Came across Jakob Nielsen’s Weblog Usability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes (via Ministry of Propaganda). And this is how Dutch Diary fares in the usability tests.

1. No Author Biographies - FAIL.
I don’t intend to put up a whole bio, but I will get down to putting up something abt me sometime in the near future. I guess Jakob Nielsen is right when he says “users want to know who they’re dealing with.”, coz I know that I look for the About page the first time I come across a blog. Coming Soon. Coming Soon.

2. No Author Photo - FAIL.
And thats gonna remain a fail.

3. Nondescript Posting Titles - FAIL.
I tried to pass this on this post and don’t you think its utterly boring?

4. Links Don’t Say Where They Go - FAIL.
I think this one is unnecessary. if you place the mouse on the link and take a look at the status bar, it shows you where its headed. And usually the context gives you the reason you might want to click on it.

5. Classic Hits are Buried - FAIL.
This is a valid point. By the time I have enough posts, and hopefully some classic ones, I will fix this.

6. The Calendar is the Only Navigation - FAIL.
I have categories, but then a whole lot falls under Musings. ButI fail this one because the teacher is too strict.

7. Irregular Publishing Frequency - FAIL.
Something for me to think about. Now I post almost daily or at least once every two days. But thats because I am not in a particularly busy phase in my life. So I am essentially setting up expectations that I know I won’t be able to keep up. Oh what the heck! I will post when I can..:) I have rss feeds, so that should make up for irregular postings.

8. Mixing Topics - FAIL.
And I fail this happily. I think a blog is someone’s journal. And people are versatile and multidimensional. I write about all the interests me and all that affects me. Its like accepting a person as a whole. Accept my blog as a whole, with the range of topics that I write about. I don’t think its necessary to start a blog for different topic you write about. Having categories is good enough.

9. Forgetting That You Write for Your Future Boss - FAIL.
A girls gotta say what she wants to say.

10. Having a Domain Name Owned by a Weblog Service - FAIL.

Overall Score : 0/10