I updated my On Blog Design post to include many links to give examples as they exist on this blog of what I’m talking about.  I think it works better or maybe less muddled.

In reply to: Ticker Tape Parade.

What no black background with with neon green text?  😀

Seriously, I really like this.  At first I was disoriented for a second because I was expecting rigid and flat.  But then it just all clicks and makes so much sense.  The threading and the different sub styles for different post types all work really well together.  Colors are good.  Most important, it’s highly readable.  Very cool.

Previously we discussed how to make your own blog search engine for free.  Why can’t you use those same instructions to make a niche search engine (ie. Star Trek, book reviews, recipes, tech, science fiction, fountain pens, Tolkien etc.)?  Well, you can.

1. Follow the instructions in the link above.
2. Pick out a bunch of good sites all in one niche.  You want sites about the topic with lots of content that are established.  It’s fun to mix some lesser known sites in with the mix.
3. I don’t know if Duckduckgo has a limit on how many domains you can put in a site search so start with six domains, then test, and adjust up or down.
4. Test you results.  You may have to swap out some domains if their stuff never appears in the results.
5. Copy paste the final code on a page on your website. Label it.
6. Tell your visitors about it. People will think you are cool.  You’ll get dates. You’ll get invites to dinner.  People will listen to you when you speak. Your cat will quit ignoring you.  😀

A project of Web Directory Reviews Org, the topics under discussion include directory reviews, editing, administrative issues, SEO, hosting, & related subjects.

Update:  The place is abandoned, a ghost ship.  With some spammers running around as the most recent posts.  To bad they once had some decent discussions.  Never mind.

This was also posted to /en/linking.

Indiepaper is a read-later service built for the open web. Save your articles, and …

This is a great how to guide.  I use Indiepaper myself and highly recommend it. I’m replacing Pocket with it.

Like: افكار و احلام » Can We Ever Reset the Field?

Lots of valid points here.  And they are so well put.  I think we lost a lot during the time when the big silos held sway.  We forgot our independence.  We forgot how to make our own blogs, how to promote our own sites.  We need to relearn these.

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.

Today I made an Exit page.  So many people end their visit by hitting the Back button on their browser.  The exit page is a last attempt to get them to explore the Blog Directory to find an entertaining blog.  Or failing that to try a search on a search engine they may have never tried before.

A directory isn’t much good if it does not provide traffic to the sites listed in it.  So I’m obliged to drive traffic to it.  As for the search engine, I’ll probably rotate different search boxes every few weeks.  Exploring the Web needs to be fun again. We can make it so.

Added:

It’s not that I’m inviting people to leave.  This was always one of the worries about webrings, that you were inviting people to leave.  That is a false worry. Visitors leave when they are done with your site.  Like a webring, the exit page, if they chose to use it, is intended to make their exit more productive by sharing traffic with other blogs or introducing them to a search engine other than Google.  With the directory link it’s a chance to reintroduce “surfing the web” as in bygone days.  And maybe it gives the act of leaving a small element of - adventure.

It’s a bit of whimsy that uptight corporate blogs and blog magazines wouldn’t dare.  😈

The un-celebrity president: Thirty-seven years after leaving office, Jimmy Carter shuns riches, lives modestly in his Georgia hometown

I was not a fan of his as President, but I respect the man.  He practices what he preaches.  In an age of phonies he’s the real deal.

Like: I am completely baffled why some people seem to be choosing Mastodon over Micro.blog

Bookmark: Mastodon, Twitter and publics

A thoughtful analysis of Mastodon social network.

Source: XXIIVV Webring

I like it.  It’s unconventional and neat.  I think with a ring of personal diaries and wikis emphasizing the Random navigation makes sense - like a teleporter.  All the other points you made: classy, sophistication, minimalism are all valid.  Good webring. Good find.

Syndication (crossposting) to:

Facebook: (change) - I no longer post to FB and quit that long before the recent FB API rules change.  Brid.gy had problems and I didn’t care enough about FB to try and fix it.

Twitter: (changed) - this blog now posts to Twitter via Wordpress Jetpack.  I made the change because I can control what goes out to Twitter on each individual post.

G+: (same) - via Jetpack.

Mastodon - (same) - via Mastodon plugin

WP Reader - (same) via Jetpack.

Micro.blog - via Micro.blog and RSS.

Indieweb.xyz - this is manual, on a post by post basis.

I get quite a bit of traffic from all the above.