Have you ever seen blogs where the popular posts, top commentators, and blogroll are all tabbed into one small area? Those blogs are using DOMtabs.

DOMtabs is a free script and by using the guide below, its quick to install. I’ve also created a simple stylesheet that you can use to easily restyle your DOMtabs.

You can see DOMtabs in action in the sidebar here on Pro Blog Design. It is a very user-friendly way of saving space on the page, and cutting your clutter.

Lastly, this guide is written with WordPress in mind, but the script can be used anywhere. If you’re on another platform, try applying the steps to your own platform, or read the help on the script’s site, and comment here for help if you need it.

Comments are one of the most important aspects of blogging, and something that all bloggers appreciate. And yet, comment areas are a typically boring affair.

By making commenting a more enjoyable experience, you will encourage more commenters to return to your blog to check up on previous comments, and to leave new ones.

Use A Visual Text Editor

The default comments field is boring, and quite limited. It is possible to write your own HTML tags in the comment, but that’s a nuisance that you won’t do often. It’s usually easier to just leave out the formatting, isn’t it?

NicEdit is just 30kb in size, and gives a full featured text editor. Check out the comments field of this post to see it in action. It’s much easier to format a comment this way.

For anyone; NicEdit.

Matt (Creator of WordPress) has just announced his plans to set up a directory of paid themes on WordPress.com. The initial reaction has been both good and bad.

Before I give my thoughts on the ups and downs of this, here’s a quick run-through of the facts.

• Matt removed all sponsored themes from the free WordPress.org directory a few months ago.
• The new theme directory is only for WordPress.com (The free blog host).
• Automattic (Matt’s company) will take a 50% cut from all sales.
• All themes must be “original, link-free, not published before, and GPL-licensed.”

A sideblog is a mini-blog that sits in your sidebar. The entries are only ever short snippets, and you can post them on anything you like.

They could be personal updates, like Sil does with Twitter, link recommendations like on Abduzeedo, or even blog updates.

They are very common on personal blogs but not so common on others. I’m considering adding one to Pro Blog Design though, and I can think of a few good reasons for a blog to have a sideblog.

This week has been pretty hectic, hence the lack of posts. I wasn’t prepared for a blogging emergency. Sorry guys. Thankfully, that’s just about over.

Today, I want to start ask you a question.

What do you think is the most important aspect of a blog’s design?

I’ve written before about what I think makes a good design, and we’ve talked about those aspects. But if you were forced to choose just one thing, what would it be?

I’ll collect together the best answers (And post my own in the comments of course!), and we’ll see what we can come up with.

Free themes are designed to be as easy to install as possible. You simply upload your theme, activate it, and you’re done. It knows your blog’s name, description, feed URL and everything else.

In order to know all of this, the theme uses PHP tags to get the information. However, it has to use these tags every time a page is loaded.

As most of the information never changes, you can delete these tags from your theme, and replace them with normal text. That way, your server has less to process next time around.

If you’re after the perfect theme for your blog, odds are that you’ll be hiring a custom theme designer. Unfortunately, footing the bill isn’t enough to get you that perfect dream. You need to be able to work well with the designer, or it’s all going to waste.

Getting the right information and goals to the designer is key to success. If the two of you aren’t on the same wavelength though, problems will arise. Fast. Who wants to fork out a good few hundred dollars and not get exactly what they needed in return?