Neofreko » blogging

Conversation Based Design

Akhmad Fathonih — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 02:21:13 +0000

Flickr pages is a conversation based design. This Photo Clip wordpress theme is also a conversation based design. They communicate the pciture. Their design decision engaging a “let’s talk about this picture” activity. Youtube is almost there, but I feel it a bit bloated in UI term.

So, what about blog. I haven’t found any wordpress theme designed based on conversation. Designed to promote conversation. Most of the conversation is still depending on how controversial the title, how hot the image, and who writes it. Design? Design looks dull. Always giving spotlight to what the author write. Ignoring the fact that the real value is the conversation beneath it.

Maybe Friendfeed design is close to what I’m looking for. You can go to a friendfeed room to see the conversation. Plurk also sporting a quite useful UI for bird-viewing and intensive interaction. Hmm, but does it fit blog unique characteristic? Any designer felt challenged on this issue?

Conversation based design is the new magazine style theme. It will be the new black!

So, what would be crucial in conversation based design? Comments deserve more. Commentator deserve more. Articles should be presented together with comments, anywhere, to present conversation. Comment form should be non-hideous. Comment first, identity is second.

Could you identify more?

Is Content Really The King

Akhmad Fathonih — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 01:00:16 +0000

Is content really the king? Why my shiny post doesn’t have any comments? Google this and you’ll find many answers.

SearchEngineWatch said, content is important because of three primary reasons:

Engages the reader

Increases search engine rankings and traffic
Promotes the likelihood of quality links from other sites

Indeed, good content will attract readers. Even without a dedicated keyword the content itself will be on top of search result list as people has been craving for them. And because people like it, eventually they will link or share it.

Blogsessive said content is the king without kingdom. To be a true king, he will need a kingdom and a court of jester. The kingdom would be the site, how appealing and how engaging it is. And the court’s jester would be an endless promotion. Either via (social) networking, or SEO.

MangoAddict said content is the king, and delivery is the queen. Delivery is how you crown the content so it will be a real king. This will includes many design guidelines.

But it may not be the whole truth. Problogger said, even a great content still need a writer with mojo, luck, trust, expertise/authority, and charisma. This is true. I mean why do you read scobleizer, copyblogger, blogsessive, and problogger. Each of them has at least one attributes I write within my former sentence.

While InfectiousDigital say, business model is the real king. No matter how good and bad your contents are, what matter is how you make use of them. A lame business model is no good for a golden content.

So, how ah?

Reference:
http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3625720
http://blogsessive.com/blogging-tips/content-is-king/
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2008/08/22/is-writing-great-content-enough-to-build-a-successful-blog/
http://infectiousdigital.com/2008/08/06/is-content-really-king/
http://www.mangoaddict.com/2008/08/12/blogging-tips-faktor-desain/

One Post Per Day: When The Going Gets Tough

Akhmad Fathonih — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 01:30:48 +0000

In case you, my loyal reader, does get why there’s always one post on each day but Sunday. I’ve been participating in MangoAddict’s campaign/program. One Post Per Day is how we call it. So far, there are only three blogger participating in this campaign. So far, it has been a long 19 days. And I am about to run out of materials. I’ve been writing about music , and then movies. But all didn’t last long. Actually I have several movies I can write about but the mood is just too low. This is the point when I remember “use scheduled post whenever you can”, and jots down any new ideas you found along.

So, how am I gonna pull this out? The trick is to be honest. To be honest that I’m running out of materials. To be honest that I cannot write what I want to write at the moment because I have to spare it for another project. being honest is one of the trick you can use to be interesting. It is a trick suggested by copyblogger.com.

There are many other tricks actually. Some of them, similar to being honest is “let out your inner dork”. Are you into anime? Tell us your favorite Gundam. Tell them being a narutard is worth the humiliation. Your inner dork is your sharpest skill so there won’t be much showstopper to write a related post.

Another easy way is “make people laugh”. I’m sure you have lots of funny youtube link or xkcd hall of fame or favorites garfield strip. Jots down your ten best list and make your reader giggles!

There are more you can read in copyblogger site. I think they haven’t include “rewrite other post” within the list

PS:

I remember writing the first two paragraf of this post, but not the last two. Then I gradually remember some part of the post, and the title. Was I in a trance when writing this post? Fcuk. Scarrrrrrrry.