Some quick thoughts nowhere near complete.
It’s sort of a rule in room design, that it is hard to make a big, wide open room cozy and inviting. You do this by adding odd, warm, interesting alcoves and inglenooks around the perimeter.
Likewise, modern open plan designed homes are practical in a sense, you can survey the home from front door, through the great room and kitchen to the dining area all at a glance. But what gets lost is the delightful sense of exploration and being surprised when opening a door and seeing what is beyond. Old homes had parlors, withdrawing rooms, nooks, turning hallways with many doors, sunny window benches for reading, surprise unexpected seating alcoves.
I kinda look at a Wordpress blog the same way. You have all these plugins and pages, so can you make areas, spaces if you will, that surprise, hopefully delight and entertain. Odd bits of eccentric whimsy that capture interest. These are not quite an easter egg but are not in your face either. You don’t want to take away from what you have written but you want to add value. Navigation is there, easy to find if one does more than helicopter in on a search query and then helicopter out. They are there if one explores.
These spaces can have utility too. An oaken paneled library, provides knowledge, entertainment, quiet refuge and a sign of what the owner finds interesting. A bookshelf full of books in a guest room provides interest for insomniacs.
And it may be that these virtual spaces get little used, but if they bring pleasure to you knowing that they are there and to the odd visitor then all to the good.
Needless to say, I’m not a minimalist.
I fear that our technology, search engines delivering you to individual pages you are looking for, while efficient has robbed us of a sense of wonderment and adventure. Can a website or blog be both an effective conveyor of information with an optional dungeon crawl like D&D?
Feel free to comment.
