does, they won't speak up. They don't want to offend. 

I used to tell people the truth. But one time I did tell the truth, and the blogger involved was really offended and unknown to me posted (not using my name, just in general) on a set of forums about it. Unknown to that blogger, I was a member of those forums and I read the post. 

So now I am yet another (not so) proud member of the "don't say anything to the blogger, just shut up and put up" crowd. 

Which is why articles like this can be so useful - it makes you think about how what you're doing affects your readers. 

Just so you all know, I would MUCH rather someone told me that they didn't like something on my blog. I wouldn't get offended, I would try to look at it from their point of view and see if their point is valid. But other people take this stuff so personally.. 

[Lani]

I'm with you on preferring to be told.  After months of someone reading my blog she mentioned the comment form doesn't display correctly for her and she has to write "blind".  I wish I'd known.

So everyone feel free to speak up with me!

As for telling other people, I think it's the same as in life.  You might tell a friend that they need a breath mint, because you have a relationship built on trust, but you don't just blurt that stuff out to the guy next to you on the train.  Generally. 

[KirstenL4W]

If someone asks, then by all means I think that's an invitation to tell people!  I'm with Snoskred and Lani, I do prefer to be told.

Design-wise, there are a few super nit-picky things on mine that are bugging me, but I haven't yet figured out all that stuff on Wordpress, so I'll just have to put up with it for now.  But I'm determined to figure it out because I don't want to drive Snoskred and The Other Half crazy any more than I already did when they set up my blog!

[Lani]

Feel free to bug me if you need a hand with anything.  Or just start a thread.  Someone here will be able to talk you through whatever you want to do.

And it's good to get your hands dirty, so to speak.  It looks scary, but it's all actually fairly logical and straightforward.