Weblogs, Usability, and Beyond

Is usability important for a weblog? Why? Why not?

i think that usability is important on all websites. that said, i don't think usability affects weblogs very much. since weblogs tend to be a single page that is read & updated daily,  there are only two really important things: is it readable, and are the links clearly indicated. everything else can conceivably be ignored. if a blogger wants their readers to use the rest of their site, however, they'll need to pay attention to the site structure, and navigation along with all the other usability issues.

How do you define content? In your opinion, what things are worth mentioning to readers of a weblog?

content, for me, is anything that i find interesting, whether it's an article, a personal page, a comic whatever. that along with my commentary and journal-like entries (which, of course, i think are very interesting) is what makes up eatonweb. since i started the weblog essentially as a bookmarking tool, things that are worth mentioning tend to be things that i'd like to find again, articles, studies, etc. and then the odd amusing or weblog related link. i try not to consider whether it's "worth mentioning" or not, just whether i found it interesting.

How do you know you are in touch with your readers? Do you (and should you) care about users?

i know that i'm *not* in touch with my readers at all. i very rarely hear from them. several months ago i had an identity crisis where i found myself analyzing each link, trying to decide if it was interesting enough for my readers. it broke down pretty quick, and i realized that i weblog for myself, it's somewhere that i put stuff i'm interested in. a place that i can pour out my feelings, irritations, and ego-filled opinions. i'm still surprised people keep coming back for more. 

What needs to change to make weblogs, in general, more valuable and useful to users? 

i don't think anything needs to change. as far as i can tell, users of weblogs find them very valuable as filters of web information. i could maybe envision a categorization system (sort of like memepool already does) but one that allows the user to choose which categories are of interest to them. they could then deselect all my personal entries and weblog-related entries and just read the entries that they found value in. actually whump already does this, and it hasn't seemed to propagate, so maybe it's not that important after all.

Inside Eatonweb

What is eatonweb? What is its purpose? What is your role? 

eatonweb started as an html project of my husband's, when he got sick of the novelty, i put up an online portfolio & resume. it was very much a static place until the beginning of this year. i'd been inspired by an article by lance arthur in alistapart telling designers to think outside the box and push the limits of html without worrying about backwards compatibility issues. i had the place to do it, and a concept of what i wanted to do, but no content. i ran across both weblogs and online journals about the same time and realized that i'd found my content. 

of course, since that initial design, it's evolved. i've dropped the journal and  i added a weblog portal, and for some reason i've now got visitors. because of  those users,  the initial concept of pushing the limits has had to be reigned in, but eatonweb is very much an expression of myself and a place designed to express myself. 

What are your skills? What tools do you use to generate eatonweb? 

i've got a really wide range of skills in web development. i've done everything from graphics to java programming, but what i really enjoy is information design and ui design. as far as eatonweb, i just use emacs to edit the html and then ftp it to my server. i have yet to find any tool that is more convenient or easier for me to use. 

Please describe your weblog portal. 

my weblog portal started as an attempt to list all the weblogs that were floating around on the web. i'd been using cam's list on his site, but he wasn't updating it fast enough for me, so i figured i'd start my own. this was back when there were only 30 or so blogs, and it was pretty easy to maintain. when it hit about 150, aaron created his surfmenu so i stole his idea for putting all the weblogs in a javascript array. this enabled me to actually manipulate the data, and provide sorting by category etc. i gradually realized that people were afraid to send me an email asking me to add a blog to the list, so i also implemented an anonymous submission form. since then it's gone crazy and it's pushing 400 weblogs. what bothers me about the portal, is the fact that i'm both forcing my categorization system on people, and standing as judger of whether something is a weblog or not. that's why i started the openblogportal, it allows people to add their own blogs and recategorize in ways that make sense to them. 

Final Thoughts and Opinions 

What makes a weblog worth visiting? What are your favorites? 

i find personality and interesting links are what makes a weblog a good read. some of my favorites are bifurcated rivets, genehack, peterme, evhead and lake effect. although i have about 20 daily regulars, including webword. they're all listed in my daily browse clip which i change constantly

What does the future hold for weblogs? What's coming soon? What should we expect? 

i'm sure many people will start a serious push to make profit from a weblog. i don't know how they'll do it, but i've definitely seen enough talk floating around. at the minimum you'll probably see a lot more blogs with banner ads, or sponsorships. as more tools develop to make it easy to create a weblog, we'll see more and more people who don't know html starting up their own blogs. 

When possible, should weblogs be commercial? Why? Why not? 

i don't have anything against weblogs that are commercial, the format makes sense for a lot of business sites as well as personal sites, pyra is a good example. but in some ways commercialization takes away the heart of weblogging, the personality which makes so many blogs enjoyable to read. then again, maybe i just haven't seen enough good commercial blogs. 

Final comments? Shameless plugs? Pearls of wisdom to share? 

i think self-publishing is a huge trend which will certainly be growing over the next few years. the web has enabled people to express themselves to the world in a whole new way. as more tools develop and are improved upon, people with no technical background or interest will have the opportunity to discover this self-expression and at the same time others can take advantage of the relevancy these people create. that's what makes weblogs so wonderful. they're nothing new, they're not changing the world with their content, they're not going to make anyone huge amounts of money, but they are a form of self-expression and community which others enjoy reading.


Brigitte, thank you very much for your insights and opinions. 

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