Hi. I, or at least other people like me, like reading your blog. We like reading it so much, in fact, that I frequently remember posts that you write. Sometimes they’re so awesome, frankly, that I remember them months later and just have to link to them.
I hurry over to your site and—bam. No navbar—no search bar. Sure, you may have Scribbit’s wonderful custom search engine for mom bloggers, or even a Technorati search box, but in my experience, those aren’t super reliable in helping me find the specific post from your blog that I’m looking for. Granted, I work in search engine marketing, so I do know a trick or two to find the post (if it’s been indexed by Google), but really, not very many people do.
Look, I know it’s ugly. It may not go with your theme. You might not like the fact that it has a Blogger logo on it. I’ve heard lots of people express concern that the “Next Blog” button might lead to objectionable content, or be seen as a a link to such content by search engines.
May I point out here, though, that there are a few color options for the navbar: blue, black, silver and tan. And in my (admittedly limited) experience and recent testing, I have never come across “adult” content from the “Next Blog” button. Adult blogs are supposed to be properly labeled and carry a warning message through Blogger software. And the way that the navbar is coded, there is no actual link on your site from your blog to the “next blog.”
If you wouldn’t mind to terribly, having the navbar would help make your site easier for me to use. Can you go easy on me? I have a two-year-old.
Thanks,
Jordan (MamaBlogga)
P.S. Also, for some reason, the popup window that Blogger uses for comments is just not big enough on my computer lately (and it won’t let me resize). Sometimes I can’t even read and write comments (or at least not easily) or see the spam CAPTCHA image in the popup window. Just FYI.
9 replies on “Dear friends using Blogger”
I don’t like the Blogger comment window full stop. If I start typing before it loads my typing completely disappears. It’s not very user friendly. And the not being able to resize is a pain.
I don’t like blogger comment boxes either – and yeah, if I start typing, etc. Oh – and making it so I can’t leave MY url and name if I don’t have a blogger acct? Nah. If they do that, I don’t bother leaving a comment. Great post!
I can see your frustrations–I worried about that when I took my navbar out but there were two issues that changed things: first, that the extra space my navbar took up can now be used towards making my ads that much more visible (more money–always good right?) and second, that there is a stigma, however irrational, against Blogger blogs. You’re not perceived as a legitimate, professional blogger if you’re using the user-friendly, ubiquitous Blogger platform. Not sure why but there is prejudice against the easy-to-install templates and most “serious” bloggers snicker at those still using Blogger. The solution? Taking out that navbar leaves only your blogspot address to let them know you’re using Blogger and if you then redirect through your own URL it’s possible no one would ever know.
Silly but there it is. So sorry, no navbar on my blog. Besides, Typepad and WordPress blogs don’t always have a search bar on their blogs, right?
@Michelle—more and more “professionals” are using Blogger. In your case, at least, I think the popularity of your blog speaks for itself.
(By default, WordPress blogs always have search boxes, unless the user removes them. TypePad, being evil, does not.)
You can now put a google search in your right side-bar using blogger. Maybe it is only in draft.blogger.com? That’s where you can play with and use the features being tested. 🙂 People should add that, IMO.
Oh btw I don’t know if you saw but Blogger’s announced the timed posting feature that they’re still working on in beta but will be available soon just like the folks in (evil) 🙂 Typepad have . . . I’ve been waiting for that for SO long . . . for me it was the only feature that I felt Blogger really lacked compared to the others.
Oh, I saw it… and have been using it. (Not sure if that comment was directed at me or not.) I love blogger and find it much easier to use than wordpress. Blogger, please marry me. LOL!
Y’know, I do think Blogger is a lot easier to get used to than WordPress. I might’ve just stayed with Blogger if I hadn’t already had to learn WP for work. Now my work blog has upgraded to WP2.5 and I . . . well, hate it. They changed the layout and functions of basically everything, so I have to start learning all over again. Sigh.
I did see the future post feature was in beta (thanks for the heads up on the search box—very cool). Looking forward to both for Blogger users—both features are much beloved by me 😉 .
Thank you for the heads up on the search boxes.
If I ever decide to be “serious” about my blog, this is functionality that I would love to have.