My name is Matt Smith

January 26, 2006

I’ve been meaning to get to this for a while now (actually pretty much all of my posts could start that way).

From Jakob Nielsen’s article Weblog Usability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes:

Weblogs are often too internally focused and ignore key usability issues, making it hard for new readers to understand the site and trust the author.

The first item on his list points out the fact that all sites should have some type of “About” page so that people can learn a little about the person writing the article. It’s a subtle way to build trust between the author and the reader.

It’s a simple matter of trust. Anonymous writings have less credence than something that’s signed. And, unless a person’s extraordinarily famous, it’s not enough to simply say that Joe Blogger writes the content. Readers want to know more about Joe.

I totally agree with him. And I think he actually wrote it with me in mind. (Actually Jake, my name is Matt, not Joe. But I guess you couldn’t have known that since I never had an About page) I’ve had this domain and site up for a while and have posted the occasional blurb here and there and didn’t really care that I almost completely anonymous. Mainly because I didn’t have any traffic worth caring about. I mean I do “care” about you, but there were just so few of you for the longest time that I really didn’t think you cared. But now I am beginning to see that you do care. Thanks! So, in return I give to you: About me and this site. As of this writing though, it’s only about me. Sorry, it takes a lot of effort to be witty. I’ll get to the site stuff later.

The second item on his list gripes about not having an author photo.

It offers a more personable impression of the author. You enhance your credibility by the simple fact that you’re not trying to hide. Also, users relate more easily to somebody they’ve seen

I agree with his logic but I kind of disagree with his personal implementation. Come on, do we really need a 4064×2704 image of Jakob Nielsen looking back at you? Yes, I know. He probably gets requests all the time for those types of images for all the magazines he’s been in and part of being a usability expert means making it easy for people to find what they need. But 4064×2704?

If you really have a need to see a picture of me, you can try checking our About page over at MyHomePoint. I’ll spare you the hi-res version (for now!).

Yay! Two items off his list!

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