Finding Information: Factors that improve online experiences
As this site grows, my concerns about the findability of information grows. I feel like the navigation is fairly clear (although sub navigation is lacking). I have browseable archives and search, yet still, am I doing all I can do make the information on this site easy to find? I wish WordPress offered more advanced search for one thing, I might look into adding this via plugin somehow. Another idea I have is to offer some “guide” pages (e.g. “Just learning CSS? Start here.”).
The Institute for Dynamic Educational Advancement (IDEA) has just released a report on Finding Information (July 2008). They kind of debunk my guide page theory in their conclution:
“…do not believe that visitor experience could be improved with the presences of
a “personal navigation aid.â€
Oh well, I’ve learned to trust my instincts on these kinds of things and they are telling me it might be a good idea.
Why we delete comments
The AV Club has a funny story about them transitioning into allowing comments on their stories.
Unacceptable: “You’re a dick!†Acceptable: “Only a dick would watch Con Air six times in a row!†Better: “You watched Con Air six times?! You should’ve taken IQ tests before and after to see how it affected you.â€
Around here, in addition to deleting insulting comments, I delete comments that add nothing to the article discussion itself. Comments that consist of “Thanks!!!!” (and that’s it) I delete. You’re welcome, but this doesn’t add a heck of a lot to the conversation makes it harder to follow.
Linkification
Cameron Moll on which words should be linked in a sentence. An enjoyable debate. Obviously this comes up for me many times every week as I prefer to link relevant text within these “Links of Interest” posts rather than a VISIT LINK button or some such. I’m a “D” man, myself.
The New Delicious
I have literally thought to myself time after time in the past few months how sad it is that Del.icio.us has been stagnate for so long. It’s such a nice service and so highly used, and it sat seemingly abandoned for quite a long time. Thankfully that was not the case! Del.icio.us has redesigned, and is reborn as Delicious! In this blog post about the redesign, there is a wonderful video that shows the transformation from old to new.
Blogging tips from Cory Doctorow
Boing Boing co-author Cory Doctorow shares some advice on blogging. I found the tips very thoughtful and relevant to all web design, really. Main points: write good titles and respect your readers. Down with superfluous pagination!
If u dont want such comments, why on earth run a blog..
@V1: A blog is supposed to invoke discussion to create a sense of community. No blog would go very far if it were just an author and a whole bunch of “Thanks” comments. Users often provide as much (and often more) value to a subject than the original author did.
I think that deleting comments is ok if you have the chance to do it always. Some fine forums I use to visit have degraded in quality with redundant questions, bad or of topic responses, etc.
And what I found lately is that they cleaned up a bit, however a few weeks later the junk starting showing up again so if you want to do it, consistency is king!
The IDEA report is interesting. It would be helpful if they managed to include links to some sites that successfully achieve the items mentioned in the report. A lot of this is subjective, but it would be nice simply for the sake of comparison. Does anyone who has read even the Executive Summary of the report care to throw out ideas for sites that meet the report’s criteria?
Wow. It looks like you got a bunch of critics on css-tricks.
I agree with brent, a blog isn’t much good if it’s just a bunch of posts with “Thanks” comments. The readers sometimes do add more to a post or topic than the author.
Very useful links.
I had to say that I agree with both sides. Having a blog means that you need to know how deal with criticism and opposite point of views. That is what makes blogging so interesting and different. at the same time, people should always be respectful in addressing other readers and the author’s point of view
Thanks for the tips!