There really is a guide for everything. To be perferctly blunt, I didn’t even knew that there is a web-usability-guru. But recently Jakob Nielsen wrote about the The Top Ten Design Mistakes for Blogs, so I had to check it out:
1. No Author Biographies
Okay, got me. But then, this isn’t really a curriculum vitae, so I skip it for now.
2. No Author Photo
Yesh! I am a cute and cuddly tom-cat. Indeed.
3. Nondescript Posting Titles
Description is in the eye of the reader. 😉 But I’m trying.
4. Links Don’t Say Where They Go
I’m no friend of those „here and there“ links either.
5. Classic Hits are Buried
I don’t know if any of these entries deserve the mark „classic,“ so I leave it to others to determine if there is a „must read“ in this blog or not.
6. The Calendar is the Only Navigation
I’m trying to keep my tags nice and simple, but other then that I don’t have much saying in the blog-design.
7. Irregular Publishing Frequency
The day the blog rules my live, I quit blogging. Sorry chap, I publish when I feel the need to, not if time’s up.
8. Mixing Topics
D’oh! Really, am I mixing professional and private postings? Shame on me. But I don’t feel like two blogs already. On the other hand, he has a point there…
9. Forgetting That You Write for Your Future Boss
No I don’t, but I try to keep my postings reader-friendly, honest and I do not swear. So I think I got that one covered.
10. Having a Domain Name Owned by a Weblog Service
Guilty. On the other hand: I have my own domain, but no blog-service available. Perhaps I can do somthing about it. Does a redirect count? Would be a start…
So, I feel a bit mixed about the issue. As always, I feel compelled to disobay with the rules as much as I know I might be better off complying. On the other hand: I got a 3 out of 10. Not that bad for my first blog…
Jakob Nielsen: „Some weblogs are really just private diaries intended only for a handful of family members and close friends. Usability guidelines generally don’t apply to such sites, because the readers‘ prior knowledge and motivation are incomparably greater than those of third-party users.“
Ergo oder wie ich es auch sehe: Bis auf das es hier in Deutschland ansich eine Impressumspflicht gibt, ist es für uns Blogs nicht erforderlich, sich an diese Regeln zu halten, da „wir“ ja doch nur zu einem Grossteil privates für unseren jeweiligen Bekanntenkreis posten. Somit stört es mich ausnahmsweise mal nicht, nur 1 von 10 Punkten zu erfüllen, auch wenn ich sonst extrem viel von J. Nielsens Ansichten halte. 😉
Wir arbeiten daran, auch fremde Domains direkt auf Blogs, die bei uns gehostet sind, zu mappen. Sobald es soweit ist, sagen wir allen bescheid.
Der trend geht immer mehr zum Zweitblog!
Okay, obwohl ich gerade noch glaubte, mich dem multiplen Bloggen entziehen zu können, hoffe ich, auf diese Art und Weise meine Filmlritiken wieder auf Vordermann bringen zu können. Die einfachere Art der Poplizierung macht’s hoffentlich möglich.