34|Signup with Blogger Clarity
March 15th, 2006 by Marcel Ursprung
Wow, how easy was that!
Signing up for a new account with Blogger was a piece of cake.
Right from the start the home page looked inviting. It has 3 distinct sections, each for a different audience. The biggest section is for new bloggers and people seeking information on blogging. Having identified what I was looking for, I followed the giant orange arrow to the three step signup process. Usually I detest any form longer than name and email, especially multi-page forms like this one, which often leaves me guessing:
“Will this email be used as my user name? or will I get a chance to pick a user name in the next step?”
As I filled out the form I didn’t find myself having any of those issues. I don’t think it took more than 2 minutes to complete the signup process, from start posting my first entry.
This got me thinking; Why was it so easy?
At first I thought it might have been the friendly design that made the difference. So I went back to take a look at how the form was laid out (Maybe I can learn something from this). It turns out it wasn’t the design at all, although it certainly didn’t hurt. The main difference was that there was a helpful piece of descriptive text on the right of each form element. The description is basically just a line or two describing what the the input field value will be used for.
That’s IT, that was the MAGIC.
A simple descriptive line of text made everything crystal clear. With no ambiguity to frustrate me the signup process was completed in no time, and I still have a fond memory of the experience. see example image:
After signing up I was immediately directed to the blog editor. I didn’t have to check my email for a password or confirm my registration. With these simple steps Blogger has completely rid their signup process of resistance, it’s now as slippery as a slide and just as fun. Try it out yourself, I bet it won’t take more than 2 minutes before you’re posting to your very own blog. When you do send me a link. 
Related Article
I just saw an article discussing the need to avoid ambiguity in online processes from onedegree.ca (a Canadian internet marketing resource).
“Any lack of clarity in language, labelling or visual design creates a stress point where your user has to stop and consider options. The more stress points the greater the chance of failure in any online process.”
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Posted in Blogging, Usability | 49 Comments
33|Blur6ex: Super Fast
March 14th, 2006 by Marcel Ursprung
http://www.blursoft.com/blur6ex/
Blur6ex is a simple weblog system developed by Steven Romej. Currently on version 0.3.462, this open source application is easily extended by editing the 3 core PHP files. It’s also just as easy to create plugin (shards) to add new features. A SVN repository is provided for access to the latest code.
The project focus from the beginning has been speed. With every new version various speed benchmarks must be met. New features are left out from the release until the speed impact of the algorithms are acceptable.
The blog’s layout is controlled by PHP and CSS files called grafts (templates). The majority of the available grafts have been ported over from WordPress or MovableType.
Blur6ex offers the basic features found in other competing blogware. It supports RSS feeds, post comments, image uploads, trackbacks, multiple users (with separate permissions), drafts, live stats and an archive search.
“WordPress is as easy to install as Blur6ex, has a few more features including a feature rich web interface for setting up the blog. But no light without shadow, Blur6ex is the fastest blog software I have ever seen, WordPress not.”
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Posted in Blogging | Add a Comment
29|Blojsom: Java Blosxom
March 12th, 2006 by Marcel Ursprung
http://wiki.blojsom.com/wiki/display/blojsom/About+blojsom
Blojsom was originally modelled after Blosxom, but developed in Java instead of Perl. This text based content management system was chosen by Apple for their “Weblog Server” component in Mac OS X Server.
Blojsom is open source blogware, licensed under the BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution) license. This full-featured blog CMS aims to retain it’s simplicity, while maintaining product flexibility. It offers the following features:
- No database required, it uses the file system to store content
- Web based or command-line administration
- Multiple blogs
- Multiple users
- Advanced user permissions
- Permalinks
- Hierarchical categories.
- Supports comments
- Supports trackbacks
- Comment moderation before they are shown.
- IP blacklists
- Over 50 plugins
- Develop your own plugin using the plugin API
- Generates HTML, RDF, RSS 0.92, RSS 2.0, RSS 2.0 and Atom feeds.
- Output a feeds for all categories, or a specific category.
- Remote editing support through XML-RPC using Blogger API, MetaWeblog API, or MovableType API
- Built in internationalization, uses UTF-8 to handle international character sets
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Posted in Blogging | 3 Comments
30|Blosxom: Simple Text File
March 11th, 2006 by Marcel Ursprung
Blosxom (pronounced “blossom”) was initially developed by Rael Dornfest and is now maintained by it’s open source community.
Blosxom is a simple content management system distributed as a single perl script (only 282 lines of code). With such a small footprint one would expect a small and limited features set. Quite on the contrary, even though the core script is fairly basic, the extensive plugin framework provides ample room for extending the application.
Blosxom has no web interface so all application configuration is done by editing the actual perl file. To update your blog grab your favourite text editor and connect to the blog server using the standard command line interface, FTP or WebDAV. Individual blog entries are stored as text files in the file system. To Categorize posts just put the file in a directory. There are no import or export features.
The actual text files are just as simple as the application. The title of the post is the first line of the file, followed by the body which is everything after the title. Additional meta-data may be added by using a plugin. By default Blosxom supports; permalinks, RSS feeds, post categories, and static HTML posts.
“Blogging–and, indeed, any online publishing– should be as simple as typing away in your favourite text editor and hitting Save. Fundamental is Blosxom’s reliance upon the file system, folders and files as its content database. Entries are plain text files like any other.”
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28|Blogger: Bloggers Start Here
March 9th, 2006 by Marcel Ursprung
Blogger, credited for popularizing blogging for the general public, was launched in 1999 by Pyra Labs, and bought by Google in 2003. A year later, Pyra Labs’ co-founder Evan Williams left Google.
Blogger is a hosted blog service at yourname.blogspot.com. It comes in 2 flavours; free (ad-supported) or the upgraded premium version (adds RSS support). The signup process couldn’t be any easier. It takes approximately 2 minutes from start to posting your first blog entry. Free, easy to use, and an extensive help center, make it an excellent choice for novice bloggers just starting out.
Since Google purchased Blogger it has incorporated Picasa the photo sharing utility (another Goggle acquisition). Picasa lets users post photos directly to their blogs using the “BlogThis!” button. The Google Toolbar has a similar button making it easy to post while surfing, without logging in to Blogger. Other features added include CSS templates, individual post archives (permalinks), comments, and email posting.
A neat posting addon is the “Blogger for Word” Microsoft Word plugin. With it you can edit and post directly to your Blogger account using Word.
Still not sure about Blogger? Consider this:
- It’s Free (you can even make money with integrated adsense)
- 2 minute easy setup
- No maintenance
- Great help center
- Multiple blogs
- Multiple authors (group blogs)
- Your blog is part of the Blogger community
- WYSIWYG editor
- It can be a photo blog
- 31 ready-made templates to choose from
- Customize templates by editing style sheets and HTML code
- Blogging via email
- FTP your blog to your own server
- Atom feeds of your blog for syndication
- Automatically pings Weblogs.com
- It’s a Google product
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