September 4, 2009 at 16:02Thought About Blogging
The blogging system, which replaced the traditional system of forums and conferences for the late 90s, is undoubtedly a step forward in building communication-oriented resources, that is, speaking the Russian language, communication. Although the word blog comes literally from “web log”, “network diary”, the naked eye can see that the concept in the process of generalization and abstraction from metaphors of real life has gone quite far - the diary can be collective, and you can group entries in a variety of ways.
In general, it turned out that in the general case, the blog system began to include the previous, forum system. In this, I see both continuity and the hope of creating interfaces that provide backward social compatibility (blogs that can look and work exactly like forums if you ask them, or not go where you should not).
And it seems to me that the problem of social compatibility is not far-fetched. The blog system is devoid of a metaphorical analogy in the real world. Nothing like blogs exists physically among us. Difficulties begin already at the linguistic level when designing a particular website - to the “ordinary person” it’s extremely difficult to explain how all this works, it doesn’t catch on an intuitive level.
A more abstract and flexible system is good because it allows you to structure entries in an arbitrary way: a list of the latest, a list of the latest with a tag, a list of popular, a list of recently commented, a list of the author, a list of friends of the author, and so on. Therefore, there is a great temptation to immediately realize all available grouping options, load navigation, create a system of tags and filters ... and the more this is done, the more difficult it will be for the visitor to determine how to use all this. If you are planning something with blogs, consider a lot, a lot of restrictions.
It will seem that you are not using all the features - but this is not scary. So I consider myself a person who adapts well to various kinds of interfaces, I have been using a computer for twenty years, and I can’t say with confidence that it’s obvious to me how, for example, Habrhabr works . That is, no, just the same from the point of view of the insides; everything is very clear there - blogs, posts, comments, users, tags. And how, excuse me, explain all this to a beginner if he does not know the words “blog”, “post” and “tag”? For some time, Habr was too unpleasant for me precisely because I felt like an idiot there.
A more positive example is the sports portal sports.ru. Although, frankly, when I first saw him, I immediately realized - hell, it's just a hub about sports, we’re leaving. But in the end I had to delve into it, just like in a geek magazine - just a professional necessity. When you get used to everything, you see a lot of advantages, amenities, positive aspects (although in the little things there is always something to improve, of course). But the difficulty of first contact with such a resource is a real problem.
In general, it turned out that in the general case, the blog system began to include the previous, forum system. In this, I see both continuity and the hope of creating interfaces that provide backward social compatibility (blogs that can look and work exactly like forums if you ask them, or not go where you should not).
And it seems to me that the problem of social compatibility is not far-fetched. The blog system is devoid of a metaphorical analogy in the real world. Nothing like blogs exists physically among us. Difficulties begin already at the linguistic level when designing a particular website - to the “ordinary person” it’s extremely difficult to explain how all this works, it doesn’t catch on an intuitive level.
A more abstract and flexible system is good because it allows you to structure entries in an arbitrary way: a list of the latest, a list of the latest with a tag, a list of popular, a list of recently commented, a list of the author, a list of friends of the author, and so on. Therefore, there is a great temptation to immediately realize all available grouping options, load navigation, create a system of tags and filters ... and the more this is done, the more difficult it will be for the visitor to determine how to use all this. If you are planning something with blogs, consider a lot, a lot of restrictions.
It will seem that you are not using all the features - but this is not scary. So I consider myself a person who adapts well to various kinds of interfaces, I have been using a computer for twenty years, and I can’t say with confidence that it’s obvious to me how, for example, Habrhabr works . That is, no, just the same from the point of view of the insides; everything is very clear there - blogs, posts, comments, users, tags. And how, excuse me, explain all this to a beginner if he does not know the words “blog”, “post” and “tag”? For some time, Habr was too unpleasant for me precisely because I felt like an idiot there.
A more positive example is the sports portal sports.ru. Although, frankly, when I first saw him, I immediately realized - hell, it's just a hub about sports, we’re leaving. But in the end I had to delve into it, just like in a geek magazine - just a professional necessity. When you get used to everything, you see a lot of advantages, amenities, positive aspects (although in the little things there is always something to improve, of course). But the difficulty of first contact with such a resource is a real problem.