I just spent the past 10 or so minutes struggling to read a blog post without my eyes popping out of my head. Why? I’m guessing it’s because the author thought it would cooler to use white text on a black background.
Why did I continue to struggle through the text and not leave, you might ask. Well, I’m getting older, what can I say. To be honest, I wanted to read what he had to say. He was talking about something I was interested in. I can’t say that I’ll be visiting his blog again though, as that was too annoying to have to suffer through on a regular basis.
When it comes to blogging, or at least blogging with the expectation that someone, anyone will read it, readability matters. People read your blog, not the spiders, not the ‘bots. You want your readers to have the easiest, least intrusive experience when reading your posts – both at your blog directly and in their reader.
So what does this mean for you?
- Keep your blog posts whole in your feed – don’t shorten your feed with the “more” button. Yes, you can fit more stuff on your home page. Yes, you might get the extra page views directly to your site. But honestly, I just don’t think it’s worth it. I rarely follow the “more” link out of my reader (and many folks have said the same thing). People that subscribe to your feed count when it comes to sharing your stats, so don’t worry that they don’t visit your site directly each and every time.
- Keep your paragraphs short and sweet – remember, for the most part, blogging isn’t about writing a magazine article (though for some, it can be). I like to think blogging works best when it reads like you’re chatting with your girlfriend…so keep it easy and breezy.
- Whenever possible, use those bullet points and headers – this helps to make your post a quick and digestible read for those readers that like to skim instead of read.
- Keep the extras to a minimum – you don’t need your site to have music and an audio greeting, and a flashing whatchamacallit all going on at the same time.
For some more helpful tips, check out this post at Pro Blog Design. Just remember if you’re writing about something you enjoy, that joy will come through.
And please, keep the white on dark text to a minimum, your readers will thank you 
