I’m grinning like a possum eating persimmons! Leanne has been working on that picture of my hands that you see in the header. She has made it into a cartoon (with red fingernails) and I can’t wait to put it on my blog. In a week or so, she will begin re-vamping my site. It won’t be long now, and I’ll get my on-line home straightened out and looking the way I’d like it to look. You and I know that blogging is a lot more fun when your pages look the way you want them to look. I’m anxious to settle in and get comfortable.
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking since moving to Word Press about the way I want my blog to look, and the “bells and whistles” I want it to have. There are so many wonderful tweaks that we can do to our websites that it is easy to get carried away. Sometimes all of those additions make the blog much less reader friendly, which brings me to a couple of things I would address to those of you using Blogger. They are things I didn’t think about much before I migrated.
I would think that most people enjoy having comments made on their posts. It’s good to get feedback from people, usually. Don’t y’all like that feedback? Blogger allows you to change your comment section quite a few ways. But, I don’t think that all of them are good. Some people make it very difficult for readers to comment on their posts. If you think you might be one of those people, I encourage you to log out, then open up your blog site and click on the comment box to see it from the perspective of someone who is not on Blogger. How user friendly is it? Do you have the comments section come up in a little box? Do users have to type a code in order to comment? Can someone who has a blog hosted by anything other than Blogger comment on your site? Those are my three biggest complaints.
The comment box pop up looks snazzy, I agree. But, it pops up right smack dab in the middle of the posts, and has to be moved so you can read what the post said. That darn box won’t expand, so if I see someone interesting who has commented, I can’t click on their name and open up their blog to look at it — their blog tries to pop up in that itty bitty box. That’s not friendly to the reader, nor is it friendly to the folks who comment (and hope that they will get new readers from your site!). Unless you are just really enamored of that feature (or don’t want your readers to visit other sites), you might consider not using it. I certainly won’t think you are less technologically savvy if you turn it off. I’ll consider you technologically savvy if you can figure out how to do that!
That code (is it called a captcha?) is disturbing for folks with bad eyesight. I’m talking me, people. I have forty-eleven pairs of glasses around this house and can never find them. Sometimes I can’t read those letters because they are so distorted. I’m also dylxesis dyselsixs … I get my letters jumbled. My brain doesn’t send the right signal to my hands, and I type the letters wrong. If it happens once, I’ll try again. But, if it happens twice I just cancel the comment and move on to someone else’s blog who cares whether I comment or not. From other posts I’ve seen about “commenting,” I’m not the only person who gets disgusted and moves on.
Now, I know that the purpose of that captcha is to reduce spam. I don’t have one, and I hardly get any spam at all on the e-mail account attached to my blog. ‘Course, I am not an “A-list” blogger! In fact, I don’t think I’ve made it off of Technorati’s “F-list.” If you aren’t a highly ranked blogger yet, do you really want to risk having people just move on without commenting?
Finally, look on your blog and see if it allows a person to comment as “Other.” Some comment sections only say “Sign in with your Google Account.” I can do that still, because I have my old Blogspot still available to me. But, then people who want to visit me have to go to my old blog and navigate over here. If I only had WordPress, or if I had Live Journal, I wouldn’t be able to comment. I’m not sure what setting you have to change to allow “Other” to comment (Other might sometimes have something intelligent to say). I know you probably don’t want “Anonymous” to comment, because she’s obnoxious. If any of you Blogger geeks know what changes to make, maybe you could de-lurk and comment on that.
Am I being too picky here? Y’all can go on and tell me, because I’d tell you. Speak your mind.
Other posts you might enjoy:
- Now They’ve Done It. Blogger Made Me Want To “Change My Tone”
- Lost in the Bowels of My Blog
- What To Do About Blog Comments
- Building a Blog Community
- Getting The Most Out Of A Meme
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{ 7 comments }
Comments have always been an issue for me on blogger. I have tried various things to make it easier to open dialog with a commenter. Most of this has been fruitless.
I leave comments on other blogs and in most cases might as well not because I never go back to see if the blogger has responded. In my opinion what is the point then of commenting other than to let the writer know I’ve been there.
I like the feature you have to check the box to get followup comments via email.
Do people even take the time to check the box?
On my site they can do the same thing in the little pink box but not one person has taken advantage of that feature. What does that tell me? What does it tell you?
I have met some fabulous people via my blog. I know who my regulars are and correspond via email when I really want to have any serious conversation.
I’ve considered removing comments from my blog all together to put this issue to bed.
My email is available for anyone who wants to correspond with me in a formal kinda way.
Hey Janet,
Thanks for the response! Don’t remove comments from your blog…I think that comments add an extra dimension to the whole experience. I love to read other people’s comments. The comment box is also where I find cool new blogs to read (several I have found from your blog!).
“Pink Box?” I just went to your blog, and it’s not apparent to me—but again, my eyesight is shot. If I had known it was there, I would have checked it. I always want to know if people responded, but like you I don’t always go back to check. Do people check the box on mine? The blog doesn’t tell me that. So…maybe someone will comment to tell me if they DO.
Well, I can’t wait to get that cartoon on here! As for comments, your site is friendly, so I don’t have any problem commenting. You do have that word verification code…but then you get a lot of traffic! Have you ever had much problem with Spam e-mail?
I’m okay with the comments thing, but I can’t wait to see the cartoon. Sounds like a winning design.
Comments, can’t live with them, can’t shoot them…oh, that’s men.
Comments are a conundrum. I agree with so many of the things Janet had to say and you too. I don’t like have the captcha stuff. I tend to take too long writing a comment (I’m compulsive and edit like a maniac). On the sites that navigate to another page, I often time out. In the pop up, I have to type the captcha 2 or three times. I’ve learned to cut and paste in a big hurry before losing one of my post length comments.
The non-expanding pop up window is something rather recent. I don’t know if it’s a Firefox thing, but when Firefox last upgraded was when I lost the ability to expand that box.
I have taken the captcha down only to put it back up less than 48 hours later due to an overload of spam. I’m not an A lister by any means, I’ve just been at this for a while.
I really don’t know what the answers are, other than I need to go check out Janet’s little pink box…I’ve never noticed it either.
I can’t wait to see your new site!
ciao bella~
CeeCi
I can live with the captcha’s if I have to do so, because I know people don’t want spam. On the site connected with my work (real work) I have to wade through hundreds of spam messages several times a day. I also have to go through the junk that is deemed automatically spam, because Yahoo sends my customers there!!
It’s those dang boxes that bother me most. I like to cruise other people’s sites, and can’t with those tiny boxes. Must check it in IE to see if it happens there, or if it’s Mozilla. And, I want to be able to log in with this address! If people have to navigate too much, I think they might just give up.
I can’t wait for the new site either, but I am trying to stay calm.
I have the captchas set on my blog, have removed it at twice and both times ended up having to delete spam comments. I am FAR from an A-list blogger, but still don’t want my visitors have to read through it when I am not around to delete it right away.
I do despise Blogger’s pop-up comment box.
I look forward to seeing your new look! I just finished tweaking the template on my blog today. I am pleased with the way it looks now, but I am one of those who rolls out a new look for the time of year.
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