RSS usability and feed links.
Marketing studies have an article on their site about increasing RSS readership.
Most of it is in line with my own thoughts on RSS of late, however it did bring up one point I have been mulling over lately.
It's the issue of placing buttons for subscribing to RSS feeds via individual online RSS aggregators, such as Yahoo! or Bloglines and the like. The article advocates it. And I can understand why.
I agree that RSS should not be a geeky thing, and use of it should be seamless for the end user.
Placement of these kinds of buttons, in theory makes it easy for users of those services to subscribe to your feed.
However, where do you draw the line? If you are expected to place a button on your site for every online aggregator, that will end up being a lot of buttons.
All distracting, and their impact and usefulness diminishing with each addition, as the user searches through endless sidebar buttons for the button relating to the service they use.
Our 'real estate' on the pages of our sites is valuable. Every button and link is a distraction and is vying for attention, furthermore, you probably have other links which other people are telling you need to be top priority.
In addition, will the impetus to develop a truly useful standard for RSS usability exist while we pander to individual online aggregators?
So, I tend to think prioritising a standard type 'SUBSCRIBE' button (and help button) is healthier.
However, I will admit, this is bound to be a contentious issue, and I am open to listening to any reasonable argument for inclusion of all these buttons. But I will say this, it looks like Robert Scoble is on my side. :P
Most of it is in line with my own thoughts on RSS of late, however it did bring up one point I have been mulling over lately.
It's the issue of placing buttons for subscribing to RSS feeds via individual online RSS aggregators, such as Yahoo! or Bloglines and the like. The article advocates it. And I can understand why.
I agree that RSS should not be a geeky thing, and use of it should be seamless for the end user.
Placement of these kinds of buttons, in theory makes it easy for users of those services to subscribe to your feed.
However, where do you draw the line? If you are expected to place a button on your site for every online aggregator, that will end up being a lot of buttons.
All distracting, and their impact and usefulness diminishing with each addition, as the user searches through endless sidebar buttons for the button relating to the service they use.
Our 'real estate' on the pages of our sites is valuable. Every button and link is a distraction and is vying for attention, furthermore, you probably have other links which other people are telling you need to be top priority.
In addition, will the impetus to develop a truly useful standard for RSS usability exist while we pander to individual online aggregators?
So, I tend to think prioritising a standard type 'SUBSCRIBE' button (and help button) is healthier.
However, I will admit, this is bound to be a contentious issue, and I am open to listening to any reasonable argument for inclusion of all these buttons. But I will say this, it looks like Robert Scoble is on my side. :P
2 Comments:
I tend to agree with your thinking on this one Frank - esp. in relation to the prioritising - because of that I have my Subscribe and Help buttons way up the page and the rest of my aggregator buttons way down the bottom of my sidebar.
Interestingly I manage these aggregator buttons using a WordPress plugin called Subscribe Me (http://www.semiologic.com/projects/subscribe-me/) - this allows me, via its admin page, to decide which aggregators to include and which to skip - very neat.
Certainly a neat plugin if that's the route you decide to go. God knows you'd need it!
I guess, whatever works for you, but don't you feel a little uncomfortable splitting the main feed link from the aggregator links?
To me, if you're going to have them, they feel like they should be grouped together to visually aid users understand the functional layout of your pages - and yet as you have obviously decided, the higher up space is too valuable to be taken up with a myriad of aggregator buttons.
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