I just wanted to collect some feedback on something site-related I’m toying with.
Under the comic, there is a link to the ShareThis! application that, on rollover, reveals dozens of links to different social bookmarking sites.
The other day I stumbled onto the Sociable plugin and really liked the way that it displayed the icons of the social bookmarking sites I choose.
My main problem with their plugin is the coding. Specifically the CSS. I want to put text around it to kind of explain what all these little images are doing there (“Bookmark this comic!”) but the way the code is written, it won’t let me.
At this point, I’m afraid I’m overthinking it.
So let me as you this: Does there need to be any text on the page explaining what those icons are for? Twitter, StumbleUpon, Reddit and the like? Or is it safe to assume that if people see those icons and the like the comic enough to bookmark it, they will?
I’m trying to get a sense of how you guys use these social bookmarking plugins (if it all) because I want to make it as easy for you as possible to help share Theater Hopper with others.
Right now I have a sneaking suspicion that the ShareThis! plugin I’m currently using is forcing you to jump through hoops by clicking on the link, then hunting for the social bookmarking service you want versus seeing the icon for that service front and center, clicking on it and getting it done.
What do you think? I could really use your perspective.
I think that people know what all those icons mean. I was going to suggest that if it didn’t already have it that you could set the img title to the name of the service the icon is for…but sociable already does that. I’d just use it. These days people know and people who don’t know will hover and go “uhhh?” long enough to see ‘del.icio.us’ pop up under their mouse 🙂
My vote is for the Sociable plugin, without any specific “explainer” text. People who use social bookmarking websites will already be familiar with the sites’ icons, right? Still, it sucks that you can’t customize its look…
I agree, everyone knows what those icons mean. I enjoy the sociable plugin and think it works great. I would recommend limiting the number of icons displayed though. I always think that listing too many sites makes it seem cluttered and a little desperate.
I was thinking about keeping the number of icons under 10. Probably less.
Twitter, StumbleUpon, Reddit, Digg, Del.ico.us, Facebook, (maybe Myspace?) and an e-mail option.
I agree – too many links looks desperate and I never know where to start! That’s another reason I don’t like ShareThis.
Here’s the thing. I think the people that would actually use those things know what the icons mean. The people who don’t know what they mean wouldn’t have used them anyway.