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5 steps to a better blog - Part 1
There’s a whole lot of blogs out there that provide valuable content to readers but don’t get enough attention. Is yours one of them? Sometimes, a few changes in the user experience is all it takes to get people to actually read what you have to say. These usability tips specifically for bloggers will help you make your current readers happier and most likely get you a few more in the process.
Why care? Isn’t usability boring?
Blogging is about getting your word out. You may be talking about cats, you may be talking thai about food, you may even be talking about quantum theory. What you really need more than anything if you’re a blogger is to get people reading what you have to say - because you believe they’ll benefit from it in some way.
Daily, I visit a lot of blogs with great content, but many times I end up never visiting them again. Why? Because most bloggers don’t seem to care about how enjoyable the experience of reading their material is. And that’s a huge turn-down for any reader.
If you look at a webpage and readability is low, or content is poorly organized, you won’t even try to read it - you’ll leave. Like you, everybody else does. So what I’ll be talking here is about getting the most out of your weblog, and getting people to stay and read what you have to tell them.
Anyway, thats enough intro talk, lets get our hands dirty with
Part 1 - Use typography correctly
Text is the most important thing on your blog and because of that, this first part of the series focuses on typography and text blocks. Remember that it is text people are reading, so if the text isn’t properly arranged, you’ll have nothing.
Font-size and line height:
Have a look at this screenshot from an existing weblog (I don’t mean to give out bad publicity, so I wont link to it):
You’ll most likely be able to tell me whats wrong here with just a look. The font size is lousy, as well as line spacing. You focus on the image as a block of “black letters” instead of individual lines. Readability is extremely poor, which will end up making users give up on reading the content. Here’s the same text after changing line-height and font-size:
Notice the difference? Content is much easier to read now because the eyes can clearly distinguish each line and word due to the increased amount of white space (resulting in better contrast). Also, the bigger font size decreases the strain on the readers eyes, which is extremely important.
Stop the caps madness:
Have a look at the text on the left. This is actually a category list on the same blog mentioned above. What seems to be wrong here?
Well, there’s two things wrong, actually: It uses all-caps, and there’s no real organizational structure. The latter will be covered in a future blog post on this series, but the first, we’ll talk about now.
The problem with using all-caps is that your eyes will make triple the effort reading the text than they would normally. This obviously means people won’t read the text at all - rendering the the category list (in this case) useless.
Use the right fonts:
While some fonts exist specifically to be easily read on screen, others are notoriously better for print and/or headlines. Distinction of font types is extremely important, because it is the typeface that’s recognized and assimilated by your brain.
Ideally you should be using sans-serif fonts for texts and serif fonts for headlines, but sometimes it ends up being a matter of taste from the designer if other aspects are considered (again, the font size and line spacing). The bottom line is: aim for the best combination of looks and readability.
Part 1 wrap-up:
So, if you’ve read this far you will have realized three things:
- A correct balance between font-size and line-height is extremely important in order to make the text stand-out from the background, and lines from each other.
- Use all-caps selectively. Remember it decreases readability of your text, so don’t even think about using it for lists or paragraphs. Avoid the confusion that all-caps calls the attention to something. It does, but in a bad way.
- Use the correct typefaces. A good sans-serif font like Verdana makes it easy to read content, while Georgia and other serif fonts are extremely good for headlines. Be wise on your selections.
If you’re interested in getting more information about typography, here are some books you may like:
Hope this one was interesting. Part 2 will be up soon. Now start improving your blog, and feel free to drop your comments on this article. Take care!
I am a regular reader of your blog. Imagine my surprise when I noticed that both screen shots were from my very own blog! :-) I take your comments in the manner given and thank you for the feedback.
Comment by Michael Arrington — June 22, 2005 @ 4:50 pm