One thing that is really starting to annoy me is blogs and websites that have slow loading comment sections. Don’t get me wrong, cool effects can add to the overall design of your page, but there comes a time when you need to start optimizing your layout.
A great example of an awesome blog with under-optimized comment section is JohnChow.com. Now, I love that blog (it’s one of my favorites), but his posts are getting 50+ comments. The sheer number of comments isn’t the problem, the problem lies in the fact he uses a plugin to display MyBlogLog avatars next to the comments (if the user uses MyBlogLog). If he didn’t have that feature then his comment section would load much quicker.
That is just one quick example of an under-optimized comment section, but there are so many other blogs with the same problem.
The two main causes of the problem are graphics and off-site loading
Although graphics can help the overall design of your page you should also take into account the fact that 99% of the people out there have older computers, and not everyone has a fiber optic connection. Always remember to test it first (and have other people test it) to make sure any new features for your comment section doesn’t destroy your blog’s overall user experience.
Even worse are graphics that are loaded from a different server. You should always try to avoid loading data from a different site as much as possible.
Slow loading pages = a poor user experience, and possibly a lost reader.
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March 30th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
I’m with you there - I always try to preach simplicity. And while the comment gravatars are cool, they don’t really add much value, so to speak. And especially when you’re talking 50+ comments, it can get ridiculous.
I do most of my web browsing on an EV-DO connection, and it’s not the fastest, to say the least.
March 30th, 2007 at 8:01 pm
On a 10 mbit connection here and no matter which computer I use in the house, some blogs bring them to an absolute halt, it is just pathetic.