How can we make this blog better?

28 September 2011 24 Comments

Hello everyone!

A new background, new logo (some kind of doodle) and as usual, the lively atmosphere you have known ever since your first click here.

We are only 3 days away from the 5th anniversary of the blog. This year, I will do something a bit special. Nothing like a great party with the hundreds of daily visitors. We are not there yet but perhaps I might reconsider in 5years time?

Special thanks to my team members for their contributions to the image.

But for now, I would like to hear anything from you that can contribute to making this blog more lively and interactive. I do not promise anything but we can perhaps think together to make it happen.

Suggestions / criticisms are the most welcomed.

http://ashfaqblog.blogspot.com Ashfaq

I am used to this layout looks fine to me.
http://www.yashvinblogs.com Yashvin Awootar

I was first tempted to change the look but I quickly realised that it was quite unique, with the customisations I made. Perhaps I might rework the colors a bit, to give it a fresh but same look

Thanks for your regular visits here dude!
http://ashfaqblog.blogspot.com Ashfaq

Yea.. the layout is unique indeed.. it is not the kind of to get old soon hehe

no thanks it’s my pleasure always hehe cheerz .. keep it up
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=633430885 Roddy Dairion

If it was me i would change the colors to some more joyful and vibrant colors, definitely a new logo. Do you really want people to see how many visits you get in a day?? I would say remove all these alexa and who.amungus etc.. Remove the “Don’t forget to click on recommend button”, sounds like somebody begging (no offence). Put the link to your photoblog visible in the menu remove it from within internal pages, you have to show that its part of yashvinblog and not just some random pages you’ve created. Its fine to have an about me, but what is the purpose of your blog? So may be add somewhere what this blog is all about. And to finish (for now) blog is all about the people that follow it, so put at the bottom of each page the followers you have. This will prove better than these stats that you put up that you do have people checking your blogs.

Remember these are suggestions not critics. You can discard them or apply a few of them.
Take care bud.
http://www.yashvinblogs.com Yashvin Awootar

Hi Roddy!
I must say that what you said is very constructive

Thanks for voicing it out, I will definitely work on a few things you mentioned.
Cheers!
http://cleverdodo.mu Clever Dodo

You can implement the top commentators’ plugin that excludes you (the admin) from the list and calculates the most active member during the last 30 days. This way people who are constantly commenting will be displayed and not necessarily people who have the highest number of comments.
Anonymous

I would be interested in seeing who visits, follows, especially international visits. I am sure that there are readers that do not comment.
http://sagitarianblog.wordpress.com Cyrilm3

Hi Yashvin,
With comments arranged in pages, it might be a good idea to have the most recent ones on top. The new, grey stars background surprised me a bit.

*Personally, I don’t like Disqus too much.[Sagitarius]
http://www.yashvinblogs.com Yashvin Awootar

Hello.

Dont worry, the new background is just temporary. Just to make you feel that something is different (for the anniversary).
Else, I think that it is possible for anyone to arrange the comments as they wish (See the dropdown just above the first comment). That is one of the numerous advantages of Disqus.
I think that Disqus has more advantages and fewer disadvantages (fortunately).

Thanks for the feedback
Keep coming…
le_voyageur

1) la plupart in ecrire ar plume lor photo la but pencil anyways

2) don’t change anything but i’ll second roddy about the share thing,, we have 4 share buttons including the recommend which acts like a “share” ..

3) remove that “hi5″ thing on top and replace that with a link to your google+
le_voyageur

1) la plupart in ecrire ar plume lor photo la but pencil anyways

2) don’t change anything but i’ll second roddy about the share thing,, we have 4 share buttons including the recommend which acts like a “share” ..

3) remove that “hi5″ thing on top and replace that with a link to your google+
http://www.yashvinblogs.com Yashvin Awootar

lol. I especially like the part about hi5!
http://www.yashvinblogs.com Yashvin Awootar

lol. I especially like the part about hi5!
http://themediaguru.blogspot.com carrotmadman6

Where’s the link to your Twitter acc?
http://www.yashvinblogs.com Yashvin Awootar

To the autobot account you mean?
Ok, I need to add the twitter and G+ links.
Sabtech1

Okay here is what I think:

1 The GREYISH STAR background should be changed to something colorful and vibrant.

2. Logo is not good great. I would use some simple Myriad Pro font or Simply Arial with some nice color on a nice background. A simple corporate logo would look so good on the blog with a tagline

3. The Disqus comment system is far the best I know and you can surely customize it to some cool stuff like adding borders, gradient background, changing font colors and header titles etc by using simple CSS codes in the Disqus control panel.

The rest is fine. The theme is simple but in my honest opinion it is too much loaded with plugins and stuff lol. Well that’s all
Reena Dkl

I believe that we all stick to your blog not because of the layout, but coz it’s worth reading So no changes on my behalf! Congratz et happy bday en avance
Dragonslayer93

@ashfaqk:disqus Unique? Have you tried venturing beyond Facebook and yashvinblogs.com? Man.. this wordpress theme is as old as Web 2.0.
Dragonslayer93

I didn’t read all the comments, so, my apologies for reposts.

1. The nav bar, on top (home, about me, older stories, tvr…) no one click on that. Make it smaller and move it to the top right most corner or the footer, or remove it.

2. Those icons on top (feedburner, technorati, hi5, etc) move them to the sidebar.

3. Speaking of hi5… seriously, hi5? Do I need to say something about it?

btw, i just clicked on it.. hooray! your hi5 profile is still up! Delete it, man. Replace it by G+

4. That film strip-like banner with thumbnails of you and your friends, move it to yashvin.net. Replace it by a larger, dynamic animated banner that shows featured articles or popular articles, just like that of engadet.com. Even defimedia.info has a crappy animated banner. Why not yashvinblogs?

5. use this: https://www.sailthru.com/concierge or alternatives

6. We, your blog readers, want to see great content, quality articles, and are not interested in your blog ranking, so remove that red button from the left, totally. And the traffic rank by alexa widget.

7. The “Lets disqus more..” Widget, Make it longer.

8. The “dont forget to click the recommend button” makes your blog look cheap. Remove it.

9. The only share buttons that should be present:
FB, G+, Twitter | Stumbleuppon, Reddit | RSS, Mail, Permalink

10. There is that premium feature in disqus: dislike button.

That’s it for the visual layout, design. Now for the concept:

11. Merge your photoblog with yashvinblogs

12. Recycle your old articles. Find old articles, update them to make them more consistent with current internet era and repost them. I see what you already did up there, “The time machine”. But that’s not enough.

It’s not a shame doing so. Lifehacker does it quite often.

13. Why is there an ‘S’ in yashvinblogs? It’s just one blog. So it should be yashvinblog instead. Grammar fail. Buy a new domain.

That’s it for now. I’m going to dinner.
Dragonslayer93

Hello, Clever Dodo! I double that. There should be a better rewarding system.
this could then result in better quality comments.
http://www.yashvinblogs.com Yashvin Awootar

Constructive too. Thanks dude.
btw, yashvinblogs.com = blogs (as a verb)

Cheers!
Dragonslayer93

Ah! Yashvin blogs!
Being a long time reader, I just got it. *shame*

Forgot to add:

The “Browse Categories” from the home page, ‘would be great if you replace it by “featured tags” (if you tag your blog posts).
http://www.yashvinblogs.com Yashvin Awootar

You don’t finish learning on this blog
Sure, I will consider all the points and work on them (or a few).

Bon weekend!
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