ChasNote

A colleague recently asked me to define “blogs.” Here’s what I came up with:

The term “blog” (short for “weblog”) is used to describe websites that are built on easy-to-use software platforms (eg, TypePad, WordPress, MoveableType or Blogger) that allow writers with no engineering know-how to publish their content to the web. One aspect of these platforms is that each new “post” — an original article or a link to another site — automatically appears at the top of the homepage, pushing previous posts down the page. So most blogs organize their content in chronological order (newest to oldest), rather than into features, sections or content categories the way standard online magazines do. But as blogs get more sophisticated and have deeper archives of content (see GigaOm or Gadgetopia) some have begun to categorize their content around topics. I’m guessing that a year from know we will have a hard time telling the difference between blogs and other online publications.

Jakob Nielsen’s post on the top 10 biggest usability problems across the blogosphere (UseIt.com) has some great advice for blogs that are ready to make the move. He advises against several of the crappy UI features you see here — chronological archiving that buries the best posts, calendar-only navigation, and, worst of all, “Having a weblog address ending in blogspot.com, typepad.com, etc. will soon be the equivalent of having an @aol.com email address or a Geocities website: the mark of a naïve beginner who shouldn’t be taken too seriously.”

Those of you reading this at chasnote.blogspot.com, please visit my more sophistocated alter-blog at http://ChasNote.com!