10 Things: Beyond Left Field

10 Things: Beyond Left Field

12. Jan, 2009 15 Comments

It’s been awhile since my last review. Thank you to everyone who has come and commented in the past month with words of encouragement. I’ve decided to keep 10 things going, and with that, commit myself to completing reviews in a more timely manner. So let’s start right off with the first review of 2009.

Beyond Left Field, here are 10 things I hate about your site:

  1. While I wait for your page to load, I think I’ll go fold some laundry.
  2. I might like Beyond Left Field. Oh, wait, here’s a link to somewhere else.
  3. Blogroll, and a page dedicated to links. You do like links.
  4. You really like your most recent posts, too.
  5. Back to Where?
  6. I have to register to contact you? No thanks.
  7. What a validation nightmare.
  8. Post-pimping—it’s rude to do before I’ve even read the entire thing.
  9. What’s with the post formatting?
  10. Let’s talk alignment.

Details

10 things I hate about your site:

  1. While I wait for your page to load, I think I’ll go fold some laundry. Then I’ll go do some dishes. Then I’ll pick up my kids from school. Okay, I’m exaggerating a little bit, but not much. Your home page takes way too long to load. It’s no wonder, with all the followers, recent viewers, widgets, and ads.What does this mean? It’s hard to resist the temptation to list all of the great people who are visiting your blog. Are you listing them for you, or for your readers? It’s also hard to resist filling every blog inch with ad space. Are these ads working for you? I ask these questions because you need to decide if your slow load time is worth all the bells and whistles. Sure, people who have bothered to wait the load time have stayed, but how many readers have left your blog before it finished loading? You need to reduce your load time. If you do, I bet you’d get more readers.
  2. I might like Beyond Left Field. Oh, wait, here’s a link to somewhere else. Nice, a link to “XYZ Blog. Let’s see where it goes.” And just like that, the reader has left the page.What does this mean? I’m all for link love. But don’t just give it away. Move the “Blogs of the Week” to a less prominent place. Unless you really want people to go somewhere else.
  3. Blogroll, and a page dedicated to links. You do like links. Are you being paid for all of this link love?What does this mean? Loving your fellow bloggers is great, however, you are giving up a lot of your blog to other people. While it’s not necessarily a big deal to have a blogroll and a page listing the same blogs, it is a bit redundant. If you’re getting paid for the link love, great. If not, is the overkill necessary?
  4. You really like your most recent posts, too. Loving your content is important, however, you are highlighting your most recent posts in three different places. First on the main page, then in the sidebar, then in the footer. I know you have more great content than just your most recent posts.What does this mean? Mix it up a little and give the readers more of your content, like ‘Most Popular Posts’ or ‘Most Commented Posts’. This way you get your recent posts in front of the readers by way of the main page, then you get even more content linked in from your sidebar and footer.
  5. Back to where? One of the biggest web sins is a broken link. While your ‘Back to Top’ link isn’t “broken” in the strict sense of the word, it doesn’t go anywhere which is equally annoying. Note: this appears to only be a problem in Firefox. IE 7 does go back to the top, but that’s no excuse. Firefox has a large market share, and basic formatting like a ‘Back to Top’ link should work in all major browsers.What does this mean? If you’re going to have a ‘Back to Top’ link, have it go back to the top in all the major browsers.
  6. I have to register to contact you? No thanks. Unless you are Barack Obama, or Bono, I will not be registering simply to contact you. I know there is a lot of spam out there, but there are better (and easier) ways to let people contact you without making them register somewhere.What does this mean? I can’t imagine I’m the only one who’s been turned off by this. I highly recommend changing your contact page to, at the very least, a form. A form may be a little cumbersome, but at least it’s understandable. There is no reason to make people register just to contact you.
  7. What a validation nightmare. Since I started checking for this (blame Lyndi at Nice 2 All, I knew it would be a “gimme” and most blogs would have this as an item. Some blogs will be bigger culprits than others. Yours, unfortunately, is one of them. When I ran your blog through the W3C validator for 1.0 strict (which is what your doctype is declaring), there were 603 errors. Yikes!

    What does this mean? That’s a tricky question to answer. Blogs are notorious for not passing validation, with all the widgets, plug-ins, templates, layouts, etc. If you are inclined to fix these errors, run your blog URL through the validator at http://validator.w3.org/. It will provide you with the list of errors.

  8. Post-pimping—it’s rude to do before I’ve even read the entire thing. It’s very presumptuous of you to assume I will want to Digg, Delicious, Stumble, etc. your post before I’ve even read the entire thing.What does this mean? Don’t pimp your post before it’s finished. Give me a chance to read all of your comic goodness before asking me to pimp it out.
  9. What’s with the post formatting? Okay, so this isn’t a deal-breaker, but I don’t completely understand the paragraph indenting. First, it doesn’t look like a complete indent. Second, why? I thought only high school papers had to be indented. I’m also wondering why there is an extra break between your paragraphs.What does this mean? Nothing really, except the indent and the extra space bug me. :)
  10. Let’s talk alignment. I needed 10 things, didn’t I? Everything on your blog lines up pretty nicely, with two exceptions: your community badges at the bottom of your sidebar, and your Awards page.What does this mean? I like symmetry—let’s make all of these centered and nicely lined up.

Your posts are funny. Your blog is good. There are some things you could definitely do to improve the layout and some minor irregularities, but all in all, Popeye would be proud. :P

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15 Responses to “10 Things: Beyond Left Field”

  1. abelle | Only in Silence Reply 13. Jan, 2009 at 8:14 am

    Happy (2nd week of the) New Year, Web-Betty! ;)

    Just checking out the list. I’m still way down there, but it’s okay. Just hoping I get reviewed before my blog’s 1st bday ;)

    Thank again for including me on the list! Have a great day! ;)

    abelle | Only in Silences last blog post..Of pain . . . . .

    • Web-Betty Reply 13. Jan, 2009 at 8:29 am

      Hi Abelle,

      Thanks for checking back. I can never resist a polite request, and yours is polite and reasonable. Consider being bumped up the queue a semi-early birthday present to Only in Silence. :)

  2. Lyndi Reply 13. Jan, 2009 at 9:05 am

    This was is a very accurate review. I think most people would have reached the same conclusions you did. The site can be fixed pretty easily and I hope the owner implements at least some of your suggestions. Thanks for the link by the way.

    Lyndis last blog post..Displaying Code in Content

    • Web-Betty Reply 13. Jan, 2009 at 9:14 am

      Hi Lyndi,

      I hope at least some of my conclusions weren’t so obvious. If most people would have come to them, then anyone can do this, LOL. :P

      I’m always happy to link to fellow bloggers, when they’ve helped me in my own work, or I come across something relevant. You’re blog is always a source of inspiration. BTW, did any of my links open in a new window? ;)

  3. RedRaider Reply 13. Jan, 2009 at 9:09 am

    Thanks so much for the advice. It’s nice to have an objective 3rd party tell me how they see my blog. Big difference. I will make some of these changes immediately since you have pointed them out. I’m bothered a bit by my own indents and double breaks too, but someone was trying to be “nice.” Lol! Thanks again and best of luck…
    Don

    • Web-Betty Reply 13. Jan, 2009 at 9:15 am

      I’m glad you found the review helpful. :) I look forward to visiting Beyond Left Field again and seeing what you’ve done. And reading your hilarious posts! :)

  4. perpstu Reply 13. Jan, 2009 at 9:25 am

    Just like that I have scratched THAT blog off my list of places to visit. Thanks for saving me the time! I’m sure I would have been stuck traveling through link land for hours….LOL

    perpstus last blog post..Simply Kind Tuesday #10 Kindness, It Does a Body Good!

    • Web-Betty Reply 15. Jan, 2009 at 12:26 am

      Don’t give up on Beyond Left Field, LOL. :)

      His blog is funny and interesting and while there is a blogroll on the sidebar and a page to the same effect, it’s one I still visit consistently.

  5. Margaret Reply 13. Jan, 2009 at 2:56 pm

    Great review, Betty! Sounds like Don got a lot of great suggestions for you and as always backed up by reasonable explanations of WHY it’s not working.

    ê¿ê

    Margarets last blog post..Canon SX10 IS

  6. LKatz Reply 02. Feb, 2009 at 9:16 am

    I’m really enjoying your posts, going to go subscribe to your RSS feed. Thanks. :)

  7. Gulf Reply 18. Feb, 2009 at 4:43 pm

    good blog you have buddy, keep it up ;)

  8. make up tutorial Reply 07. Apr, 2009 at 9:30 am

    my God, i thought you were going to chip in with some decisive insght at the end there, not leave it with

  9. roger Reply 07. Apr, 2009 at 9:31 am

    thanks !! very helpful post!

  10. Flower Names Reply 07. Apr, 2009 at 10:42 pm

    It’s nice to finally find a site where the blogger knows what they are talking about.