future1 Image by Nattu.

I want to know a little more about you the readers here on Pro Blog Design. Are the posts here exactly what you want to be reading? Could I be doing things better?

If you could take a minute to answer the short polls below, and leave a comment if you’re up for it, then hopefully together we’ll find a way to make things even better!

We also have the winners of the business card prize draw, and a little treat for you at the end of the post.

Question 1 – What Image Editor Do You Use?

I use Photoshop, so it’s natural for me to use that in any tutorials I write here. But how many of you actually have Photoshop? What about the free alternatives?

Question 2 – What Blog Platform Do You Use?

Again, I’m fairly set in my ways. I love WordPress and rarely look at the other options. That will all change if needs be though!

Question 3 – What is Your Favorite Type of Post Here?

Question 4 – Would You Like to See “Design Review” Posts Again?

I used to take a blog and review its design here to list the things I thought it had done particularly well, but also any areas I saw for improvement. The idea was that by reading the case-study, you might learn from it and apply the ideas to your own site.

You can read them in the Design Review tag, e.g. my ProBlogger review.

Question 5 – Do You Use The “Recommended Elsewhere” Section of the Footer?

Question 6 – What Do You Think of the (Lack Of) Posting Schedule?

Posting here can be quite sporadic. I tend to make 1-2 posts per week, but there’s no real rhythm to what days they appear on and sometimes I can go a full week without a post.

That’s generally considered a bad practice, but as a blog reader, it’s just something that doesn’t bother me in any of the blogs I read. What do you think about it though? I will happily set a more rigid structure if it would work better for you.

Your Comments And Suggestions

All I have asked above are some of the questions that have been most pressing to me.

If you have a comment about any of the questions, or about any aspect of the site, please leave it in the comments below. Or if you’d rather keep your comments private, email me. I will respond to every comment or email individually.

Winners of the 4000 Business Cards

UPrinting were kind enough to offer 1000 free business cards to each of 4 lucky readers last week.

Chosen at random from everyone who submitted a link to their favorite business card, the four winners are:

  • Dan Cole – His blog, Ledger Pad, has some WordPress and coding tips.
  • Randa Clay – Writes one of the best design blogs around at RandaClay.com.
  • Redwall_hp – Covers just about every topic that a webmaster could want his blog, Webmaster Source.
  • JD Hartley – Writes at his personal blog, jdh23.com, including a good few tech topics!

Congrats guys, I’ll be in touch with each of you soon. Thanks to everyone who entered; I had a great time looking at all the creative cards yous found!

Last, But Not Least…

I’ve had this lying around on my computer for a while now. The first comic, WordPress vs MovableType, was published way back in April, and I’m not sure if there’ll be any more.

Regardless of that, here’s a little story on the effect the right wording can have perception!

2-red-vs-alizarin

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