Blog comment forms: reducing the barrier to entry

March 15, 2006

Last week I filled in my official census form online. It was the first time we could complete the census online and they’re hoping up to 15% of the population would choose this format. It was a pleasant experience and I was impressed at all the usability and accessibility issues they’d thought through. I’ve been thinking about online forms and also how in statistics there’s a lot of thought which goes into survey design.

Often, questions which are easy to answer are put at the beginning - so people get into the momentum of filling in the form, rather than asking the trickier questions first which get them to think more. On the other hand, you don’t want your key questions of interest to be so far into the survey that you lose their attention, focus or participation - that the barrier to entry seems too high.

Telephone surveyors leave all the demographic questions to the end of the survey - you’re far more likely to give them basic information about yourself after you’ve expressed your opinions on politics, products or companies.

How does this relate to blog comment forms?

Last week I adapted mine.

I turned the comment box into something like a post it note - to give attention to the box, to make it feel like they’re adding a note.

I wanted it to feel light, and not like a cumbersome form they have to fill in.

I decided to put the name/email/website bits at the bottom as an experiment to try and make it feel like less of a form-filling exercise and putting the focus back on making the comment.

I changed it to try and reduce any percieved barrier to entry. Even though comment forms are usually quick to fill in, sometimes it’s painful having to type in all the capchas etc first.

On the other hand, regular blog readers encounter so many comment forms, I may be making this less intuitive for them.

Opinion First vs Familiarity?

See also
Comments

  1. No, I think your first instinct is right on. When we make a comment what we want to do, what is in our heads right then, is make the comment. The switching around is a great idea.

    Regular blog readers might be used to one format but it’s not a major switch for them, and there are increasingly more regular blog readers coming along - shouldn’t the web be improved for them, rather than not improved simply because those of us who got here first are used to what isn’t the best?

    Now I’ve calmed down and commented I’ll just go fill in those capchas

    — Liam, March 15, 2006

  2. Thanks Liam for reassuring me that doing things differently for a reason is worthwhile :)

    — Rachel, March 15, 2006

  3. To be honest the first time I saw it I was a tad confused but it’s not rocket science to work it out. Still feels a little wierd for some reason but I don’t mind.

    — Darren, March 16, 2006

  4. Looks nice, but I’m not convinced by making text fields and buttons not *look* like text fields and buttons.

    The text fields don’t look like text fields everywhere else, so it’s only by hovering that the changing pointer makes it completely clear what they are, and the button doesn’t respond to a mouseover at all, whilst ‘real’ buttons do - makes me feel less confident that it’s going to work.

    The ‘comment first’ approach *does* seem to make sense for new users, but the chances of a new user happening to start on *this* blog are low, so I think the ’same as they’ve seen everywhere else’ approach probably still makes *more* sense.

    Damn, I sound like Jakob Nielsen. Sorry.

    — Michael Randall, March 16, 2006

  5. When I saw your comment form layout a few days ago when I first stumbled over your blog, I actually liked it so much that I immediately put it on my “design ideas to use in my own blog as soon as I get around to it” list.

    I think it’s still intuitive enough — after all, the fields don’t change, it’s only their order. But then again, I definitely consider myself a Web power user, so I guess my opinion doesn’t count too much ;)

    — Andrea, March 16, 2006

  6. Hey Rachel,
    It does feel different. I think it’s a good idea, just curious though, are you getting more comments with this format?
    Joe

    — Joe, March 16, 2006

  7. I’ve been toying with an idea similar to this. It only makes sense, since it’s a bit like signing your note. When you write someone a note in real life, you don’t sign it before you write it, do you?

    — Hexxenn, March 16, 2006

  8. it’s a tough call: functionally, it works better (to have the note first, and the signature later), but it does break the way that people are -used- to commenting…

    maybe the heading should be “add a comment, then sign it”; but I can’t say I even read the heading, so that probably isn’t the necessary fix.

    — cafedave, March 17, 2006

  9. I think the colour you used in the comment text field is great. It’s a real call to action, which I think is the problem with a lot of comment forms… they don’t really grab you and make you want to fill them with text. This one, on the other hand (as you can see!) got my attention! :)
    And, I like the order of the fields. I want to get my thoughts down straight away, before I lose momentum, and then fill out the boring bits.

    nice work :)

    — leisa, March 17, 2006

  10. I like the switching around, Rachel: shows you have done what a designer should, and that’s understand habits and motivations and designed around them. Too many products today (cellphones, iPods) insist on users changing their habits and I would argue make their lives harder.
       As to the census form, I opted for the paper version as I wasn’t sure if I would be near a computer on census night. (I was on a plane heading back to Wellington.)

    — Jack Yan, March 17, 2006

  11. Blogs are such a new thing that I don’t think they are well served by relentless standardization.

    I think all of us working a little more to adapt blog (and web) interface to suit our sensibilities will lead to a richer and more functional online environment.

    — farlane, March 18, 2006

  12. One thing I just thought of when reading Hexxenn’s and cafedave’s comments above — how about changing the layout of the actual comment as well — comment text first, signature below? That should put an emphasis on what people have to say, not who says it, right?

    “Official comments” (i.e., those by the blog owner) being displayed differently should work well with that, too — even for longish comments, you still know which ones are left by visitors and which ones by the blog owner.

    — Andrea, March 18, 2006

  13. Rachel

    What do you use to design your comment form?

    Serge

    http://www.njconcierges.com

    Blog:
    http://sergetheconcierge.typepad

    — Serge Lescouarnec, March 18, 2006

  14. Andrea, good point above. I like that idea.

    — Jack Yan, March 18, 2006

  15. Andrea - I like that idea too; will change my comments :) Thanks!

    Serge - I use CSS to design my comment form.

    — Rachel, March 20, 2006

  16. Rachel, glad I could contribute something — your writing and the design of this blog gave me so many ideas for my own blog! And yes, I like the way it is now. Will definitely do that in my own blog as well (as soon as I get around to it).

    — Andrea, March 22, 2006

  17. I’ll vote for this.

    This is definitely one of those things where you wonder why you (or someone else) hadn’t thought of it already. Seems kinda obvious now that you’ve pointed it out.

    I’m not entirely sure that re-styling this area to NOT look like a form is entirely ‘correct’ though. Yes, highlight it with pale yellow, but the subtle reminder that a indented box requires that you PUT SOMETHING IN IT is now lost… instead I have boxes that are pushed up at me and seem slightly counter-intuitive.

    But I’m being over-picky I think. I do like this approach.

    — Gordon, March 23, 2006

  18. [...] I’m loving the feedback and discussion happening on the Blog comment form post. I just wanted to pick up on Gordon’s comment about styling the comment box: I’m not entirely sure that re-styling this area to NOT look like a form is entirely ‘correct’ though. Yes, highlight it with pale yellow, but the subtle reminder that a indented box requires that you PUT SOMETHING IN IT is now lost… instead I have boxes that are pushed up at me and seem slightly counter-intuitive. [...]

    — Update on comment forms — cre8d design blog, March 23, 2006

  19. [...] The real surprise? No-one commented on the fact that the order of the comments box had changed (this is why). [...]

    — gordon mclean. informationally overloaded., March 23, 2006

  20. It seems so obvious now.

    Though I must admit, I typed in my details first and then tabbed back to this field. Force of habit, I expect.

    — Pete, March 24, 2006

  21. [...] Die Idee kam von diesem Blogeintrag (und den dazugehörigen Kommentaren): Anscheinend sind Menschen eher bereit dazu, demographische Daten in Umfragen anzugeben, nachdem sie ihre Meinung zu Dingen ausdrücken konnten — darum fragen Leute, die Telefonumfragen durchführen, immer erst am Ende nach persönlichen Angaben. Nicht dass ich das aus eigener Erfahrung wüsste — ich leg bei sowas ja immer sofort auf… [...]

    — Bessere Kommentar-Darstellung (?) • {Bücher,Unterwegs,Rechner-Basteln,Kochen,…}, April 10, 2006

  22. I’m not entirely sure that re-styling this area to NOT look like a form is entirely ‘correct’ though. Yes, highlight it with pale yellow, but the subtle reminder that a indented box requires that you PUT SOMETHING IN IT is now lost…

    — business catalog, June 8, 2006

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  28. I’d propose to install “check spelling” instrument to your comment section. I kust love it.

    — Helen Price, August 22, 2006