I’ve been running my hearing aids blog for a few years now. In that time it has changed theme 3 or 4 times. During the most recent theme update I decided to change it from being a traditional blog type of layout to using a static front page.
Most blogs have the last 10 posts displayed either paritally or in full on the front page. A categories list, some links and some Adsense down the sidebar. This is great for personal blogs that are meant to be read as a diary with sequential posts but what about information-centric blogs? Blogs that people will come to through a search engine looking for a specific piece of information and will most likely then want to find out what else your site has to offer on that subject.
That’s where the traditional blog layout fails. It doesn’t group relevant information together very well. Chrisg.com is a good example of this. He’s a great blogger who writes interesting stuff on blogging and new media – I’ve been reading his RSS forever so it’s not an issue for me but what about someone who comes to the site for the first time looking for, say, information on business blogging? The sitemap page lists all posts under headings of blogging and business but nothing really links a specific post to another.
People need easy navigation on websites to get around and blogs fail on that.
Breadcrumbs would help.
So would a category specific landing page showing popule, all posts for that category with a header describing the category.
Those two would ease navigation but I think a static front page with a welcome message, a descrption of the site and section specific links would be a real winner. I’m getting there on hearnig aids, I’m usnig the Brandford Magazine WP theme and that has a static front page with good navigation. I don’t have a welcome message so people hitting the site don’t know if I’m selling something, a charity or what. I don’t have breadcrumbs either.
The Guardian website is a great example of a site that is easy to navigate around. It’s a design that I can aspire to. You’re never lost on that site. The breadcrumbs are in your face. They have a category specific colour scheme for an easy visual indicator of what you are readnig or are about to click on.
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