csp_hindmarsh_bridge_vii

While I’ve been busy lately preparing for my Certified Usability Analyst (CUA) exam on September 13, I’ve been quietly studying this blog’s performance, vision and roadmap.

I’ll admit that in the blogsphere there’s not much room for a personal blog to thrive, but my idea is that if this is the case, then I might as well build and maintain the best possible personal blog out there that provides kick-ass content and value to my friends and readers.

To that end, there are many things that need fixing (both technical and otherwise), that have piled over the last few months. For example:

  • Optimize load time - Last time I checked, this blog’s load time stands at a whopping 25 seconds!
  • Easier navigation - While current one isn’t all bad, I’m not fond of the menu labeling. I have ideas for improving navigation, mostly inspired by Steve Krug’s awesome book, Don’t Make Me Think.
  • Browser compatibility - This problems continues to exist in minor forms, despite changing theme last May.
  • Clear purpose - I want to further focus this blog and I want new readers to get at a glance what this blog’s about and where to find valuable content (again, navigation).

So in my spare time, I’ve been planning out steps I will take to meet those goals:

  • I will start by switching to a more browser-friendly, fast-loading and awesome-looking theme. I already got a theme picked out.
  • I will make sure everything that’s wrong with the current theme is permanently fixed in the new one upon launching.
  • To celebrate the new launch, I will start writing a massive post series that’s going to be really valuable for virtually anybody who uses a computer. Stay tuned.
  • To go along the post series, I will embark on a massive ad and marketing campaign to bring in fresh and interesting new readers to spice up the community around this blog.

It’s all about you!

Yes, without you, the lovely readers of this little blog, I wouldn’t have the motivation to plan and do all of this.

Recently, I’ve done something I’m really proud of: I’ve reached out to a fresh new reader of this blog and thanked him for having the interest to follow my blog. Then I asked him of what he thought of the blog, what he liked best and least. I was really amazed that he took the time and effort to reply, thoroughly describing his experience with the blog so far. He suggested some very good points that kind of reaffirmed my existing suspicions.

So now I want to generalize this concept:

In the comments, write at least one thing you like about this blog and (more importantly), one thing you’d like to see changed. Be brutal, I can take that (as long as it’s constructive).

Your comments and suggestions will feed into my lists above and the relaunch of this blog will see most of the things you like reinforced and the things you disliked hopefully patched up.