Blog Design Tips **(Includes Optional Tasks)

Now that you have personalized your blog, it would be a good time to review and edit your website. You can look at your colleagues’ or other people’s blogs to get a sense of what design elements work or do not work.


Imagine that you are someone else navigating through your blog. Do you feel over or underwhelmed by photos? Do the titles of the blog and posts stand out? Can you easily find what you are looking for?


Remember, the purpose of any blog is to entertain or inform. You should be able to communicate your message in 20 seconds or less. If you are having a difficult time figuring out the main purpose of your blog or how to navigate around it, then you may need to re-consider your blog design.


Here are some tips which may help guide you through the editing process:


1. Have a purpose for your blog. Communicate your content in a simple, clear way or you will lose your readers. Ask yourself questions like, “Who is my audience?” and “What information am I trying to share with my readers?”


2. Create simple graphics that are easy on the eyes. Graphics should neither overpower your content nor distract your reader. Graphics should make it easy to find information on your page or the information will not be read.


3. Use simple fonts. Since we quickly scan, not read information on the Web, it is important to avoid using fancy fonts that are unreadable.


4. Limit the length of your blog’s home page. Try keeping all of your blog pages to about 2 screen-lengths because readers do not want to scroll down or sideways for a long time. You can always use less widgets or images or display fewer posts to make this work.


5. Use white space in your blog. Blog design templates help you to create information in chunks, which makes it easier to scan through content. You can add more white space in your blog so that your information can be more easily viewed.


6. Use fewer images. Be kind to our friends with slower Internet connections! Large image files may take a long time to load onto someone’s computer. Using a simple design with colours and simple text will allow your blog to look good in a variety of web browsers like Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox or Safari (for Mac users) and with different computer settings.


7. Categorize your posts. If you create a lot of posts about the same topic, you can create labels to group similar posts together (much like in a library catalogue!).


***Optional Task


To add labels to your post:


Go to your ‘Dashboard’.
Click on ‘Edit posts’.
Click ‘Edit’ beside the blog entries that you want to label.
Click on the blue drop down menu beside “Label Actions” to create, apply or remove labels to your posts.




To add a labels widget to your home page:


Go to your ‘Dashboard’.
Click on ‘Layout’.
On the ‘Page Elements’ page, click on ‘Add a Gadget.’
Scroll down through all of the widgets and click on ‘Labels’
Select the features of your ‘Labels’ widget and click on ‘Save’
Return to the home page of your blog to see you new widget.


Happy editing!

References

MacDonald, A. (n.d.). Effective blog design tips for successful blogging. Retrieved February 1, 2010, from http://www.bloggingtips.com/2008/04/03/effective-blog-design-tips-for-successful-blogging/


Scocco, D. (n.d.). 43 Web design mistakes you should avoid. Retrieved February 1, 2010, from http://www.dailyblogtips.com/43-web-design-mistakes-you-should-avoid/


Stauffer, T. (2008). How to do everything with your Web 2.0 blog. New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies.


Typepad. (n.d.). 10 Design Tips to Make Your TypePad Pro Blog Look Fabulous. Retrieved February 1, 2010, from http://www.typepad.com/tips/blog-design-tips.html