Comments above or below?
Posted on 03.10.05 at 21:49 CET
There’s a detail I’ve been noticing on several weblogs recently that has got me slightly puzzled. It’s the position of the links for adding or reading comments.
On these sites, this link is located below the post’s title, but before the actual content. You can see this in action at Asterisk or plasticbag.org, for example; I’m not picking them out specifically, it’s something I’ve seen in many places, they’re just the two that spring to mind as they’re part of my regular reading list.
I would imagine that the logical sequence in which you would read a post would be:
- Title
- Content
- Optional “read more” link
- comments
If the link to comments is in second position, you need move your focus back up the page after reading the post in order to check out existing comments or add your own.
I can see an advantage in having the comments link above the post for return visitors who, having already read the post, will head straight for the comments. In that case, wouldn’t a setup like that of John Hicks be better? He duplicates the link above and below his posts.
Have I missed something? I’ve thought about it a lot but can’t see an advantage to it unless it’s purely aesthetic or simply no longer considered important in the age of RSS.
Any tips or ideas?
7 comments
One of the questions I struggle on is the position of the “post comment” and “comments”. Do I put the comments first and the form for posting one next? Or the opposite?
I’ve noticed that comment placement problem too. Can’t figure it out myself but it doesn’t stop me from visiting the sites in question.
Mich: comments first, form after.
I’ve been looking at ways of indicating comment counts in RSS feeds, the only thing I can think of right now is calling a dynamically generated image with the number on it. Not very clean.
Mich, I’d keep the form after the comments. You usually read other comments before adding your own and it keeps double-posting to a minimum. If there are no comments, well the form’s first then :)
In my opinion, there are several considerations for comments on blogs :
1. You want to filter out the ‘bad’ comments. One way of doing that, is by making sure that readers are forced to do at least some work. Putting the comment form below the article, and even below the other comments, forces to read - or at least scroll down - before rushing into commenting.
One can hope this scares off the lazy folks, and rewards the engaged readers (the ones that took the trouble to read the entire page) with a comment ability.
2. Blogs are all about conversation. The value of a blog post is not only in the article itself - it is equally in the comments and backtracks.
Hiding comments or burying them behind several clicks might discourage this conversation.
So, the more I think about it, the more I’m inclined to like the Asterisk solution. By putting the link to the comments on top, you emphasise the importance of the conversation; you make it clear for all to see that there is room for comments. At the same time, by putting the form at the bottom, you’re setting up a filter.
I follow your logic, but in that case I would think John Hick’s solution is the best, the conversation is obvious but you can also access the comments without having to scroll back up.
I see your point for Hicks’ design, with the “to comments” below the title & at the bottom of the post. But the difference between his design and, say, Asterisk is…
Hicks Design shows a full article on the journal homepage, so there is usually scrolling involved. Yes, when you’re at the bottom, you don’t want to scroll back up to read the comments. The link there is good.
However, on Asterisk homepage, posts are only shortened versions of the entire post. Therefore, usually, the post title and link to the comments usually isn’t out of view. Therefore repeating the link to comments specifically would seem a little weird. Note: there is a link to “continue reading”, and reading the entry you’re presented with the comments.
I like the justification about dialogue, a conversation with users.
Also, in a redesign I’m doing at the moment, at the end of the post I’ve got a link to the comment form, which jumps directly to it. And the comment form should be at the bottom.
I hadn’t noticed it myself but I did feel uncomfortable navigating on some blogs. Looking at them now, that’s what it was or part of what it was anyway. What would be perfect is a comment counter inside RSS feeds, I haven’t seen that done right yet: it re-marks the article as new each time a comment is posted.
Stan