Comments on: Blog Navigation and the Ongoing Challenges that Arise

By: Bruno

Bruno — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:46:01 +0000

Our website’s blog section has (so far) not even included any kind of navigation, because we’re trying to approach the whole site very minimally, adding elements as our needs arise. Now that navigation is looming on the horizon as a necessary element, we finally set out to start planning it, and this post has helped to reinforce our thoughts about some directions to head in and what deviations from the usual blog template might be appropriate. Thanks!

By: Lori

Lori — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 05:27:13 +0000

As a newbie to the Blog World, and very interested in how to create a dynamic, elegant, and interesting blog, I’m currently combing through websites looking for tidbits of information. I always look for the category section for posts on blog design and CSS. So, yes, categories can be very useful.

Unfortunately, I find that many sites do not have good ways to get to their older posts. All that work, wasted because people can’t find it easily.

Thanks for this article. I’ll keep this conversation in mind as I set up my sidebars.

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Sat, 02 Aug 2008 20:08:07 +0000

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My Ink Trail - Best of the Web, July 2008 | My Ink Blog — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:21:51 +0000

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By: Jin

Jin — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:30:23 +0000

“Jin,
In my opinion previous/next links are pretty much useless. They’re too limited.”

keep it simple. if you really think about navigation in its simplistic form, it’d be to navigate next/prev. and have a link to see all the articles.

there’s a reason why most blog sites(especially designers’) all look the same. somehow “popular articles,” “recent articles,” “recent comments,” etc became necessity than decorations.

i agree with you on internal links. it’s simply the best, least distracting way.

By: pearl

pearl — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 13:19:33 +0000

Hey Steven

What a nice post. The issue of navigation was the biggest one for me on the previous theme. And I have the same feelings on categories too. 1) I never click on categories on other blogs, 2) Just like me, it’s possible that people haven’t categorized their posts correctly, so what’s the point?

On related posts issue, I cannot recall any single time I clicked on those either on any blogs but I like the random posts plugin. This plug-in has allowed me to see my own posts from the past that I’d completely forgotten about.

Although I feel very restrained, non-techie people like me have no other way to do this than to rely on plug-ins for most popular posts or random posts.

would love to see more on this topic in future…

By: matt williams

matt williams — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 21:19:36 +0000

I agree with this post. Of coarse navigation tied in the design is the key. I ran into a post the other day about a woman wanting to start her own blog site. Long story short, she went straight to the expert and consulted with Chris Garrett. The results were amazing. If you go to remarkableparents.com , you will see the what I am saying. Adding internal links to the actual text is the best way to have people click thru rate go higher. My navigational tactic is a little of both. I only use the side bars because it tends to look more professional. The other day on dream weaver 9 , I discovered the navigational pull down tool. I am now working on a navigational pull down tool that will enable me to start from one solid main topic or heading , and work your way through the structure of the entire site with just one click.

By: Vandelay Design

Vandelay Design — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:55:06 +0000

James,
That sounds interesting. I wonder if there is an existing plugin that could do that. I think it would probably still face some of the same issues as related post links, such as blindness, but maybe just using a different headline like you mentioned instead of “Related Posts” would be more effective.

Janko,
If categories work for you and your visitors definitely keep using them. It makes sense when you split your blog like that. Yeah, I think images just draw more attention.

Kat,
Thanks for the feedback.

Jin,
In my opinion previous/next links are pretty much useless. They’re too limited.

By: Jin

Jin — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:11:34 +0000

all you need is prev/next/archive links on each page. anything else is excess.

By: Kat Rice

Kat Rice — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:02:50 +0000

This is a great post. When most people talk about blog design its about color schemes and visibility which is important but navigation is usually left to the coder to think about if it all. Great points all around.