The Mindjet Blog

Read the findings of a blog usability study and rate how they apply to (y)our blog

A qualitative study, conducted by Catalyst Group Design in New York, examines the usability of blogs.

Here’s a quick summary of the main findings:

• “Visitors may not recognize they are on a blog – both because they have not knowingly seen one before, and because they are most likely to enter one at the post, rather than at the main-page, level.
• Blogs do not always identify themselves – particularly on lower-level pages – literally as blogs.
• Classic blog indicators, such as authorial photos, short-form writing, or the presence of categories and archives, are not signifiers for mainstream web users.
• The core purpose of submitting comments to a blog is not universally understood, and the design of the comment function may have to take this better into account.
• Few, if any, blogs declare exactly what will happen when a post is submitted – though some indicate after submission that there will be a review.
• Doubt about whether or not an obviously non-offensive comment will get posted could have a dampening effect on a core tenet of blogging: real-time reader/author dialogue.
• RSS terminology and mechanisms are powerful – but currently also not easily understood.
• Without a call to action and perhaps an explicit assurance, most people will ignore even brightly-marked XML buttons.
• The fear of spam and spyware cannot be underestimated, as it seems that mainstream experience with the web is teaching users to be extremely wary of persistent or automated functions that are not enabled through trusted sources.
• The connections between current, past, and topically-organized posts – is not easy to grasp as they are currently rendered in many blogs.
• Individualized category names in particular are misleading to casual browsers.
• Organizational connections between higher- and lower-level pages on blogs generally flow better in only one direction: from the top down. But current web behavior rarely adheres to that convention.
• RSS works against top-down navigation of blogs.
• Mainstream consumer expectations for assistance, education and context far outstrip implementation of blog interface and feature elements."

How well are we doing? Do any of these findings apply to the Mindjet blog? If yes, how can we improve? Do you have any other suggestions for the Mindjet blog?

Please comment!
 

PS. You may download this Blog Usability map to evaluate your own blog in terms of usability (that’s one of the great things about MindManager - you can put information in context, customize it, and act on it immediately).

To download the full usability report, click here:

www.catalystgroupdesign.com/cofactors/upload/Blog_usability_report.pdf

Tim Leberecht, Senior Corporate Communications Manager