Jakob's Weblog Usability Mistakes

So how does your weblog hold up against Jakob Neilsen’s current Alertbox — “Weblog Usability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes”? I think this site ticks most boxes, with the possible exception of maybe ‘Mixing Topics’, ‘Irregular Publishing Frequency’ and ‘Links Don’t Say Where They Go’. Oh, and maybe ‘Nondescript Posting Titles’. So that’s only 6 out of 10 then. Hmm.

I have to argue against ‘Mixing Topics’ being listed as a mistake. This is purely subjective, but running your own weblog should be fun. Okay, Jakob might be offended at the piss-poor usability, but I like being able to post about web standards one day, then holy toast the next. This weblog (and life) would get pretty dull if I droned on about CSS and PHP all the time.

‘Nondescript Posting Titles’ is also not necessarily a mistake. It all depends on the context. If it’s a stupid post about large cephalopods, then it’s probably apt to write a short humorous post title, but if it’s a post which is quite technical and resourceful, write a good descriptive title (for the benefit of search engines also). I also think a short succinct post title can intrigue a reader into clicking through and reading your post.

Jakob’s points are all valid, but it’s important also not to lose the sense of freedom and fun which comes with running your own weblog.

Posted 4 years, 4 months ago

He only says half of the stuff he does to get people talking about him and linking to his site. Remember the "Flash: 99% bad" debacle?

And for the record, I make 4 or 5 of the mistakes he lists too. And, like you, I don’t see mixing topics as a bad thing either. It rounds out the author’s personality to see all aspects of their lives.

Mal Ross · www · 4 years, 4 months ago

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My name is Phil Lindsay, a web guy from Scotland, now living in Newcastle upon Tyne in England. I also run a web design company called Presence. You can email me at phil@xlab.co.uk, read more ramblings on my Twitter stream and view my photos on Flickr. You can grab the RSS feed for this weblog here.