Would Love Stumbles or Diggs

[Michael Martin]

I've written an article that I'm pretty proud of, 30 Ways to Improve Readability (http://www.problogdesign.com/blog-usability/30-ways-to-improve-readability/).

If you like it, would you be able to Stumble it, Digg it (http://digg.com/design/30_ways_to_improve_website_readability) or whatever else you do? :)

In return I'm happy to vote for one of your articles, technorati fav your blog or whatever you'd like. :D

[Jessi]

I stumbled you. :)

(I just got Quirky a username and redownloaded the bar after quite a while of not using it on my other account, so it was nice to get to use it, hehe.)

[ses5909]

I stumbled as well. They are some good tips :)

[Michael Martin]

You reinstalled the toolbar for me?? That's pretty cool! Thank you. :D

Edit - Sara - Thanks! :D

[Jessi]

Well.....almost. I created the username a couple days ago because of a thread here asking for our StumbleUpon pages. I realized my old one wasn't connected to my blog and that it was about time to get a new profile set up. When I saw you wanted stumbled, I thought "score!"....but then realized that I didn't have the bar downloaded and that it was easier to do it that way. So yes, the bar was for you, hehe.

And I agree, they are good tips. Quick question, though. Your very first one says to underline links because people expect it. Later, you say not to change the font color within a post because people will be confused whether or not it's a link. If they expect a change in color to be a link, is it necessarily a must to underline a link anyway?

Yes, I'm being a pain, but I noticed the wording immediately and was curious. :rolleyes:

[Michael Martin]

lol - That's close enough. I'm all happy now. :P

But good question. I should have mentioned that in the actual post.

Both are true actually. It's all about following conventions. Links have to stand out, we all agree on that, but there are quite a few ways that you can make a link stand out.

In a body of text on a webpage, if you see a word that is a different color, your first thought will be "Is that a link?" The problem is that we don't want that question at all. It would be better if the user never had to ask it.

Therefore, if it is a link then we underline it as well, so the user knows that it's definitely a link. If it isn't a link, then don't color the word, and they won't have to ever ask the question.

Does that make sense? :)

[rodaniel]

You've been Stumbled! Great tips there, Michael!

(And #24 is a biggie for me. Just hate those!)

[Michael Martin]

Thanks Daniel. And yeah, I can't stand them either. And yet, you always find new blogs with it installed... :(

[jMcQuarrie]

Stumbled.

Some nice tips in there, I'll be using this list the next time someone asks me "what's this readability thing all about" (I get asked things like this a lot for some reason...)

[deronsizemore]

Stumbled! :)

[Michael Martin]

Thanks guys. The post seems to have gone down well. :D

[SarahG]

Stumbled, Dugg, and after point 3 I've finally got around to adding a vertical break between my posts and sidebar :)

[Bob!]

Stumbled, and linked. (Seemed a good time to start a new link category called Interesting Posts) :)

[Michael Martin]

Thanks Sarah, and lol - Glad I'm keeping ya busy. ;)

Bob - Thanks! I see it on your sidebar now. Recommended lists like that are one of my favorites things in a blog. You can trust the author to give reliable links. :D

[ses5909]

@Michael - you're not a bit biased are you :D

[Michael Martin]

@Michael - you're not a bit biased are you :D

lol - Never ;)