24 June 2007
The Blog Herald - Blogging about Blogging
The Blog Herald is arguably the largest and oldest blog about blogging. Originally started by Duncan Riley, it is now in the hands of SplashPressMedia Ltd., which gives it the financial means to include several contributors.
The simple and effective design by Brian Gardner makes the Blog Herald resemble a traditional newspaper, with serif titles and sans-serif content. It is divided in 3 columns, with main content on the left taking the most space, a second column with sponsors and news items, and a small third column with contributors, resources and some unobtrusive ads.
The site is divided into a number of categories, which are accessible from the navigation strip at the top of the page. Categories included are Editorials, Interviews, News, Opinion, Features, Reviews and Tutorials.
The Good Stuff
Navigation in the Blog Herald site is easy. The dark header and footer areas contain the most important links and sections, and the main content is focused because of its white background. Every post contains shortcuts to the relevant categories and the post title serves as permalink, making it easy to copy/paste the link.
The content is very diverse, thanks to the many contributors. Clicking the names of the contributors will show their individual posts and you’ll soon notice that each one has their specialties. While browsing through the site I’ve found many interesting articles about the many different aspects of blogging, from design to marketing. Most articles have medium length, with some longer posts and only a few short ones. They are to the point, with good structure and clear focus.
Critiq’ed
Currently, some days have 4 posts and others only one. With so many contributors, I would assume that maintaining a solid publishing rhythm would be no problem, much like the way a traditional newspaper works.
The Blog Herald only provides one main RSS (or Atom) feed, giving you no possibility to subscribe to posts from a specific category or contributor. To me, that seems like a missed opportunity, because not everyone will like to swallow the many posts per week.
Although the site has a very pleasing layout, it is a bit dull. Looking at the front page, there are only 2 illustrations (besides the sponsors). I assume that it would be reasonable to hire an illustrator to lighten up some of the posts, or at least the Editorials? A quick glance at the articles on A List Apart shows how it can be done unobtrusively.
Selecting a specific category page will show posts that end with […] or More […] to indicate they continue further. They should be shown with the same “Continue Reading” link that the posts on the front page carry.
Judgement
The Blog Herald is a very informative blogging site, with good content and clear layout. The diverse topics and many contributors result in a happy mix of posts that will give you enough food to read during the week. This strength is perhaps also its weakness: not everyone is interested in all those topics and there’s no easy way to get filtered results delivered in your reader (other than visiting the site and choosing a category or contributor).
Blog Posts to take note of…
- How To Better Structure Your Blogging
- Protecting Images: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
- How To Find Free And Legal Content For Your Blog
- How To Make Sure Your Blog Stays Great (Part II)
- Social Bookmarking 2006 – A Year In Review
