Photo by TonivS Every free template includes the author’s name near the content of each post. You would have to look hard to find one that didn’t. But why should you keep the name there?
Single and Multiple Authors
The purpose of giving the name so close to a post is to give credit to the person who wrote that post. This is important in multiple-author blogs where the author changes from post to post. Regular readers will be interested to know who is writing which posts, and the writers deserve credit for their work.
However, in a single-author blog, the author does not change from post to post. Regular readers do not need to be told your name over and over again as they know it already and can assume that the writer hasn’t changed.
For a new reader, your name matters little. They will read the content first, and if they liked that, they may then choose to discover a little more about you. There is no need to plaster your name on every post though. There are other methods of doing it.
Getting Your Name Out
Instead of forcing your name upon your regular readers again and again, why not use another method of introducing yourself to new readers?
- The About page. The most obvious solution is often the best. Provided the link to the About page is clear, your readers have access to all the information they will need about you.
- The blog footer. In Darren Rowse’s recent Problogger redesign, he moved his photograph and blurb into the page footer. This works because the information is there for those who want it (the reader who read the whole page), but not in the way of those who don’t (Regular readers).
- The website title. Many bloggers name their websites after themselves. For example, one of the most popular online money-making blogs is written by John Chow, and the site title is simply John Chow Dot Com. With that title, is there any need for John to write “Written by John Chow” under every headline?
As with all aspects of design, there are exceptions to the rule. Lorelle VanFossen blogs about blogging, and focuses on the community aspect in particular. She is very personal, and ends all of her posts with an authentic signature. If a similarly unique touch would lighten up your blog, go for it!
So, do you show your name on your blog? And more importantly, should you?
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pablopabla (50 comments)24 August 07
With this new template that I am using, the authorship does not show. I was wondering whether I should put it after the post but after reading this, I think I will just leave it out
Alan Hocking (3 comments)24 August 07
I’m still new to blogging (6 Months) and using the blogger platform.
My two questions are:
Should I leave my author name on my posts until I get more established and when I do want to remove it, how do I do it?
Michael Martin (1319 comments)24 August 07
Hi Alan!
I had a look at your blog, and I think you could easily remove it now. When I looked down your blog, the first place that I found your name was in the sidebar. The photograph draws attention much more than a name under a post, and the blurb you’ve written is more personal than the “Posted by…” line ever could be.
If it were up to me, I’d remove the name from beneath the posts, because you’ve already covered identity so well in the sidebar.
To do that in blogger, you could add this line to your stylesheet:
.post-author {display:none;}(If you decided you didn’t like it, you could get the name back by just deleting that line later on.
)
Alan Hocking (3 comments)24 August 07
Thanks for the feed back. It is much appreciated. I think I’ll take your advice and remove it later.
I’ll definately be dopping by for more tips.
See you soon
Alan
Michael Martin (1319 comments)24 August 07
No problem. I’ll keep an eye out to see how the changes look if you make them.
Cya around,
Michael
Alan Hocking (3 comments)24 August 07
Hi Michael,
I’ve removed it and it looks much cleaner thanks for the tip.
For any other of your readers also using the blogger platform who wish to do the same you need to log onto your account, click on layout, under the add & remove page elements page the square that say’s blog post has an edit widgit in the bottom right hand corner. Click on this and it opens the edit page with tick boxes simply remove the tick in the box next to “posted by” and save.
Hey presto a cleaner looking blog.
Michael Martin (1319 comments)24 August 07
I think it looks much better as well.
And thanks for leaving the tip for other readers! I appreciate that.
(I’m not very familiar with Blogger. I really need to fix that! xD )
Hari from GotChance (2 comments)24 August 07
Hi Michael,
You wouldn’t believe. But, it is true that the first thing i noticed when i first visited your blog was that your posts didn’t contain an author name. After all, you even had your name in comments (:P i copied your style).
I didn’t find your about page until you specified it in this post. Still not sure how i missed it. Atleast consider writing a short blurb in the sidebar and link it to your about page.
kristarella (141 comments)24 August 07
Heh, I actually hadn’t thought about it. As fate would have it I don’t have my name with each post, it’s barely on the front page at all. I’m not sure how I feel about it not being there at all, but I don’t feel the need for it on posts. The about page is only a click away!
Michael Martin (1319 comments)24 August 07
Hari – That’s a great point. The “About” link here isn’t the most obvious in the world. You could well be right about adding a blurb to the sidebar (A few other people have commented on the lack of a photo on the About page). It’s one area that I definitely need to do something with.
(And lol – Just right. It’s a nice style I think. 
)
Kristarella – Yep, and your website name is your name. You’re grand.
Mommy Zabs (45 comments)24 August 07
I agree you should have a visible about. Pic or no pic. I like that on the top half of the page so that new visitors don’t have to hunt around for what it is “about”. Of course, on my mommyzabs I have wanted to darken the about text, and for some reason can’t seem to find the right part to change!!! It stumped me
On names, neither of my themes show it, though when I have more people posting on my notchinamade (dot) net I ought to put it in.
my personal mommy blog I do have a signature because it is a very relational site. for me it ads a girly personal touch that my readers seem to like.
Michael Martin (1319 comments)24 August 07
MZ – I noticed that signature as well. It looks good.
David Airey (55 comments)24 August 07
Michael,
You make an excellent point, and have got me thinking. I currently show small text below the post title, showing my name, but want to change it to show a ’skip to comments’ link, or the number of comments displayed. That’d be much more useful in my opinion.
There’s one change I’d love to see here, and that’s for a more obvious break between reader comments. I know there’s the change in colour bar on the right, but I’d love my eyes to get a visual break when reading down through the great comments.
Enjoy the weekend!
Michael Martin (1319 comments)24 August 07
Hi David,
I think that would make far better use of the space. Great idea.
As for Pro Blog Design, I’m going to be tweaking quite a few things this weekend (There goes that enjoyment!
), and you’ve hit the nail on the head about the comments. Someone mentioned that to me in the first few days of this blog going live, and with you mentioning it as well now, it would seem that it’s well worth doing. 
Lorelle (2 comments)26 August 07
Thanks for the mention of my “signature”, which started out as a way to divide multi-post page view posts, as there were few Themes available in the beginning of WordPress.com, and few offered a clean “break” visually between each post, all looking like one big post. It’s now become a brand, though it never started out that way.
It’s really frustrating when WordPress Theme designers decide for you if the author byline should be included or not in a Theme. They just remove it rather than setting it for an easy viewable/not viewable “display:none” in the stylesheet.
On WordPress.com Themes, this is even more difficult as it becomes one more thing for the user to look at when deciding upon a blog Theme. You may like the layout and colors, but not get a byline. ARGH.
I’d love to see a Plugin or part of the code in WordPress act similarly to how Categories work. If there are no posts in the category, it will not appear on the blog until posts have been put in that category. Why not have code that checks to see if there is more than one author on a blog, and if there are more than one, automatically make the byline visible. The other option is to add an on/off switch in the Administration Panels.
Wouldn’t that be slick?
Michael Martin (1319 comments)26 August 07
Hi Lorelle!
Ahh, I never thought of it being used for that! It makes perfect sense though, and now that you mention it, comparing the guest posts without the signature, with your own posts with it, it definitely makes a big difference.
I agree with you about the theme designers. It’s a tightrope for them usually; trying to decide between too little control, and too much control. The name is such a basic feature though, that it should definitely be included.
What you said about the plugin makes sense, for Wordpress.com especially. Alan Hocking left a comment a little above in this post, explaining a feature in blogger which is exactly the on/off switch you described (Though not quite as fancy as your multi-author idea!
). If Google can do it, why can’t Wordpress?
redwall_hp (139 comments)27 August 07
Lorelle, I bet I could write a plugin like that. I’ll have to think about it, and see how easy it would be.
Leon (1 comments)28 August 07
That’s a no brainer, because you want to build sort of a “rep” in the blogosphere.
redwall_hp (139 comments)28 August 07
So basically, you want any call to the_author() to be disabled? So if a template has a tag, it will output “” instead of “me”?
Michael Martin (1319 comments)28 August 07
Matt – She wants it to first check the number of authors in the blog. If there is only one, then yep, that’s what she wanted. But if there is more than one, the tag should function as normal.
Good luck! Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.
Tejvan Pettinger (3 comments)5 September 07
Funny, at the moment I’m trying to work out HOW to put an author byline at the bottom of wordpress posts.
Michael Martin (1319 comments)5 September 07
Well, if you really want to.
By < ?php the_author() ?>Gunady (5 comments)22 January 08
No, I’m not showing out my name. Why? It’s definately not about the nuisance factor. Mine is a single-author blog, and my english is suck. At the beginning, I don’t want the readers to keep remember my name. Im a new blogger, so my name should’nt really matter either
Moreover, I have no intent to branding my name. Why should I. All I concern about is how to make reader enjoy my post. They don’t have to know me for that reason.
Michael Martin (1319 comments)22 January 08
Gunady,
That’s a fair view, and the reader enjoying your posts is definitely number one priority, but good branding helps bring them back to you.
Branding your site may well be more important than branding your name though.
Gunady (5 comments)23 January 08
Yes, I agree with you. I’d rather branding my site than my name. There are people out there who are thirst on popularity. They want to be acknowledged and be well-knowned in spite the fact they don’t have some quite valuable thing to offer yet.
It’s embarrasing you know, when you make yourself popular and eventually found out that people are actually laughing at and make fun of you because of your immaturity / rookie-ness.
And it suddenly cross my mind the idea of having anonymous name/author for our blog. What if we use other people name or a plain anonymous for our blog. Do you have any post about it? I can’t find one with your search box.
Michael Martin (1319 comments)23 January 08
Gunady,
No, I don’t have a post about it (I stick quite firmly to design topics here), but my opinion is that it probably isn’t the best idea.
I agree that it’s not crucial to force your name down the throat’s of new visitors.
But I also think that the chances of building up loyal readers are severely diminished if they don’t know you by a real name. And the loyal readers (The regulars and commenters
) of your blog are worth more than everyone else put together.
There are some people who insist that photos and such are crucial, because it makes blogging more personal. I could care less about photos to be honest, but a name is an essential. e.g. It would be more awkward writing this comment if I had had to address it to “Whoopee Life,” instead of “Gunady.” Gunady is a person. Whoopee Life is an object. That has a big affect on having a natural conversation.
Gunady (5 comments)24 January 08
Blogging and commeting are should be about having a conversation between people, not object. I like that idea
About the photo being not crucial, well, I personally agree with that. What really matters to me is the blog design and anything that makes me comfortable staying in the blog. And hey, isn’t that what you really good at. No wonder I keep coming to this blog 
Michael Martin (1319 comments)24 January 08
Haha, I hope you do keep coming to it. Always good to have a wee chat.
Seems we’re agreed now. Making visitors feel welcome is crucial, and whether or not a photo or a name will do that is debatable…
Ninja (1 comments)21 August 08
Whether it be singular in nature or about many different things or by many different authors, your blog is really whatever you make it. So do what you want with the author credential.
For mine, I like the Author credit to be innocuous in nature, hidden in the meta data. But I’ve also enjoyed those that are more prominent.
Really, it’s all good. Just remember to above all remain classy and you’ll be fine.
Come see the ninja slippers.
dncworldwide.com
jim (3 comments)24 September 08
Michael, we’re using WP MU, and the author’s name does not show up. We, of course, do want to see the poster’s name. What setting isn’t set?
jim (3 comments)24 September 08
More on the above:
This code is part of our index.php file within the blog’s theme:
Posted at | Category: |
I presume this code needs to include something like Written by:
But we have no file or anything regarding “author.”
Incidently, when I change the theme to one of the classic WP themes, the writer’s name shows up.
Help!
Michael Martin (1319 comments)24 September 08
Jim,
Sorry, I don’t know much about WP MU specifically, but if they use the same template tags as WordPress (I’m pretty certain they would, for the most part, but maybe not for author tags?), then you should check out this page:
http://codex.wordpress.org/Tem.....the_author
lynnscott (20 comments)30 September 09
Good post….I have mixed feelings…..I would say it is up to the designer….
to use there own name….This one is a thinking post…good topic….Thanks
Cathy @ 3 at 1 Copying (9 comments)5 October 09
I have just come across this site, and have paged through finding it really great, with interesting and informative content
I would have to agree with Lynn Scott here, it is up to the designer, but then again having ones name out there is also a good this thins is how one gets recognized.
Hazel Ink Cartridge (6 comments)17 November 09
I think its great to see someones name out there on the work that they have done, does this not give them creditability? One must just remember not over do their name on the site.