Blog content positioning
It's a fact that people are scanning online content instead of reading it, but besides that, not many rules are helping bloggers to create better, more profitable designs. Regardless, we tried to collect some of the useful sources available - keep these in mind when you're (re)designing your blog.
Technorati Tags: usability, heatmap
F-shaped pattern for reading web content
Altough I'm not always agreeing with his conclusions, it's worth following Jakob Nielsen's usability newsletter, the alertbox. In a fairly new study he emphasized the scanning nature of the way we read webpages, and my opinion is that it's even more true for blog posts.
Heatmap of a traditional website
Altough this study is quite old, most of its results can still be applied to current blog designs. Notice, how the upper left corner contents get more attention, how clear, big headlines catch the eye, and the serious attention loss under the without-scroll area.
Blog heatmap example
Eyetool-testing is something not too many bloggers can afford, but the results of a recent one by Greg Edwards can give you some ideas on how your visitors might read your blog. If you have important information in a "hidden" darkblue section, you should consider a redesign.
Positioning ads on your blog
And finally there's the classic Google AdSense Heatmap and it's newer version aimed to forums. (I think this one can almost perfectly be applied to blog designs too.) If your blog has some advertising income, be sure to check that your ads are showing at the right places - you might gain some serious money by putting them to one of the red zones.
May 03, 2006
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