The Montoya Herald, a weblog about Blueprint, jQuery, design, music and life, publishing on the web since September 2005. Written by Christian Montoya: developer, designer and entrepreneur.

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No more pictures?

Posted on March 26.

Someone said the pictures on the front page of this blog make no sense, and only distract from the content. Do you agree? I need to know if I'm using the best approach right now; otherwise it's time to try something new!

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15 Comments

  1. Alex on March 26, 2007

    Hi there Montoya!
    Actually 5 mins ago is the first time I saw your front page, always just goes right to the article pages from my RSS reader :) But my first impression wasn't too good. Maybe try to make them smaller, and align them to the right or something?
    Keep the good posts coming btw!
    -Alex

  2. Lucas Murray on March 26, 2007

    The images would be fine if the post excerpt was at least 4-5 lines long instead of the one it is now.

  3. Christian Montoya on March 26, 2007

    Ah, I see… well, I think I will go with Alex's suggestion, and I'll try to make the excerpts longer… I'll work on it tonight or tomorrow.

  4. Karl B. on March 26, 2007

    I agree with Lucas… if the excerpts were longer it would be better.

  5. BillyG on March 26, 2007

    Coming from Reader I never noticed them. They seem to be banner type images to me, kinda like those design contest sites.

    Sorry, my 2c. Peace.

  6. Jenn on March 26, 2007

    I always read by feed because those pictures drive me insane. Maybe something much smaller would do? If not, I say get rid of them altogether.

  7. Scott Carpenter on March 26, 2007

    Since you ask: Longer excerpts and ditch the banners. (Although I read from Google Reader so I rarely see the front page.)

  8. Nils on March 26, 2007

    What they all said, really.

    But. It's your blog, of course, so why do you like it like that? And if you do, why change?

  9. Christian Montoya on March 27, 2007

    Nils: I am not my audience, so I never ask that question. If others don't like it, I'll change it. That kind of thinking is what got me this far, after all.

  10. My view is, don't go imageless.

    People like to look at pictures. If you don't show one at the top of your article then at least include one further down the text, towards the bottom. This will also help get those skim-readers to read more of the end of your articles.

  11. Lucas Murray on March 27, 2007

    Hmmm, a single image for the latest entry would add that much needed splash of colour to the homepage. Currently with the images removed it looks very blank and boring.

  12. Nils on March 27, 2007

    Ok, fair enough. Good thinking, really.

    That said, I do like images, but I also realize how hard it can be to find the right ones that not only fit the post, but your design as well.

    I'm curious to see what you decide then. Cheers!

  13. Christian Montoya on March 27, 2007

    Lucas: Yes, it's blank and boring, but I think I'll leave it that way until I redesign the site, at which point I will make things attractive another way.

  14. donald on March 27, 2007

    I liked seeing the pictures, but agree that they could be presented better.

  15. Jermayn Parker on March 29, 2007

    Jumping on board a bit late hear I know but….
    I know my website is not the best to go by but I have myself have no images on the front page with just the first paragraph.

    I myself find my home page bland and a bit boring :(

    But I agree that the images might have been too big before but I reckon it is good to have some imagary to break it up a bit.

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