06 February 2012

5 Annoying Features On Your Blog

by Diane Carlisle

I’m begging you! Please, please do these things to make your blog more user friendly with the more interactive crowd. I follow many blogs and my commenting and responsiveness relies upon very easy access and quick feedback.

1. Please turn off the captchas. I understand there's spam out there, but if you haven't monetized your blog or posted it up in some of the sites that broadcast to mass marketers, then you really shouldn't need captchas. Only use them when you've discovered spam abuse in your comments. Chances are you will never run across abuse in comments on your personal blogs. You may even discover an increase in the number of responses to your articles. It would be nice if blogging software would allow you to pose a test question to be answered rather than use of the captchas. At least that would make your blog ADA compliant.

2. Please don't change your blog theme as often as the weather changes in Florida. Think about Microsoft and Google and how long they've been around. They still look the same, right? On occasion, Google will change their Logo to accommodate our holidays, whether it's Christmas, St. Patrick's Day, or Valentine's Day. However, they always revert back to what looks familiar to us. Come up with your theme and stick to it. It’s the concept behind branding.

3. Please be sensitive to your audience when selecting font size and color. I've seen font colors that are so difficult to read it may as well be white text on a white background. Also, since I'm getting older and my eyes are getting weaker, I don't want to struggle to read what may otherwise be a very clever and entertaining article. I hate it that I have to by-pass an article because the font isn't big enough for me to read. I'm not going to change the zoom on my screen for one article with small font when I can simply go to the next blog.

4. Please turn off comment moderation. If you want, there's an option that will keep anonymous visitors from posting comments to your blog. Seriously, I'm an instant gratification type person. That means I like to experience things in real time. I want to see my comment published as soon as I click the "post comment" button. It gives me a warm fuzzy to see my posted words on your site, in your theme and all it's beautiful colors and fonts!

5. Please use the spelling and grammar checking tools bundled with your word processing software. There have been a ton of blogs that I've visited and re-visited where I'd find the occasional typo and/or misplaced word (I've done it myself). The fewer there are, the more likely I will visit your site again just to give you kudos and leave comments because I like what I'm seeing.



If I’m coming back and commenting on your blog and you have these dreaded features enabled, then you have an awesome blog because I feel compelled to visit despite them!

So, tell me. What features out there in the blog-o-sphere have you flustered? Share them here. I do make subtle changes on mine, all coming as suggestions by readers who visit. The one thing I refuse to change is my white text on a dark background (...and never say never. Oops!). I was raised on the internet playing MUDs and it is an absolute must for me.

41 comments:

  1. Gah, I think we all hate it when ANY website changes their theme. Ever noticed the immediate backlash when Facebook changes their theme?

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    1. Facebook should know better! They have gazillion users! LOL

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  2. I thought I had the captcha's turned off, when a friend pointed out that they were still working. I finally did get them off, and did get about three infrequent spam comments, but blogger caught them, anyway. I do have comment moderation because of the spam comments, but the post has to be three days old, so if the person commenting is in that time window, there is no moderation. The spammers have always been on old posts.

    Terrible font size and color is what will make me skip a blog faster than anything!

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    1. On first creation I had chaptchas AND comment moderation enabled. It's when I turned them off that I realized the software would do its magic for me. Occasionally, I'll get some 10 year old who wants to be cute, then I just delete. :D

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  3. And the no-reply.

    I like to drop a note to my visitors with a thank you. I don't like doing that publicly with a comment.

    If they wish to be anonymous, why are they even commenting?

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    1. A no-reply is an indication the person who sent you an email has you on a list or the system which sent you the email doesn't want you to respond via email (probably blogger or wordpress and not the user).

      I tried to provide a comment form where my address is the return address, but the code was faulty. I think I might try it again. Thanks for the inspiration!

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  4. I just tweaked my blog based on your post.

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    1. Really!!!? I'm there tomorrow...though, I was there today. :)

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    2. Seriously, is there a captcha on my blog? Because I don't think I can turn it off if there is one...?

      (And if I look like a real nudnik in public now, oh, well.) :-)

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    3. LOL!! You do have it enabled. I know how to turn them off for Blogspot, but not for other software like Wordpress. What blogging software are you using?

      email me pyrosama @ comcast.net

      Maybe I can help you out.

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  5. Great post! My browser has a problem with captchas so if I want to comment on blogs that use that, I have to open IE (which I absolutely hate) and comment through there. I won't do it all the time. Just once in a while. That is actually why my blog is on wordpress and not blogger. When I had it on blogger (many moons ago) I had to have captcha and I just don't like it. So I switched.

    You are very right about the size of the text and color. Even font. As one with horrible eyesight (even though I wear the strongest contacts possible) I can't see a lot of the blog posts. If I really want to read it, I have to copy the entire thing and paste into a word document and change the font color/size, etc. That's a lot of work and I have to really, really want to read what you have to say if I go through that.

    My header changes from time to time because it is always a picture with my grandson in it. That's just me. Probably doesn't change except maybe three or so times a year. My blog has kind of shoot from the hip kind of posts and a lot of memoir so my header does change but not the overall look or feel of it. I keep the theme.

    Thanks for a great post!

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    1. With all the new browsers and blogging sites emerging, it's a wonder we don't have MORE glitches! I remember when I first downloaded Chrome and couldn't get my follow list to show up. Very frustrating because I thought everyone was seeing the same thing and they weren't.

      Very frustrating. Thanks for stopping by and giving your two cents!

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  6. I have to disagree about the comment moderation and Captcha. Even with both in place, I still have to fight off spam. I find it very annoying when spammers attack my friends on older posts too. I just want to smack those trolls.

    There's no easy solution. I've never suffered a lack of comments so I'm guessing Captcha is not that much of a turn-off.

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    1. I've heard from many that the benefits of having those enabled far outweigh the consequences of not doing so. Coming from a person who loves to blog and post comments in a responsible manner, they are frustrating. :)

      I do respect your opinion. Thanks for stopping by and contributing!

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  7. I get annoyed by the captchas that make you scroll down the screen in a screen to type and submit them. I have no captchas and no comment moderation on my blog and I've never had a problem.

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    1. Me too and me either!

      I think your blog is very interactive and user friendly.

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  8. I'm so with you on the captcha...that bothers me to all ends, especially because 90% of the time I'm responding using my cell phone and that is a PAIN to have to type. I also hate pages that take long to load...mine has been guilty of that, but I have been trying to cut back on what loads on my blog! I'm also VERY guilty of number two!

    Another pisser is people who just say, "Hi I'm following your blog, here's mine, follow back!" that bothers me so bad!!!

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    1. It's difficult commenting with a phone, yes! I might get an ipad for my 25th anniversary in June. :)

      You'll find the perfect theme eventually. When I first saw the Twitter logo, I was like God that's so awful. But, it's been around so long and now I like it! lol I just didn't have any taste when it comes to logos, or Twitter and big business know what they're doing for the long haul!

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  9. I think I passed your test, or my blog is just THAT awesome :) Hee hee.

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  10. You got it! Especially the captcha - hate that feature! Also, as Nicole points out, pages/sites that are so full of pictures or other media that they take forever to load.

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    1. I was guilty of this one thing called the "chat for blog" gadget. I had to take it down because though I thought it was rather cool to be able to chat with visitors, it took forever to load the page. Just not worth it.

      And sites that load .bmp images rather than .jpg or .gif are really slow loading because the graphics files are so large.

      Thanks for stopping by E.D!

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  11. I thought I got rid of the captchas--well if you don't visit me anymore, I'll know why. Sorry. Love your post!:)

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  12. Yes! I hate cursive type or similar unreadable fronts. It's too hard to read and I'll never go back to blog if its used. It shouldn’t be a strain to read a post!

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    1. This is true. There's only one font that is off the customary normal fonts which I fell in love with, but cannot read an entire article with and that's the Dragonwick font.

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  13. Oh my goodness, yes I am with you Diane on all of the above.

    In terms of blog templates and themes - it definitely affects whether I return to blogs or not. Some blogs I open, and leave straight away without even giving the content a go. Themes and branding are so important. Mine is changing in my head all the time, but I will commit to a theme only when I am ready.

    I turned off the captchas, and will turn off comment moderation too ... thanks for the tip!

    Oh, and spelling and grammar is a huge one for me. A girl I know personally started a blog with no capital letters or punctuation. Instant unfollow from me:)

    http://unpublishedworksofme.blogspot.com/

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    1. Glad you gained from my tips. I will check you out! If it's a new blog, I will expect that you will change a few times. I changed mine about three times over the past three years because over time I would see other features on other blogs and tried to move away from the standard templates to get my own look. One change was a huge one, going from greens, blacks and olive colors. LOL. Shut it, don't laugh at me. I think I even had hot pink links. :)

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  14. Great advice.
    What really gets to me is music on a blog. I don't want to listen to someones music when I'm reading, I have my own.
    And with some blog/work websites, they'll have videos playing automatically, usually in some small hard to find part of the page. When I'm online, I'll have 10 or 15 tabs sometimes, so I have to go through all of them looking for this tiny video just to turn it off.
    Hate it.

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    1. Music, yes. Thanks for reminding me, but it also reminds me of another. Maybe I can expand this to be 10 Annoyances soon enough.

      Some bloggers don't realize that moving graphics (falling snowflakes and leaves) on your background does detract from pleasure viewing because as the falling graphics move off the screen on the sides, this activates/deactivates the side and bottom scroll bars giving it the effect that the scroll bars are flashing on and off.

      Sound and moving objects are not good design elements unless you're attempting to keep a 9 month old baby entertained. :D

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  15. Oh the dreaded captchas. It is so unnecessary now. Blogger has a great spam filter.

    Okay, I'm guilty of #2, but I've stabilized now.

    I don't mind the moderation, but captcha and moderation is overkill. My "new" blog is set up so that the first comment is moderated and after that is is accepted.

    Things I don't like are the toolbars that block the bottom of the blog, social icons that follow me around, and hot pink text on a black backround.

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    1. Ooo, can you imagine the inverse of that? A black link on a hot pink background. lol

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  16. Great post and reminders. Thank you for stopping by my new blog and your kind comments. Go for it!

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    1. Thank you! Good luck with your legal program. One day I might need a lawyer, I'm just saying.

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  17. I hate it when blogs don't allow comments because that's part of the fun of reading the blogs. I also don't like it when people write one blog and never update it. That's happened to me twice. I read a blog I liked and when I went back it was the same blog for two months. Then I never went back again.

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    1. I've read many blogs that were funny and entertaining with only one or two articles. That's a shame, because they never really gave it a shot.

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  18. I'm not sure if I have all this gunk enabled on my blog or not.

    I shal have a look.

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    1. You may. A lot of it comes as default settings.

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  19. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  20. Nice post.I like the way you start and then conclude your thoughts. Thanks for this information .I really appreciate your work, keep it up
    psds

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    1. Thank you for the feedback. It inspires me to continue.

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