Blog cleanup checklist

January 18, 2006

If you’ve been running your blog for a while and done a tonne of modifications to your template (e.g. third-party ad code is often dodgy) or even if you’ve just redesigned (as I will often do with my personal blog) it’s worthwhile to do a bit of a spring clean every so often.

This list is also a reminder for me, as I haven’t completed all these things yet. I haven’t included a list of all the reasons why these things are important but in short: you’re making your blog more accessible, flexible and user-friendly.

  1. Validate your home page template, your blog post templates and your CSS files -
    http://validator.w3.org/
    Type in your blog’s URL and click check. Reduce those errors down to 0.
  2. Once validated, check your blog in multiple browsers, especially:
    IE 6, Firefox and Safari. IE 5 is good too. If you’re on a PC, you can still see what your blog will look like in Safari thanks to SafariTest
    Iron out any bugs.
  3. Increase the font size in your browser settings for both IE and Firefox. Does your blog still work OK when you increase it up a couple of notches? Do you allow people to resize in IE? Does your blog work OK when you decrease the font size (not as important as the increasing though).
  4. Turn off stylesheets in your browser. Does the blog’s structure still make sense?
  5. Turn off images in your browser. Is everything still understandable? Is the text still readable?
  6. Try resizing your screen to 800 x 600 pixels and 1024 x 768 pixels. How does it look?
  7. Check the download time using this handy tool
  8. Check the quality report for your blog
  9. Read Blog design and usability advice and Blog Interface Design 2.0 for ideas as to how you can improve your blog’s interface
  10. Oh, and most importantly, talk to the people reading your blog - find out what they like and don’t like!

I find the Web Developer’s Toolbar invaluable for many of these checks.

See also
Comments

  1. One more that you should add is the Google Mobilizer - http://www.google.com/gwt/n …

    This site allows you to view your web page the way mobile users will see it. As more and more users convert to mobile devices to browse the internet, you need to keep mobile users in mind during the design process. I know that after reviewing my site, I have some work to do.

    — Hagrin, January 18, 2006

  2. Thanks for that but I think you get the same result by turning off the stylesheet?  (And maybe Javascript?)

    — Rachel, January 18, 2006

  3. Well, my blog failed everything there. Woo! 51errors.
    Now, I get the alt tag thing, I shouldn’t be so lazy and should alt tag my images and such, and the close tag things, but lots of the other errors are with the MT mark up tags, which came from their templates, which is a bit irritating as there templates should at least start off valid.

    But, on another note with the mobile blogging thing, I’ve only just realised that this must be odd. Do regular cellphones not do CSS? I can view my blog on my phone, and the CSS works fine, displays as it would on a pc, only with more scrolling involved. Surely all phones will integrate this.

    — Pete..., January 18, 2006

  4. I think a lot of mobile users have CSS turned off to reduce bandwidth.

    PS i just had a look at your blog Pete, looks like a problem with your MT Template in the sidebar - those tags shouldn’t be appearing in the final source code, they should just be used by MT.

    — Rachel, January 18, 2006

  5. I’ve got to say I love when I click validate and get that green “passed” sign. Like the new look. Thanks for the Accessability validation. That’s a nice addition to my bag of site making tricks.

    — Justin, January 18, 2006

  6. [...] Blog cleanup checklist A blog design cleanup checklist. (tags: design webdesign) [...]

    — .derkilicious | links for 2006-01-18, January 18, 2006

  7. Thanks for putting the bit in about screen sizes! Sometimes I feel quite marginalised, only having a 800 x 600.

    — /Karen/, January 18, 2006

  8. fantastic sefari view :D thanks

    — A poisoned brain, January 18, 2006

  9. Thanks Rachel, I’ll try replacing my template with the original again and see if that helps…

    — Pete..., January 19, 2006

  10. [...] Rachel has just posted a Blog cleanup checklist that might be helpful in getting the code of your blog cleaned up. To be honest it’s something I constantly have struggled with as I’m not really wired in a technical way - but it is important every now and again to dig into. [...]

    — Blog Spring Clean Checklist: Blog Tips at ProBlogger, January 19, 2006

  11. Best post I’ve seen in a while, thank you! On the other hand, I just found out how messed up my code is…bugger. HiSoftware link was nice too.

    BR, Sampsa

    — Sampsa, January 19, 2006

  12. [...] Blog cleanup checklist — cre8d design blog (tags: design web reference blog) [...]

    — Free Hogg » links for 2006-01-19, January 19, 2006

  13. [...] No Cre8d Design, há uma Checklist de Limpeza de blogs (link visto no ProBlogger), que indica algumas coisas que se pode fazer para “limpar” - ou, melhor dizendo, detectar (e posteriormente resolver) vários possíveis problemas (na sua maioria relacionados com acessibilidade) com o teu blog. A maior parte dos potenciais problemas são (ou serão) mencionados - ou, simplesmente, há avisos para os evitar - na série “A Arte de Blogar”, mas é útil ter uma forma rápida e fácil de os detectar. [...]

    — Checklist de "limpeza" de blogs » A Arte de Blogar, January 20, 2006

  14. [...] In cre8d design, there’s a Blog Cleanup Checklist (link first seen on ProBlogger), listing some things you can do to “clean up” your blog. Most of the potential problems the tips check for are mentioned in one or more parts of my Blogging Tips series, but it’s nice to have quick ways of checking for them. [...]

    — Blog "cleanup" checklist » The Tlog, January 20, 2006

  15. [...] Blog Cleanup Checklist - Some interesting things to do if you have a little bit of time on your hands. [...]

    — INTE100 » Blog Archive » Links Roundup, February 18, 2006

  16. [...] Blog maintenance - staying on top of software updates, keeping track of how your spam filters are working, checking your error logs, looking at highlighting things people are most looking for, cleaning up your blog and so on. [...]

    — Creating a blog theme from scratch — cre8d design blog, March 27, 2006

  17. [...] UPDATE 1/18/06 5:30 pm: I’ve put in a table that should keep things better behaved for IE users and all the browsers that I haven’t checked myself. Here’s a blog cleanup checklist from Rachel at cre8d design; her blog has a cheery new design with spring colors. I haven’t yet gone through her checklist, but I have it on my to do list. categories: [...]

    — Anne 2.0 » My Apologies to IE6 Users, May 16, 2006