Comment Friday for August 10th
- 37 Comment
It’s another Comment Friday here at Blog about your Blog.
The “rules” are simple. Just leave us a comment about anything you want. I will select one commenter that really stands out to give a free link to, as well as a spot on our blogroll for the week.
Do you have what it takes to be the blog of the week?
This week I was wondering about blog design. Is the design of the blog really important to you? Or does it not matter because you are a feed reader anyways?
Don’t forget to give us a “plug” you don’t have to register to vote!
The winner of the Laptop Briefcase Giveaway will be announced this weekend. We reached our goal of 20 entries!
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37 Comments on this post
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TextAdSearch said:
Just popped over from your sig on DP. How about a few tips on sources of traffic that don’t rely on Google?
August 10th, 2007 at 12:12 am -
Psycho Dude said:
I’m not much of a feed reader, so design is of some importance although not too much. As long as it is not the default theme being used or some really common theme it’s already fine with me.
Of course there are some exceptions, if the blog’s theme would be about design, art or whatever more stylish I would expect the blog to reflect that as well. If it wouldn’t do so, chances are high I’d leave rather quickly because most of the times the rest isn’t too spectacular either then unless there’s a lot of picture postings to back up their subject quickly.
As for the design matter though, appears to be a little flaw on BAYB. The navbar stretches out to the height of the center column leaving a big piece of text being displayed on the green the moment there isn’t much text (Using latest version of firefox).
August 10th, 2007 at 1:32 am -
Rhys said:
Desing is quite important to me, probably because I’m not naturally gifted at design, so I have to work hard at it.
August 10th, 2007 at 2:01 am -
Windy said:
Design is important but I’m not good at it. Oh well… have a great weekend.
August 10th, 2007 at 2:21 am -
rodaniel said:
I’ve become a voracious feed reader, so I may not frequent a site directly for days (or weeks) on end – even though I do keep up with the author’s posts daily (or close thereto). You’d think that this makes the site design irrelevant. Not so. Quite often a feed post will inspire or picque me to follow through with a comment or go see what others have said.
So, it’s common for the RSS feed to just serve as a bridge to the site and once you get to the site, well, sure… design matters.
August 10th, 2007 at 2:39 am -
homemom3 said:
As a reader the design does matter to me, if it is too clumped together or hard to get from one spot to the next I tend not to stay long. As a blog owner I must state that when I first began I didn’t care about how pretty it was, today I’m trying to learn as much as possible on how to make it run fast and other neat things I can do with it.
Matthew- I’m hosting Char’s Casual Friday this week at my place, feel free to stop by.
August 10th, 2007 at 3:06 am -
homemom3 said:
As a reader the design does matter to me, if it is too clumped together or hard to get from one spot to the next I tend not to stay long. As a blog owner I must state that when I first began I didn’t care about how pretty it was, today I’m trying to learn as much as possible on how to make it run fast and other neat things I can do with it.
Matthew- I’m hosting Char’s Casual Friday this week at my place, feel free to stop by.
August 10th, 2007 at 3:06 am -
Madhur Kapoor said:
Design is also important along with the content. Its the design that leaves the first impression on me about a blog .
August 10th, 2007 at 4:37 am -
K-IntheHouse said:
rodaniel totally said what I am thinking. I follow everything through feeds and come on to teh site to comment. A well designed blog makes me stick around and dig deeper looking for more articles and I think that is true for most RSS readers.
Nice topic, Matthew. 🙂
August 10th, 2007 at 6:40 am -
K-IntheHouse said:
Oh yeah, thanks for adding ShanKri-la to the Member blogs! Cheers..
August 10th, 2007 at 6:41 am -
Jennifer said:
Yes, design is so important. I think a unique look draws a lot of people, probably more than most other things. I know I have to be intriqued by the design to start getting the RSS. Yes, I use RSS a ton, but I still have to visit the site to even start with that.
I have no idea what you use to select the blog of the week though from the comments. I must be doing something wrong though as I have never been chosen…wwwaaaaahhhhh!
August 10th, 2007 at 7:45 am -
chrisblogging.com said:
I usually dont pay for a custom design, but for my latest blog I am strongly considering it…
August 10th, 2007 at 7:58 am -
Brooke said:
Well I think Jennifer should win blog of the week with her stellar comment! She said what I was thinking.
(homemom3 mentioned your blog in her post – that’s how I am here!)
I see a blog based on someone’s recommendation or searching, whatever.
The design is what gets me to stay and look a little further. What is this blog about? Can I find what I am looking for? Is it clean and easy to read.
Then comes the content – it’s what gets me to stay for more than 3 seconds.
The design may only impact me for up to 3 seconds – but it is crucial. If I do not like the design, I will leave and never read the great content that might be there!
August 10th, 2007 at 8:51 am -
ryan said:
Heck ya design is important to me. I choose only a theme that looks, clean, and professional. I also can code my own themes.
August 10th, 2007 at 9:08 am -
Abby said:
Design is VERY important to me. For a personal blog I don’t think it needs to look professional, but I do think it should be fun and eyecatching, with interesting colors, preferably personal and a clean layout (meaning not 100 random sized links that stretch everything and make it look cluttered). I do all of my own designs (and actually get paid to do them for others sometimes) and I love it. The more I get to color coordinate and code the happier I am that the rest of the blogsphere can have lovely, personal layouts.
August 10th, 2007 at 9:44 am -
V. Neely said:
Design matters, especially for first-time visitors… which is why I’m thinking hard about paying for a good, custom template. I made the current template for my blog, but I’m not a designer.
I think good design encompasses not only a pleasing look and feel for your blog, but a /usable/ blog.
As a reader, I get upset if I can’t find an RSS button for a blog I want to subscribe to. My eyeballs are offended by bad color choices that make the text difficult to read. I hate pop-ups.
A good design with a little punch to it holds my interest and keeps me around, possibly even encouraging me to dig through the archives.
Content rules. Fantastic content will always win out over most design flaws, I think. But it’s better to have a blog with a good, solid design rather than a blog that people read in spite of the bad design.
August 10th, 2007 at 10:19 am -
Brown Baron said:
As long as I don’t get a headache looking at the blog, I have no problem with whatever design the owner chooses. For my blog, I feel that I need to keep it looking somewhat clean haha.
August 10th, 2007 at 10:20 am -
Matt said:
thanks for stopping by.
actually design doesn’t matter much to me. as long as i can easily navigate through the site and im not flooded with ads, its okay.
i usually tend to chose authors who aren’t authors, but you can be in the runnning :-p
August 10th, 2007 at 10:52 am -
Jasmine said:
Hi there! I popped by to visit cus the Fabulous Lexis ElDorado over at SoManyBlogs said to…and rightly so, you’ve got a lot to offer here so thanks for the edumacation – I’ll definately be back for more. I’m turning 40 on Sunday and I’ve got wicked cellulite… I know, that’s depressing as hell so it’s a perfectly good reason to feel sorry for me and give me the pity vote for blog of the week.
August 10th, 2007 at 11:29 am -
Matt said:
does everyone ‘design’ their own blog?
August 10th, 2007 at 11:43 am -
Brooke said:
I do – but I’m a web designer – so it makes sense!
August 10th, 2007 at 11:58 am -
Matt said:
lol I would say so
August 10th, 2007 at 12:27 pm -
Rob O. said:
As I said before, design does matter to me and I’ve noticed a great many blogs lately that are overwhelming their content – their reason to exist – with ads & widgets. I’ve seen it done well, but more often than not, 3-column layouts are just too cramped for my taste and they often jam the interesting articles into a claustrophibia-inducing space on the left-hand third of the page.
I understand that many (most?) bloggers are doing this for the sake of profits, but when monetization takes precedence over readability, that’s when I tend to bail.
And honestly, despite my best intentions, I’m a bit biased against sites that feature white text on black backgrounds – too tough on my eyes.
August 10th, 2007 at 1:10 pm -
IngaOz said:
As for me – design is very important. For every site, not blogs only. For blogs i like 3 column themes, something light – light green, light orange, light blue… usually I download some nice theme and then try to customize it. I dont like use themes as is.
August 10th, 2007 at 1:14 pm -
Matt said:
One of the biggest praises we get is that we aren’t flooded with ads, especially like all of the other big community blogs.
We aren’t plastered with google ads, and we have one widget. Very simple, I like to keep it more focused on our content
August 10th, 2007 at 1:38 pm -
Jamaipanese said:
Yet the design of a site that i visit is very important, right up in the top 3 most important.
August 10th, 2007 at 2:33 pm -
TVs Worst Adverts said:
I do think that design is important and at the centre of your blog design should be your content.
It should be obvious what it’s about, easy to find and most importantly easy to read.
Having said that, regardless or how pretty and easy to read your blog is, if the content itself isn’t very good, I probably wont be coming back to have a 2nd look at your blog design.
August 10th, 2007 at 3:27 pm -
Andy said:
Design is somewhat important to me. If I had the knowledge, I’d certainly try to improve my own site’s design. As is, I just try to make it readable.
As for other sites, horrible color schemes, too many ads, pop-ups, etc can turn me off. But the bottom line is content–just make sure the design doesn’t get in the way.
August 10th, 2007 at 3:45 pm -
cooper said:
Design does matter.
I like originality but still like things to be fairly clutter-free. With my long time reads I will tolerate a crowded mess, but with new blogs I tend to pass on by should they be too crowded, full of adds, or too brightly colored.
I only wish I was able to design blogs myself, but my talents are limited in that area.
The feed reading I do is on blogs from which I have no relationship with the author – such as Pro Blogger etc. The rest of the blogs I read I usually read in real time and space at their place, so design is important.
It is not the be all or end all though because in the end a great design will not hold me it is the content that holds me.
August 10th, 2007 at 3:54 pm -
Chris said:
My site is targeted at the younger reader and with a high element of art connected to the hip hop scene something that is aesthetically pleasing often helps.
August 10th, 2007 at 4:05 pm -
Peter McCartney said:
I am new to blogging but my main aim is to have a good looking blog utilising the KISS method. That is, “keep it simple, stupid”. The more popular blogs are simple in design, so that’s the way I’ll keep it. I am still learning so perhaps later on I might get around to a fancier design. I like mine because when you restore down you still get to see it all and you do not have to scroll around to view the bits that are not visible. My blog is targeted at a niche area and will not have too many hits. I only have two ads and I only put them on to learn how to do it. The site was not put there to make money but find other nurses that trained at St Vincent’s and relate a few stories of mine with pictures to get others to add theirs. Hopefully it will have group authors. Anyway thanks for the chance to view my opinions!
August 10th, 2007 at 5:12 pm -
Tish said:
I love a nicely designed blog, but content is more important than design for me. I read blogs through Google Reader and then go to the site to comment.
I’m fairly new to WordPress and haven’t learned to do much with my own site design yet, so mine is pretty bland. I look forward to doing more with it as I learn though!
Btw, thanks so much for the day planner, Matt! I will put it to good use! 🙂
August 10th, 2007 at 7:48 pm -
eastcoastlife said:
hmmmm…. a nicely designed blog is important. I’m an IT idiot. I just use Blogger’s template. I should have a custom designed template for my blog.
A hilarious story, I won 4 blog awards organised by a local blog aggregator. I won Most Interactive Blog award, Most Entertaining Post award, Most Controversial Post award and Best Post of the Year award. The Best Blog of the Year went to a blog that only won Best Blog Design! I won 4 awards but lost the main award to a blog that looks good. hahaha….
Blog design is important.
August 11th, 2007 at 3:38 am -
Han said:
not the design as such but I like to be able to read posts!
I do find I go back to sites with prettier layouts though.
August 11th, 2007 at 7:20 am
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