Dave Pollard, at How To Save The World, posted a list of functions he wants his blog to have, such as “robust commenting” and “access to rest of personal ‘filing cabinet’”. He then scored its success at each:
This article is an attempt to create a scorecard of what blogs can and cannot presently do, and what they should be able to do. The objective is to spec out a blogging tool that is better (more useful), faster and simpler, at next to no cost.
My benchmark for this scorecard is my father. If I could explain to him how to use a blog feature over the phone, it gets a ‘green‘ score. If my brother, who lives a few blocks away from him and is an engineer, could set it up for him so he could use it, it gets a ‘yellow‘ score. If it’s not available at all, or unfathomable to novice users even with help, it gets a ‘red‘ score.
Pollard explains each of the 20 features he’s after and finds that only one rates ‘green’. His sidebar also has lists of what blog readers and blog writers really want to see more of. (What a week over there; Pollard’s blog is that wonderful kind of place where a critique of “knowledge management” can live side-by-side with kids jumping on trampolines and an Atkins diet for dogs.)