Size Matters to Blog Readers

How many times have you come across this annoyance when you are posting a comment to a blog? The form entry boxes are just too narrow, you cannot check that you typed your email address properly, and what if you’ve got a long name? Moreover, when you start typing your link into the web address box, you get a drop down menu of those that you have entered in other sites previously, but you cannot see the full entry, so you have to click and move to the end of the line to check and then edit because it was the wrong one…

Now, I am sure someone could come up with a GreaseMonkey script that would make the form wider in your browser, but that requires user effort. If you’re running a blog it should be your priority to make your comments form as easy and attractive as possible in order to encourage readers to comment rather than deter them from leaving their thoughts on your blog posts.

Thankfully, a blog with one of the most peculiar names on the web - Sebastian’s Pamphlets - has come up with a simple fix for your blog theme, that should help improve matters for those blogs with too-narrow form fields.

On the left is a form in which the input boxes are far too narrow (click the graphics for a full-size view). On the right, one in which they are just right. Your blog may not be affected as badly by form narrowing as the one on the left, and indeed some themes give you a nice wide box from the start, but most are somewhere in the middle. A little form extension could go a long way to helping your readers and making them commentators.