I read, via Steve Rubel, that ABC News has relaunched its web site, with new features that allow citizen journalism.  I think that’s a good thing, but it’s not what I want to talk about at the moment.

Steve notes that most of the comments on the relaunch concern the design of the page, as opposed to the citizen journalism features.  I think that’s because most readers are concerned about finding and being able to read the content they want, while too many web designers are focused on the 37 pieces of flair (many of them ads) that get in the way of that content.  Users don’t want scrolling news tickers and they don’t want fancy, slow loading pages.

Here are just a few of the negative comments users made to the ABC News redesign:

It stinks. Every page is slow-loading, even with cable internet. The look is cramped and cluttered. Browsing through headlines takes forever, due to the necessity to constantly switch pages.

***
Why can’t you just leave it the way it was. So simple, you just opened it up and picked the head line you wanted to read. Now it’s like everybody else, you have to search and decipher everything before you can find what you want.

***
I liked the simplicity of the old design and used it as my home page. Did the designers/developers of this new format get ANY input from users in the 35+ age demographic?

It’s pretty easy to tell what readers want.  It’s harder to explain why web designers refuse to give it to them.  One reason is because the more page views it takes to get to and through a story the more ads get served in the process.  People realize that ads are the price of admission, at least where old media web distribution goes, but there are limits.

Readers will ultimately refuse to click through 5 pages to read one article.  They’ll simply find someplace else where they can get the content with less hassle, or they’ll move to an RSS reader.

There are two other things users want.

One, for the page to display properly on their screen, regardless of monitor size or resolution.  It’s not an 800×600 world any longer.  Some pages that display fine at lower resolutions get jumbled up at higher resolutions, or when you increase the text size in order to read the type.  The ABC News page seem to handle increased text size pretty well.  Morningstar, one of my favorite destinations (DISCLAIMER: I have been a shareholder since the IPO), doesn’t.  Bump your text up several notches and things get jumbled, ads overlap content, things get cut off, etc.  I’m not sure how to address this problem, but it should be addressed, since many users cannot read the micro-text that results from a higher resolution and must increase the text size.

Morningstar is not the only offender here, many other major destinations have the same problem.  ESPN‘s navigation banner becomes virtually unusable if you bump the text size.  I completely quit reading the Houston Chronicle page after recent redesigns rendered the text on the front pages molecular (thank goodness for RSS feeds).  For an example of how to handle large text size the right way, see Wikipedia.

Two, for the pages to be designed in a way that allows you to find what you’re looking for.  I have always thought the CNN page was far too busy- and so I don’t visit it much.   At least the USA Today page looks something like a newspaper, which allows readers to navigate it something like a newspaper.  Google News has the most usable design precisely because it has the least amount of bling.  Techmeme rules the tech-related blogosphere for the same reason.  Tailrank, which for a while was on the verge of bling-overload, seems to be moving back the other way, which is a good thing.  Digg has a relatively simple and easy to navigate interface.

Compare those pages to Fox News, for example.  My head starts hurting before it’s finished loading.  I’m sure the bling imbalance has to do with the sort of media we’re talking about- TV being, sadly, almost entirely based on bling.

But web pages are not TV, and a cleaner, simpler interface is better for users.  And that should be the benchmark for a good web page.  37 pieces of flair was funny in Office Space.  It’s not funny on web pages.

I like SearchRank’s 10 Signs That You May Be a Blog Addict post.  Before I take a look at their 10 signs, I might add one more:

11. You hire a search engine marketing company to try to move your blog up in Google search results.

Now, my thoughts about the original 10.

1. I’m guilty here.  I use Bloglines for my feeds, and if I am at the computer at home, I generally have a Bloglines tab open in Firefox.  I don’t want to miss it when one of my internet pals hits a good lick.  I think it odd too that this deal isn’t getting any run in the blogosphere.  Where’s Techcrunch?  If one of Scoble’s finger nail clippings got sold for 10 cents on eBay, TechCrunch would have a full page story on it.

2. If I told my clients I had a blog, they wouldn’t know what I was talking about.  I have to use the dog ate my homework excuse.  At least a business person can visualize a dog eating homework.  None I know could visualize blogging.

3. I’ve never dreamed about blogging, simply because there aren’t many bloggers who would find their way into my deserted island scenarios.  I’ve dreamed I could fly.  I have dreamed twice, in great detail, that I was a member of the Grateful Dead.  But never about blogging.  Thankfully.

4. I get inspirations for blog posts at all kinds of odd times.  It’s the same way with songs.  Unfortunately, I generally forget both before I get home to write them down.  Maybe that greater than Twitter application Jott can help me with this.

5. There’s more traffic on the stairs when my kids head off to bed than there is in my comments, so I go to where the action is.

6. This is partially true.  I talk very little about this sort of stuff in the real world, so people can definitely get more of my thoughts here than over dinner.  If someone asks me what I’m thinking in the real world, I scream and run away.  That’s one of the reasons I wish I’d started this blog anonymously.  If I could talk about my real world life more freely without the fear of getting fired or slapped, I could tell some great stories.

7. I love our pets.  But people who are seriously pet-obsessed scare me.  People who aren’t little old ladies who are seriously pet-obsessed scare me big time.  Like the Exorcist.

8. I used to watch my Technorati rank.  But unless you’re willing to stay on the treadmill full time, the formula makes it impossible to move up or maintain your place.  It’s too hard.  I gave up.

9. Nope.  We have Twitter for all those things.

10. I enjoy active Twitterers, Eric Rice and Bagadonuts being among my favorites.  I update my Twitter feed maybe once a day, but that’s because my day to day activities are pretty routine.  If I had more fun and more free time, I’d update more.

I have largely stopped thinking and writing about the Gatekeeper thing, for a few reasons.  One, it’s a tired topic.  Two, the return on investment from trying to worm your way into the so-called conversation is too low to be worthwhile.  The return on simply writing good posts and waiting is not that much higher, but it’s higher.  It’s a little like fishing.  I am a good fisherman because I am patient- something most casual fishers are not.  And third, the conversations are often boring anyway.  I just don’t care all that much about what a lot of the so-called A-Listers have to say.  Many of them have turned their blogs and Twitter feeds into nothing more than a living billboard for self-promotion.

But I just can’t resist it when a couple of A-Listers start a conversation about link-baiting.

Jason Calacanis started things off with a partially tongue in cheek and partially straight up post, talking about ways to get a link from him.  I chastised him the other day for not reaching out to mainstream media, so let me give a little credit where due.  This is funny stuff, even if it’s true:

DON’T start the post off flaming me. Start the post off by praising me, talking about how great Engadget or Netscape are, that you love my podcast, or that you thought I was a riot at some panel (you don’t even need to have been at the panel…just technorati my name and “speaking at” and you can fake it).

And this:

DO slam someone I don’t like or have had a beef with. This is a long list, but getting on my side will keep me reading your post and increase my chances of taking your link bait.

Of course, scads of people immediately start linking wildly to Jason’s post, dancing in the fleeting glow of inclusion.

I just about fell off of my chair when Dave Winer posted his rules, including this one for why he might not link to you:

3. Lack of reciprocity. If I observe over time that the linking is one-way, i.e. I link to you but even when I’m on-topic for you, I don’t get a link from you, that will dampen my enthusiasm.

That’s either the best satire I have ever read, or the biggest violation of the Goose and Gander Rule ever.  It doesn’t really matter which, because Dave and Jason talking about getting links is like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett comparing their bank accounts.  It makes them feel good, but has zero relevance for the rest of us.

So what can the rest of us do?  We could fall in line, and fawn over these guys.  We might get a link every six months or so.  Or we could just sit back and watch.

Or we could leave that party and start our own.

I don’t want to spend any effort trying to figure what I need to write to be worthy of a link from some blogostar.  That promotes bad writing, and it doesn’t work.  Linking should not be viewed as currency, and the fact that it is viewed that way by many is the single most screwed up part of blogging.  We’re not handing out MBEs here.  We’re just placing a road sign to another place someone may want to go.

So I’d rather just give links to the people I read, without making them work for it.  Here’s some link-giving to some of the blogs in my reader.  Go check ’em out.

A Consuming Experience
Amy Gahran
Assaf Arkin
Be A Good Dad
Ben Metcalfe
Ben Werdmuller
Bill Liversidge
Blonde 2.0
Brad Kellett
Chip Camden
Christopher Carfi
Claus Valca
Corey Clayton
Craig Newmark
Dave Rogers
Dave Sifry
Dave Taylor
Dave Wallace
Dwight Silverman
Earl Moore
Eric Scalf
Ethan Johnson
Frank Gruber
Frank Paynter
Fraser Kelton
Haydn Shaughnessy
Ian Delaney
Ilker Yoldas
Jackson Miller
Jake Ludington
Jeremy Zawodny
John Watson
Jon Maddox
Karl Martino
Kate Trgovac
Kevin Briody
Kevin Maney
Larry Borsato
Marc Canter
Mark Evans
Martin Gordon
Mathew Ingram
Mike Miller
OmegaMom
Phil Sim
Randy Morin
Rahul Sood
Ric Hayman
Richard Querin
Rick Mahn
Rob Barron
Robert Gale
Ron Jeffries
Scott Karp
Seth Finkelstein
Stephen Hogg
Steve Gillmor
Steve Newson
Steven Streight
Stowe Boyd
Susan Getgood
TDavid
Tom Morris
Tom Reynolds
Warner Crocker
Zoli Erdos

That’s it.  No link or master baiting required.  Just links to people because I read their blogs.

See how easy that was?