Showing posts with label Post Title. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Post Title. Show all posts

Monday, August 8, 2016

Reader Zoom Level Affects Screen Space Needed

I have suggested that properly sizing the Jump Break and Title sections of each post is an important decision, when publishing a post in your blog.

Publishing this blog, using carefully sized post title and jump break sections, allows me to consistently publish posts, with maximum detail visible in main page view - and with the "Read more" link visible.

Potential readers may read a post in this blog - instead of returning to a SERP, and reading another blog. This affects a key reader retention metric, the "bounce rate".

All of that considered, sizing of the introductory post sections won't always produce predictable results.

Reader zoom level is a semi random factor, which makes blog section sizing less predictable than one would wish, when trying to increase reader retention.

I size my posts using "100%" zoom, in the Chrome browser. This may, or may not, produce the same effect, for readers using Edge / Internet Explorer, Firefox, or any other browser. And the differing browser will not be the only varying factor.

All of these details can affect zoom level, screen space requirements, and reader retention - for any different blog. Here it is helpful for the blog owner to know about the typical reader.

  • Display screen size.
  • Reader age.
  • Multi tasking activity.
  • Tech interest level.

Display screen size will affect how the blog sections look, to each reader.

Browser choice is not the only variation, that can affect screen space and blog section display sizes.

Reader display screen size used is a detail, that I cannot control. The computer on which I compose most posts has a 6" high screen. A second computer, that I use from time to time, has an 8" high screen. The second computer, even at a 125% zoom level, still displays more post content in one screen page.


This post (in main page view) displayed, at 100% zoom, on an 6" vertical display.



Let's compare this post, displayed at several zoom levels.

Here's this post, in the individual post page display - without Jump Break. See how it looks, zoomed in various font sizes. Note that here I use a maximised browser window, though some readers will resize the browser window to fit the blog content.


This post (in Preview mode) displayed, at 100% zoom, on an 6" vertical display.




This post (in Preview mode) displayed, at 100% zoom, on an 10" vertical display.




This post (in Preview mode) displayed, at 75% zoom level.



Smaller zoom is more likely to be used by people with better eyesight - using better resolution and more expensive computers, and smaller browser windows.


This post (in Preview mode) displayed, at 125% zoom level.



Larger zoom is more likely to be used by people with marginally worse eyesight. This will frequently involve older people.

Older readers will be more likely to use higher zoom levels.

Reader age is another detail which each blog author may consider, in blog design.

Blogs which attract older readers should be designed for displays which use higher zoom levels - or use larger fonts, to begin. Older readers, with marginal eyesight, will be more likely to surf the web with their browsers zoomed higher.

Multi tasking encourages smaller browser windows - and lower zoom levels.

Younger readers, who like to multi task, will probably use low zoom - and size the browser window smaller, so they can have multiple windows, simultaneously visible in large computer displays. Older readers will be more likely to focus on one task at a time - and will maximise the browser window, with higher zoom.

Blog subject may produce readers of differing age and tech interest.

Each blog, depending upon its content, may be more or less likely to interest readers of a given age and / or and tech interest level. People of different tech interest levels may also be more or less likely to use computers with higher resolution, and may multi task using smaller browser windows.

The bottom line.

Each blog owner will have to consider the various issues mentioned above - for each post published - and decide what screen sizes and zoom levels might be preferred by the target reader audience.

Only a blog owner can decide what reader audience may be more interested in each individual post - and may benefit from a specific zoom level. And this affects the proper sizing of the jump break and title section of each post.



Several details of a #Blogger blog audience affect what post title and jump break section will be more appropriate, for each individual blog. These details, in turn, can affect bounce rate / retention rate.

Saturday, December 13, 2014

Confusion From Blogs That Use Smart Links In Titles

Some blog owners like to publish blogs that use custom colours, in the titles.

Carefully coordinated colours are important, in some blogs. Both the blog title, and the individual post titles, in many blogs, are clickable link captions. The blog title links to the blog home page, and / or the post titles link to the individual post pages.

Some blog owners get confused, when they try to set the colour of the titles, to a custom colour - and see link colours (which vary according to status), instead of the selected custom colours.

With some templates, both the blog title, and the post titles, may be captions for "smart" links.

A "Smart Link" is clickable, only when it leads to a different page.

With a smart link, the caption is clickable only when you are viewing a page not targeted by the link. When the link is clickable, it becomes subject to the "link" vs "visited link" colour combination.

With a blog that uses a custom colour title, and links in the titles, you will have 4 possible title colours.
  • Custom title colour.
  • Link colour.
  • Visited link colour.
  • Hover colour.

The above colour settings are provided, for some templates, when one uses the Template Designer "Advanced" menu. All settings are not included on all templates - though you can add any needed setting, with a little work.

A post title is clickable, only when the post is viewed on an index page.

With a smart link, the title in question will be a link only when you are not viewing the page that's targeted by the link. The blog title smart link, for instance, will point to the blog home page - and each post title smart link will point to the individual post page.
  • When you are viewing the blog home page, the blog title will not be clickable. Each post title will be clickable link captions.
  • When you are viewing an individual post, the blog title will be a clickable link caption, and the post title will not be clickable.
  • When you are viewing an archive retrieval or label search, both the blog title and posts titles will be clickable link captions.

It appears that the post title smart links are enabled, when the post permalink is part of the published date / time, in the post footer. This option was common, with older templates; with some (but not all) Layout and Designer templates, it may also be available.

If the post permalink is not provided in the post footer link, it appears that "smart" links may not be an option.

If you don't want the "smart link" colour action, you can add a CSS rule, and make page / post titles a consistent colour.

h3.post-title {
color:#000000;
}

This will, for instance, make all titles black. Be observant, though - and make sure that this works, consistently, for you!

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