Survey: What do you think?
16 Apr 2006
Your feedback on issues has always been invaluable. So as I dig into using my new site, could you take the time to answer one, some or all of the questions below by way of a comment? This will help me develop the site further, to help you and others.
* What is the current site doing for you that you feel is good?
* What is the current site not doing for you that you feel it should be?
* Do you feel that the new design promotes conversation? If so, which features do you feel most contribute to conversation? Which features detract from conversation?
* What do you feel is best about the new design? What do you feel is
worst?
* Do you feel that the new design is comfortable? If so, what most contributes to a feeling of comfort? What detracts? If not, why do you feel the design is uncomfortable?
8 comments
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Comment by Marc
8.03 am on 16 Apr 2006
I like the site and a happy easter!
Comment by Dean Whisnant
12.30 am on 17 Apr 2006
I like the message that you present, but am not all that concerned about the wrapper… Hmm, drawing parallels here… It does have a nice crisp look to it though….
Comment by ConradGempf
12.46 pm on 17 Apr 2006
Since you ask…
De-emphasise the right-hand column by using smaller text, thus saying ‘This is reference material about the conversation, not the conversation proper’.
Merge the other two columns as you have for the first ’story’, and give us abt as many paragraphs for each headline as it takes to eliminate 85-95% of the clicks needed to read the site otherwise. Two columns of competing headlines all requiring clicks is more like the index of a reference book. One topic at a time. Seeing what you wanted to say there in front of me, and clicking when I want to reply is more like conversation.
Since the headlines are formatted as headlines not hyperlinks, on those occassions that you DO want people to click in order to read, you need to mark that at the end (where they will be at the time that they want to continue). If you want it to resemble conversation, pay attention to where the break is. What is on the blog proper should be a complete statement, methinks, and the click should be me saying “I’m interested; let’s take this to the next level” rather than “I don’t know if I’m interested or not, what are you driving at?”
Similarly, the link to comments on the article belongs at the end… “I’ve finished reading this, now here’s what I think.” rather than at the beginning, which makes comments into an offshoot article rather than a dialogue.
Sorry… but you did ask and information design is a bit of a hobby. (Though you’d never know it by looking at my blog, which was just ‘whatever my software produces automatically will have to do’.)
Comment by brian
3.35 am on 18 Apr 2006
Jason I would have to say that whatever design you choose I would still read. Here’s my thoughts on this design, though. It’s clean and simple, but it is a little busy with many clicks needed which works more like a web page than a personal site, but I like the ability to read snippets of much of the info so I think I’ll get used to it.
Peace
Comment by gredaadt
3.45 pm on 18 Apr 2006
I like the fact that your lder threads are more easily accessible, unlike the typical clunky blogs, where eternal scrolling is necessary.
Sure, it’s a little different than the typical way of doing things… a little more inclusive, I think… maybe a little more accessible… and ultimately, that’s the point, isn’t it?
Comment by Martin
5.43 pm on 18 Apr 2006
Hi Jason, Whilst I have commented only once on your blog I have been visiting for some time and think the new changes are great. I agree with some of the other comments that the 2 right hand columns could be made smaller but I personally feel they are quite useful for finding your way around the blog. I think this design also (don\’t ask me how) encourages continued conversation on older posts rather that just the latest one – perhaps they appear more accesible. Hope you get some positive comments and manage to arrive at a final design quickly.
Comment by Matt Wiebe
4.42 pm on 19 Apr 2006
I would agree with Conrad that the extra columns should have smaller text, and possibly be narrower as well.
If you’re going to have only a limited amount of the post on the main page like this, the “click to continue reading” needs to be more clear. The ellipsis (…) on the first post is hardly visible. Explanatory text would be better. And for your most recent posts, it’s not at all clear that there’s more to be read upon first glance. I do see that you can click on the titles, but it’s not at all intuitive.
Also, I find the tags section at the bottom kind of bizarre. They should at least be labelled I’d say.
So, there’s my critiques. Overall I do like it, but those are the things that could use improvement.
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