Weblog Unusable

Here I go again breaking rules, according to the post over at Blogging Pro that consolidated a quick read list of Jakob Nielsen’s “Weblog Usability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes”.

I can’t say I agree with all of this, all the time. It may work for certain people in certain situations but I don’t recommend this to a lot of bloggers. Each blog has its own purpose and these suggestions might work for you or against you! Jakob Nielsen’s does mention that this usability does not apply to some blogs because they are just for family or personal diaries. I feel there are a lot of blogs that some or all of these rules might not be advantageous.

I’m posting my 10 abbreviated responses below of why they may not be a good choice and you would need to pull up the post at Blogging Pro to see the “Weblog Usability” list and compare the two to make sense of the one below.

1. Privacy, prejudice, judging, assumptions, safety, mystery and lots more.

2. Same as 1.

3. I agree with this one. However, there are many other techniques that work well too.

4. Why do you need to know before you go somewhere, if the information is interesting? Plagiarism, integrity, and other issues may be a concern though if you aren’t citing but I don’t think this is what that was pointing at.

5. I agree with this one. Navigation tools and pointing out your good work seems like a logical move. However, search tools work well if you know how to use them. Let’s not dwell on the past though:) You are only as good as your last post:)

6. If all you want is the calendar then just use the calendar. This does make navigation simple. Having a 100 ways to one place seems like a Microsoft concept that I’ve never been real fond of. I have to concede I like categories which blogger doesn’t make easy.

7. There are lots of very interesting blogs with great posts and information that are inconsistent posters. Every blogger is not a full time journalist and may have other things in life to do besides blog. That doesn’t mean that blogger and others aren’t enjoying the blog!

8. Themes may be more professional, consistent and easy to follow but it is not what many blogs are all about. Many blogs are dairies, life journals just what that person wants to talk about or even therapy as a recent story suggested. These type blogs are going to mix topics and be complex which is a part of the quality and persona that make it real and interesting.

9. This could be another reason for staying as anonymous as possible.


10. Owning your own domain name is nice and has lots of advantages but it shouldn’t take away from those that don’t own a domain name. Judging free service blogs by the cover will hurt everyone and lose a large variety of voices and many quality voices from all over the world that may never be heard any other way.

If you are trying to become a professional blogger with in the boundaries of mainstream media concepts and rules almost all of the “Weblog Usability” ideas probably apply. I don’t say at all to throw all these suggestions out; I’m just saying think about them before you do apply them. Do they serve your purpose and audience the best? Use what works for you and throw out the rest. Most of us are not going to have huge audience blogs with thousands of hits a day. There may be a day in the lime light for some that have a hit post. Most of us will probably have more therapy and enjoy the opportunity to publish what we want to say to the world.

As my therapy continues… my programming fails and memory dumps…I’m running to the nearest blog to post again…help me…help me… the future of blogs oh my… where are they going… mainstream… money… power… "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely"---not my quote… opportunity.. learning… web 2.0… open structure… hope… daunting and dangers stick… electrifying happenings… get back to the spotlighted blogs there cruiser… Ok, you can tell why I don’t run a humor blog…
blogged by Anonymous @ 10/18/2005