Last week, after writing an article about
8 Web Design Mistakes That Developers Make, I took inventory of the
old design, and decided it was time for a redesign (despite the fact that the old design only lasted two months). So this article not only ushers in the new design, but also answers the question:
Why even redesign a blog in the first place? So here are 8 good reasons for anyone to redesign their blog.
1. Things Have Gotten Messy Blogs evolve over time and although your layout and navigation seem intuitive to you, you've also been looking at it every day. Furthermore, you've probably added new sections and ideas along the way, finding ways to fit the content in a design that might not support it. Since a blog's
core is its content, sometimes you need to clean up your existing design to make access to this content easier.
2. Your Brand Needs Refocusing As noted, blogs tend to evolve with new ideas all the time. Furthermore, the goals you originally had for your site have either been reached or have drastically changed. Consider what your new goals are and change your site accordingly. Just make sure you plan for the next year, not just the next month.
3. The Community Needs Improving Although the camaraderie among bloggers is strong, blogs in and of themselves aren't really "communities" since only a tiny percentage of visitors ever participate in the comments. However, there is still great value amongst those who do choose to participate, so it's always good to promote that. One method of promoting community started here are
group advice posts. Another is adding robustness to your comment section, using features like avatars (we're now using
gravatars), comment threading, and email notification.
4. You've Ignored Your Own Advice We bloggers can be quite didactic at times, listing out rules and reasons for various activities, including blogging. So depending on your topic, just make sure your blog is in line with the advice you dispense. If you're a blogger who covers websites, you should probably have
decent standards of XHTML and CSS. (Yes, that means we finally replaced the tables in the sidebar with CSS [although there are still other tasks that need attention]).
5. It Makes Business Sense No need to beat around the bush...if you need a better layout for advertising or sales, then do it. Blogging can be quite the timely exercise, so if you can cover some time and expense, you should plan for it. Just do it in a tasteful way, remembering that you always need content and visitors first. There's nothing shameful with making money (says this author who's currently reading
Atlas Shrugged).
6. The People Demand It You should always file away suggestions the you've received from others. Chances are, your visitors are a bit more objective about your site than you are. So if people say that your navigation is confusing, then that means that your navigation is confusing. Your blog's success is directly proportional to your visitors' perception of it. Take their advice.
7. The Analytics Demand It I would also suggest that occasionally, you check your visitor analytics and have a pretty good idea of where your traffic comes from, what they click on, and what pages they leave from. Although such data can be misinterpreted a hundred different ways, if there are obvious flags (like a high bounce rate or a low average visit time), you should try to address them with a new design.
8. You Really, Really Want To It's your blog, and if you really want to redesign it, then go for it. Although the objective reasons above should play a part in the decision, if you're passionate about a redesign (or anything else for that matter), excellence often follows. Just don't get carried away to the point that your content creation becomes secondary to your design creation.
And one last thing: it is inevitable that after any redesign, people will disagree with some of your design decisions. Listen well, but also remember that (hopefully) you've already spent many hours considering and testing many options. Don't immediately start reverting changes unless you're convinced by multiple voices or obvious analytics. Stay positive, enjoy any good or helpful feedback, listen to everyone, and then get back to creating content.
译文:
重新设计博客的八大理由
上周，写了《开发者常犯的8个网站设计错误》后，理出旧设计的清单，然后决定该做个新的设计了（尽管事实是老设计才用了两个月）。所以这篇文章不仅是在做新设计时提供帮助，也回答了“为什么首先就要重新设计博客？”的问题。这里列出了重新设计博客的八个原因。
1. 内容变得杂乱
博客在随着时间改变。尽管你的布局和导航栏看起来很直观，但你也是每天都在看它。还有，你找到添加合适内容的途径，在现在的模式下加了新的部分和观点，但设计可能显得不协调。内容是博客的核心。你需要清理已有的设计，让内容浏览变得轻松。
2．你的品牌需要重新聚焦
如刚才提到的，博客总会引入新的观点。除此之外，你的网站原有的目标是能被访问或者经常更新。想想你的新目标是什么并相应的对网站作些变更。请重新确定明年的计划，而不是下月的。
3．社区需要改进
尽管博客间的友谊是很深，但创建博客，写些自己的事，并不是正宗的社区。因为只有比例很小的访客参加评论，所以提升这个比例总是好的。提升社区人气的一个方法是：热门话题讨论， 另一个让社区变得强大的办法是利用特征插件，如：avasters①（我的博客现在用的是gravatars），comment threading（增强评论功能的插件）和邮件提醒。
4．你忽略了你的看法
我们博客作者列出的各种事情规则和理由，有时起到引导作用，包括写博客。根据你的主题，要确保你的博客与你表达观点是一致的。如果你是个讲网站的博主，你可能应该有像样的XTML和CSS的标准。（是的，这意味着我们最终要把桌面的工具条换成CSS【尽管还有其它的事项需要注意】）
5. 赋予博客商业意义
如果你需要一个更好的区域做广告或者推销，不需要左思右想，做就好了。博客是种很讲时性的应用，如果你能花很多时间，那么应该好好计划一下。让它变得有品味些，牢记要保持内容更新，访客是第一位的。赚钱没什么可害羞的（说到这里，我最近在读《阿特拉斯耸耸肩》)。
6．人们的要求
你应该记好别人给你提的建议。对网站来说，机会是访客比你更有目标性。所以如果有人说你的导航条混乱，那么你的导航条就是混乱。你博客的成功在于直接把重点放在访客的感受上。向他们请教！
7．分析的要求
我也建议你偶尔查看访客分析，你会对“流量从哪来，他们点击了什么，在什么页面离开了”有很好的了解。尽管这个数据会被错误的分析出一百种不同的方式，但如果有一些明显的信号（比如一个高的蹦失率②或者低的平均停留时间），你就该试着重新做个新的设计了。
8 真的很想那样做
如果你真的想重新设计博客，那么就去做吧。尽管上面列出的目的性的理由，是让你做出决定的一部分理由，但如果你对重新设计充满期待（或者那样做的其它理由)，精彩也会随之而来。不要忘了内容创新仅次于设计创新。
还有最后一件事：这是不可避免的，在任何重新设计之后，人们可能会反对你做的一些设计决定。听好了，想想那些（充满希望的）你已经花了很多时间考虑和测试种种想法。如果你不确信各种声音和显而易见的分析，不要马上去想要做的变更。充满自信的待着，想想好的或有用的反馈意见，广泛听取每个人的建议，然后回到内容创建。
注释：
① avatar"源自印度梵语，本意是指"分身、化身"。互联网时代，Avatar成为网络虚拟角色---网络用户在以图像为主的虚拟世界中的虚拟形象的代名词。这类虚拟角色通常为卡通形象，他/她可以出现在论坛上，可以出现在聊天室中，也可以出现在游戏里。用户可以根据自己的喜好，更换虚拟角色的造型，如发型、服饰、表情、场景等。在与其他虚拟角色交往的过程中，还可以使用各种虚拟商品，如鲜花、礼品等。而这些发型、服饰和礼品，都是需要付费购买的。如：腾讯的QQ秀。
② 蹦失率：Bounce Rate＝只浏览了一个页面的网站访客数量 / 网站的总访问量。只浏览一个页面意为：如果你成功进入一个网站，却没有点击它其上的任何链接。Bounce Rate是非常重要的，它显示了某个网站对于V访客而言，到底有没有兴趣，或者有没有起到预计的效果。