How YOUR Blog Could Be Annoying.
This is somewhat related to my previous entry, Recipe for Successful Personal Blogging. Here are more of my biggest peeves related to blogs (design/function-wise):
- “Continue reading” or “read more” links are annoying! I only use it from time to time, for example if an entry contains a lot of images but it annoys the hell out of me when blogs use this link for all their entries. I know it’s a matter of personal preference but I like having all content laid out in front of me so I can just scroll rather than click (I’m lazy). Screw the excerpt… give me the whole thing! If you run a popular blog and loading time is an issue for you since you don’t want new visitors to wait, then that’s understandable… *whiny voice* but I still find it extremely annoying and I find that I don’t visit blogs with that horrible link unless it’s super-omfg-awesomeness like Smashing Magazine.
- Blogs with only one entry on the index page. Same comment as above: give it all to me at once! This works for information blogs but definitely not for personal blogs because their latest entry maybe zZzzz; I’d leave right away without checking out the archives if quality entries do exist. Shame.
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Clutter is overwhelming and intimidating. When I visit blogs with 2-3 sidebars filled with content, links, advertisements and everything you can imagine, I tend to get overwhelmed and end up leaving because I don’t have time to dig through that mess! Note, the culprits are usually design/tech/business/etc. blogs. The key is to use keywords, list main/popular categories, the top blogs in your blogroll and then put everything else on a separate page. I know you want the visitor to see all you have to offer [and all the ads you want them to click] but don’t scare them away by showing them too much! Tease them and they’ll come crawling back for more. That sounded dirty, didn’t it? But whatever, when Big Bird says it’s true, then it’s true.
- Tiny fonts and tight line-spacing… WTF are you thinking?! I know I said this a billion times but this is one of my biggest peeves; you need to make your writing legible for your visitors! If I go blind reading your blog, I might just sue you… but then I don’t think I’d be there in the first place.
The culprits are usually blogs who still think it’s 2003. Remember that trend when all personal blogs was doing that 8pt Arial + tight line-spacing thing (this is where I look away and hang my head in shame).
- Billions of pictures? Please use thumbnails! Or resize them. Or organize them in a way so they don’t turn the face of your scrollbar into a microscopic grain of sand. Or reduce the number of entries that appear at once. Or this is a case when you should use the annoying “continue reading” link.
I can list a billion more but I’m going to “tease” you guys so you come crawling back for more next time. Kidding. I use to be guilty of some of these but I’m still learning.
What do you guys like in the design of a blog and what annoys you?
KATY:
jen (2)
atalante (1)
chanel (1)
Kathy (1)
magalaya (1)
I get annoyed when they use font colours that doesn’t contrast with the background colour. It’s like, DUDE, I don’t want to highlight to read your post!
My other peeve is those rare people who changes their layout on a DAILY basis. That’s just, NO. Have some consistency please.
And I agree with the rest of what you said up there.
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Katy
December 12th, 2008 |
I admire people who change their themes frequently because changing a theme is such a big deal (there’s so much to do) … BUT ONLY WHEN IT’S NICE AND NOT AN EYESORE!!
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“Continue reading†or “read more†links are annoying!”
My blog happens to have this feature. It is more of a necessity for my site because if we let the entire entry out, it will probably occupy the whole area and it will look really messy.
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Katy
December 10th, 2008 |
It’s all good.. I’ve actually been a lurker to your blog and have always been jealous of your unique layout so you’re excused miss.
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tiff
December 10th, 2008 |
I agree with everything you’ve just mentioned Katy, but yeah Rin-Wendy is an exception.
Even in my review for their website, I even put:
“Normally, I’m not a fan of entries that are cut off. I really hate it actually. But Rin-Wendy is certainly a huge exception. Cutting of the entry is a very, very smart move for a layout such as that. The blog would be overwhelming and infested with too much text had it not been cut.”
Haha.
Great blog! You are right on the money.
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Katy
December 12th, 2008 |
Totally. I think there is a time and place to do it especially if your layout calls for it.
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I get annoyed at “read more” links & small fonts too.
Since I agree with you on this post I’ll try not to be hypocritical & do any of these things. LOL.
I also hate blogs that play music =X
Especially when there’s a lot of writing and they expect readers to read what they write. Geeez, that flat out peeves me off.
I guess reading in silence is just my thing? haha
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Katy
December 12th, 2008 |
How can I forget blogs that play music!! It’s also annoying when they have videos on their page but I can’t watch them because the stupid music is playing in the background and there is no button to turn it off!
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I have to agree, “read more” links are the most annoying things, ever. I don’t think I use them at all.
The only other thing that really annoys me about blogs is the line height / font size being tiny. I’ll just close the tab rather than increasing the font size on my browser as soon as I see that I won’t be able to read it without squinting!
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Katy
December 12th, 2008 |
It’s annoying because even when you try to increase the font size, it doesn’t do it properly because they set such a tiny line-height. Oh also, when the font is tiny, tight line-spacing AND on a background with no contrast… you can’t even highlight because the words overlap each other when you do. :@
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omg SMALL FONT & LOTS OF ADVERTISEMENT piss me off!! especially flashy things… i just end up clicking elsewhere because it hurts my head lol
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I agree!! I hate the “read more” links… I ONLY do that IF the post is irrelevant or photos makes it longer than necessary.
Aww… I am sorry if my blog has only one post on the index… I like one posts on the index, makes the site looks neater and cleaner, but I do have excerpts from the previous posts… does that earn any brownie points??
I absolutely HATTTEEEEE small fonts!! Like you said, WTF, what are you thinking??? Smaller is NOT better sometimes!! It’s just making the other person get thicker glasses!!
I hate going to sites that has more than 3 columns, and full of advertisements… I leave within the first few seconds.
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Katy
December 12th, 2008 |
In some cases it’s alright to have one post on the front page like yours because your entries are always long and interesting. It just doesn’t make sense to do that when they have like entries with two boring sentences on them. Zzzz.
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Ditto what Tara said.
I confess, I use “Continue Reading” links, but only on my posts of fiction. (Which are at most once a week.) Blog entries are always full-length visible.
And I recently redesigned because my own clutter was driving me nuts!
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Katy
December 12th, 2008 |
I have to redesign too because I’m so annoyed at my cluttered sidebar.. I just don’t have any motivation to do it at the moment. Also, my layout is not even IE compatible but I’m too lazy to fix it *looks away*
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I don’t like small fonts, bad font colors that are hard to read and also bad font choices. if it clashes i probably wont spend much time there. I also hate messy sites, if i have to search for the main content i will just pass. Next i hate too many advertising, i am there to read not to be lured away buy other adds that i might accidentally click. I also don’t like when posts run really long and boring and they don’t have the “read more” button to cut it down so I can just skip over it.
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I’m guilty of doing the “continue reading” thing (sometimes)
Mostly because I’m assuming that people use Google Reader so it’s to keep my blog from looking too wordy (because my posts are always SUPER long) and to put pictures on a separate page.
Anyway, I really hate overly decorated blogs (every link is on a picture. Whyyy?). I like blogs with customized layouts and all (even though I don’t do this for my blog) but readability ranks higher in importance than layout… And I hate it when there are TOO many things happening on a single page.
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Katy
December 12th, 2008 |
I read your blog via RSS.
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Thanks for this! I love your posts on blog design. I have to admit that I do use the read on link, just because the post is too long.
My pet peeve is the overflow of ads and font colors that are difficult to read, ex. neon green or hot pink.
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Katy
December 12th, 2008 |
I hate ads too.. unless you run a super popular blog and want to milk the benefits it’s fine, but don’t cover it with ads if you have nothing good to offer!
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I hate blogs that automatically play music! It’s so annoying when you’re surfing late at night and you go to someone’s blog and the music starts up. I don’t think we all need a soundtrack when reading one’s blog! Leave the music selection to the movies or your Myspace acct.
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Katy
December 12th, 2008 |
It’s a huge distraction too especially if the music is annoying. Defeats the whole purpose of reading their blog.
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OMG I think i’m guilty of the small fonts thing sometimes..lol..i just think big fonts can get sooo annoying..so i do both..when i need to emphasize something i’ll make my font bigger..
you are sooo blogger savvy..i wish i had your webpage skills girl..i don’t know much html..boo :[
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I have to say, I absolutely ADORE blog layouts that are quite simple, with clear cut columns and neutral colours with REALLY nice looking headers and footers. And, as you say, not paired with a really small font that is IMPOSSIBLE to read!
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I think I follow these rule pretty well? Ha, Big Bird! Do you remember the movie where he runs away and gets kidnapped? Loves it!
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Haaaa… you are totally right!!!
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hehehe i think my blog has 8pt font. haha thank god your not reading my personal blog hehehe.
its like 8pt arial but its white text on black so it’s easier to read. hehehe.
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Katy
December 12th, 2008 |
What you have a personal blog somewhere too?
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Ray
December 12th, 2008 |
hahha yea i do, the one i have linked it more of my design blog so clients can see what i’ve been up 2.
but i have more personal one that has my designs posted as well as my daily ramble about life. hahaha.
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Katy
December 13th, 2008 |
What! What’s the URL (if you don’t mind telling me)?
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I agree!! I try.. haha but I’ve been super lazy lately.
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Definitely the read more links. Most people have a tendency to just skip over it all completely because it’s a pain to have to click on each one. There are of course exceptions, but as a general rule, I usually don’t end up reading them.
I think blog length can be rather important too. If an entry is too long, I just end up skipping over it. I have a really short attention span when it comes to reading blogs. Papers and articles are of course a different story though.
For example, if you have a couple of different topics in your post and it is getting really long, sometimes it’s just better to split it up into one post per topic. That way people can pick the ones they want to read and go at it. If it’s all in one, there is more of a chance they will just skip the whole thing altogether.
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Katy
December 13th, 2008 |
I agree with blog length. If it’s a blogger that I frequently read and I’ve been following his/her entries for sometime now then I don’t mind long entries but I usually don’t read long entries on new blogs unless the first paragraph captured my interest.
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I like white background. Clear, simple and normal-sized fonts.
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I hate layouts that arent centered
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Ditto!
My #1 is auto playing music. Holy crap guys, I have iTunes or YouTube on most of the time. I don’t need to have 300 songs playing at the same time while I’m trying to read! @.@
#2 has gotta be 0px padding, where the words are just almost bleeding off the div/page/layout.
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Well I’m obviously one of the culprits of the things you mentioned but I guess everyone has to go through each some sort of phase to make their blogs finally perfect you know.
BTW, my peeve would be auto playing music. It’s especially annoying when there’s no STOP button and it’s on the loop. LIKE ZOMG, I wanna listen to my own songs!
Oh and a gazillion ad links every where too. With the blog author mentioning “CLICK ON MY ADS PLS THANKIEW” in almost every entry of theirs. =.= Jeez. People would deffo click them if they’re interesting enough no?
There’s also certain blogs where people go “wtf” after EVERY. SINGLE. SENTENCE. It’s not funny, really. It’s freaking stupid. Agree?
hee. I complain too much. lol.
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LOL i hate paid links, crazy ads.
But pictures! now thats my fort!
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I feel a little bad when I started reading because although I use ‘read more’ links sparingly, I’ve been using a lot of them lately because I have too many photos… if I chuck them all on the homepage I guess the scrollbar will be a insignificant minute microscopic grain of sand
teehee!
Here is a list of my pet peeves for blog design:
1. Cluttered design – I have nothing against sidebars or blog ads, but I’ve seen a handful of desperados. They throw in many different kind of advertisements in their sidebars and have multiple chatboxes. I don’t get it why they want to earn money desperately.
2. Lousy contrast – I place a lot of importance on colour and visual appear, so lime green against a dark background is a definite nono. Or dark grey texts against a dark blue background. I hate being forced to squint or highlight texts in order to make them readable – it just drives me mad!
3. Large header – I don’t like headers that have no text at all and with a single image, and to make it worse, longer than the maximum height of the browse. If I don’t see any content, I will just skip it
4. Music that starts playing by itself – I hate music that starts playing the moment it is loaded. Not only does it waste bandwidth and slows down the loading speed of other important things on the same page, it distracts me from the content. Yikes!
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Oops, I’m totally guilty of the “Read more” link, mostly because I end up writing long wordy reviews with pics. I don’t like taking up too much space on my index page with too much text.
I too hate the small text in some blogs. If I have to do a CTRL++ to make the text even readable, I usually skip it. And it’s not even like I’m running on a super-high res machine either.
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