5 things Nobody Needs to see On a Blog

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Lately there have been a few issues that have been bothering me as I am seeing more and more blogs out there in the Big Bad Blogosphere. It seems there are so many blogs, good and not so good that I read but there are a few little features that some of them incorporate for whatever reason and some of these features have no business being on a blog.

I am a designer at heart so I am always thinking of how people interact with each other through this fine medium we have at our disposal. I amazes me what some programmer geeks come up with thinking "How great will this be?..." when the cruel reality is entirely different, entirely UNcool to see on a site.

Now there may be a time and a place for each of these features somewhere on the net but as a general rule, I do not like to see these on a blog as there is simply no need and in some cases they actually hinder the reader (hint; this is bad!)

Here they are;

Flashing, rolling text or banner ads.
When reading a blog these are particularly distracting to the eye. How can I read the content when something is flashing to get my attention?

Visible counters.
While probably the least offensive, they don't need to be on a blog unless you are in the top 50 or so list of blogs. Does anyone really need to advertise that they have only had a hundred and 5 visitors over the last 3 years of blogging?

Music.
Tunes that play automatically are fun but not everyone has the same taste in music. Call me Canadian but I don't like to offend potential readership with my country music so why am I subject to someone else's eighties hair band fetish?

Snaps. (shown above)
These are my biggest pet peeve. These are little pop-up windows that show up when you scroll over an outgoing link. Completely UNnecessary. They take up half of my small laptop screen and sometimes even freezes it up. Not everyone has the latest technology for optimum viewing so why ruin what little surfing time they might have?

Outgoing link pop stats.
Hybrid of stat counter and snaps, this feature is not really that bad but who needs to know they are just like all the other folks who have visited the site?

Have any thoughts to add? Maybe there is something irking that I have missed so chime in!

2 witty words:

Laura said...

Those are some good points. I just started my blog yesterday and haven't had the time to adjust the design much, but I definitely won't go for music or rolling banners!
I think simple often works the best, it's irritating to read blogs that have green background and pink text.
I think photos are usually a plus but in some blogs they are really bad quality and it makes the blogger look bad.
Anyway, I like your blog!

T.Allen said...

*wipes brow* none of the above on my blog-thanks for sharing this it is agreed-less is more.