Comments on: Web Design Critique: Consistency and Homogeneity of the Blog Layout

By: The New Blog Herald

The New Blog Herald — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 04:16:11 +0000

[...] an improvement in a visual, aesthetic sense as well. We have listened to the criticisms, e.g: from Kaspars Dambis. That the logo is more fitting. That we have gotten rid of so much of our “clutter”. We [...]

By: Kaspars

Kaspars — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 19:15:26 +0000

Megan and Ptah, thank you both for the comments.

Ptah, you are saying that I changed oblique bh into BH serif. Truth is that I changed lowercase oblique sans-serif bh into uppercase italic serif BH, and the reason for doing so was mentioned in the article — nowhere else on Blog Herald can you find a combination of oblique/italic lowercase and sans-serif type.

In addition, if the title Blog Herald is currently capitalized, why use lowercase abbreviation as a logo?

In the suggested redesign you can see italic type used throughout the different elements, while the current design uses it only for the logo (icon).

Slogan, however, is aligned right to the center of the middle column and has a right side whitespace equal to an approximate width of an ad. More importantly, notice that “Daily Since 2003″ is aligned left with the right side border of the main content column (or the central axis). In fact the whole tagline is in the center of that axis.

With regards to network links — I was trying to make them more prominent than they currently are. Also, if all of the network websites would feature equal network header navigation (which I suggested in the article), it would in fact enhance the usability as people would never feel lost if they actually decide to visit another website from the network.

At the same time I totally agree with you that conducting a basic usability testing would definitely help to decide the “amount” of emphases which network navigation requires.

By: Ptah Dunbar

Ptah Dunbar — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 18:23:13 +0000

Very interesting critique of Blog Herald, and I like what you did with the menu bar redesign, but I’d like to add to the conversation and critique the suggestions you made that I dont understand:

Blog Herald Logo:
While I agree with you on points A and B about the logo, I don’t think you’ve achieved the best results on the redesign you suggested. Why change the obique bh into BH serif? Having the logo seperated that much along with the slogan centered in the middle results in a cluttered header.

Blog network:
The suggestion to change the blog network links into a tabbed menu suggest that these links are apart of the blog herald website, which they aren’t.
a common usabiilty error that will fustrate readers, questioning why it was designed like so.

By: Megan

Megan — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 16:45:57 +0000

I came here through BH, and I agree with you on almost every point. I read their content through RSS, so I almost never go to the site itself, but you’re right.

By: Kaspars

Kaspars — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 08:30:45 +0000

Yes, Ming, I would also agree that the previous design was the best which BH has had. On a sidenote: there are rumors going around that they are actually planning a redesign in a near future, so lets see how it turns out.

By: Ming

Ming — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 08:27:14 +0000

PS: if you havent already you must check out the ‘newly created blog’ of flash designer Jousha Davis. at joshuadavis.com

he now uses wordpress

By: Ming

Ming — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 08:25:52 +0000

I really enjoyed the older newsparer feel, and while I have come to appreciate the new design, i never treated the content with the same kind of importance as before. And I visited the website less after the new design.

By: Web Design Critique: Blog Herald Blog Layout : The Blog Herald

Web Design Critique: Blog Herald Blog Layout : The Blog Herald — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 04:58:17 +0000

[...] over on Kronstruktors.com, has put up a very interesting and informative post looking at the user experience of the Blog [...]

By: Kaspars

Kaspars — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 03:42:27 +0000

Kim, thank you for the comment. I think that “bottom bar” might be useful on single article pages, where people would like to find something else to read. It may be useful also for the information about the author (on single author blogs/webpages) especially if the user comes from a search engine. Placing too much information in sidebars is not very good as well and moving some of it to the footer might be one of the solutions.

I think that apple.com is a good example — notice how they try to reduce the vertical length of each page by placing different collapse/expand elements in the sidebars. And the “bottom bar” serves the purpose of secondary navgiation/product listing. I think that the vertical page length is really important here. After scrolling through long list of content, I wouldn’t expect any important information/navigation waiting for me at the bottom.

Regarding the theme — I have finished both of the plugins and will now work on Sunrise Racer theme. During the past month I have implemented many new features here on this blog (which uses Morning Racer theme), like the post excerpt thumbnails and the previous/next post navigation under each of the individual articles and I would also like to include them in SR. I hope it won’t take too long. Be sure, that I will send you an email as soon as it is ready.

By: Kim Lindberg

Kim Lindberg — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 09:42:15 +0000

I agree with you on basically every point. From just a quick look on this site it looks nice, but as soon as you try to focus on only one detail… voila.

Also, I’ve never really understood the fuzz around the “bottom bar” containing all sorts of listings that didn’t really fit into the main content (e.g. comments, resources, friends etc). You have to scroll through the whole page to even realize it’s there, which I rarely do. How can this have become so popular?

But, at least, this theme made it out to the public, while we’re still impatiently waiting for yours ;)