In reply to my Sort your sites out note Case Duckworth takes each of my points and gives them a good grilling.
There are many good points in his reply so I thought it worth unpicking them a little, alongside my original glib comments, and see where I land.
As mentioned before, I write to think and understand, so this is absolutely more an exercise for me than anything else, so please bear with me.
The Origins
My note was based on the last few weeks clicking around a lot of new blogs and websites as I continue to explore and build up my RSS feed list. I’ve discovered some amazingly interesting people and some fascinating websites, which have expanded my reading massively. It’s a good reminder of how lucky we are that so many people are happy to share their skills, art, thoughts, and ideas so freely, as well as re-enforcing the fact that most people are kind and generous.
However, having been viewing websites for a long (long!) time, I do find myself reacting to some things I see on websites so, as well as considering Case’s replies, I thought I’d digger a little deeper into my thoughts on each of the ‘peeves’ I listed.
Note: I’ve summarised both my note and Case’s replies a little, please head to their post for the full detail of their response, my goal isn’t to change their intention, just to keep the length of this post manageable.
Comments are good
I said: “Comments are good, add them. Yes, I know it opens up things like spam but if you are posting to spark a conversation then why not have them?”
Case replied: “I (and many others!) write for ourselves first and foremost. I welcome email commentary, and sometimes I add those emailed comments to the end of the post. But because it’d be technically infeasible, and psychologically onerous, I don’t have a comment section.”
I too write for myself first and foremost, but then we get into the ‘why publish at all?’ question. If this is really just for me, I have a journal for that purpose and I write in it every day. Case hints at something more, I think, by suggesting there is a secondary reason to post. Ahhh perhaps the vain desires I have mentioned before? That simple desire to be acknowledged, to be seen? No harm in those reasons either but I’d argue there is still a decision being made to write something AND publish it publicly that goes beyond the ‘write for ourselves’ thinking.
I’d also argue that technically infeasible feels like an excuse —surely these days you can build anything if you want to, even if it’s hard— but without doubt the emotional and psychological impact of having an open comment box is real and a very valid reason for not having comments, and one which I support. Mental health is more important than, well *waves hands and gestures at everything* all of this.
There are, of course, many different routes to responding to a post. I’m taking one right now by writing my own response, but I could just have easily have emailed Case directly.
In fact I have already emailed them to say thanks for responding to my original thoughts and give him a heads up that this post is coming! (and it had to be email because he doesn’t have comments… 😉).
There are routes through social media, fediverse et al as well so it’s not like there is no way to provide your thoughts to the author unless they are very keen for you not too, which in and of itself is also their choice and one I fully respect. But —ohhh you knew there was one coming, right!— not having comments provides a small amount of friction to that process.
Comment boxes are usually right there below the post. To email someone means moving to another app, it’s not an onerous task at all but sometimes it’s enough to make me pause. Is my reply, are my thoughts, really worth sending an email about? There is a value to differing types of communication, and comments are of the smallest along with social media replies, but an email seems heavier and with more expectation of a reply?
Using all lowercase text is bad
I said: “Using all lowercase text is bad for readability (and looks like you didn’t learn how to write properly).”
Case replied: “…I never even thought that all-lowercase text could be hard to read; I guess experience is subjective? ”
Maybe this one is down to my age, a schooling that focussed on sentence structures and rules that must be adhered too lest Mrs. Sloan take a pen to your homework and, if less than satisfactory, toss it out the window into the playground (yes, this really happened).
My layman’s understanding is that sentences, which start with a capital letter and end with a full stop are there to help improve the readers ability to parse and understand the text.
All lowercase paragraphs require me to insert more effort into parsing the flow of the text. I’m experiencing similar mild peeving at a book I’m reading which uses capitals but no punctuation.
The sentences flow on and on I have to pause occasionally to re-read Was that last sentence the main character or not Who spoke last Is this still the same scene or have the characters moved on.
Again, and I’m already seeing a theme, all lowercase text adds a little friction to the reading experience and usually for no real benefit other than style. If that’s your style that’s great but I do occasionally wonder if the person reading the text is being considered here.
Layout is important
I said: “Layout is important, make your content the focus (see that weird non-block quotes layout I mentioned before)”
Case replied: “…a “weird” layout is an expression against the commercial web just as much as it is an expression for the author’s own tastes and creativity. If you really can’t read it, there’s Reader mode”
I’m all for expressions of taste, I know that my taste for simple, clean aesthetics won’t match everyone’s. As for ‘there’s Reader mode’, again we hit upon the theme of friction. Why do I have to click to invoke something to make the content you have posted, shared with the world, readable? Why are you publishing something to the internet then putting these tiny blockers in the way of your audience? Why do you really have this online space?
Now I’m just repeating myself!
I do agree there is a fine line here, I do not want a homogeneous web where content all looks the same (besides, I mostly consume via RSS these days anyway which renders most content the same way anyway).
Tiny text = bad
I said: “Tiny default text = bad.”
Case replied “I don’t disagree with this. However, the fact of the matter is that browsers can (as of publication) zoom text to your desire, and you can set a default text size to your personal needs.”
I could be cheeky and say, no comment as Case agrees!
Yet, again, tiny text that I need to then do something to go and make readable (for my eyes) adds friction to the experience.
Caveat: I was very guilty of this back in the early days of the internet when I was designing my own sites for fun, so this may genuinely just be because my eyes are getting older.
clutter on the page = bad
I said: “Too much clutter on the page = bad.”
Case replied “I think “clutter” is one of those nebulous words that people throw around that doesn’t mean much of anything”
Fair point. Perhaps the word busy would’ve been better.
My peeve is that, at least as far as my understanding goes, most websites have a focus, content they want people to consume and enjoy. Personal websites are great for self expression but I think that self expression sometimes overtakes the focus, the content. Wading through lengthy headers with obscure menus and not even being sure where the content starts? Highlighting each paragraph differently, is that a quote, a different topic, why is that paragraph got a light blue background, why do those ones have bars on opposite sides per paragraph?
That’s where I was coming from, things which may look appealing because YOU understand YOUR content and website, can confuse those of us who are visiting for the first few times.
A lot of my thoughts on these topics ultimately boil down to personal preference, which of course cuts both ways. Yet I’m still find myself coming back to the same question.
Why do we blog?
There are many many reasons why people start a personal website and start posting their thoughts and creations online; To share knowledge and experiences, as a form of self-expression, to record aspects of their life, to find connections with similarly minded people, to create opportunities and earn money, to learn more deeply by exploring and sharing ideas…
I’ve been down most of these paths —excluding earning money— and the reason this blog exists isn’t the same one that I started it with. These days it’s largely a personal archive, a way to capture and look back on my life as it has unfolded.
Your reason to have a blog is valid, regardless of what it is. I accept that premise quite happily considering that my own reason for having a blog has shifted and changed over time, yet it remains my blog and I, as Case states, write for myself first and foremost but —and I think this is something that isn’t always acknowledged as it’s a deeply personal insight— the secondmost reason is absolutely an ego driven desire for acknowledgment and connection.
I write and post to be seen, to get attention, a tiny shred of earned ‘love’ from complete strangers. It’s my own insecurities that really power this hobby, and every tiny interaction stokes the fires deep inside to continue.
It’s all just IMO
The peeves I listed largely boil down to the same theme; friction.
As a technical writer (in a previous life) I always did my best to ensure the content I was creating was able to be used to find the right information as fast as possible. The structure of the content, the visual cues, the typography, the spacing, it all plays a part in leading your eye through a page to where it needs to be.
There is a lot of science that goes into making things readable and consumable by others, I’m sure you are already familiar with the Visual Hierarchy meme that does the rounds every now and then, and it’s this type of thinking through which I always view things online.
For me, blog posts are pretty simple, even with some headings it’s largely a single topic kind of thing. It’s a dip in and out format, even longer posts (like this one) don’t take all that long to read so I tend to enjoy websites that do everything they can to let me get at the content, I want the good stuff so stop distracting me.
I’ll admit a lot of my own personal design preferences —think Scandinavian/Japanese/minimalism— are at play too, I mean if you are reading this post on my blog you’ll already have a sense of that.
I do love finding new websites though, ones that express themselves vividly with colour, typography, images, and layout, and that still manage convey their content in smart ways is always an appeal. It has been a constant for me, stumbling across a website that makes me WANT to visit it is never wholly about the content; whereas stumbling across a website that doesn’t make me want to revisit it is always always always about the design, the structure, and the friction the site adds.
That friction can be down to small things, sometimes personal preference too. It isn’t just dickovers, an abundance of ads, or such like, it can be down to having hard to read text, with no real structure or signposting to help me, the reader who has taken the time to visit your website, find my way around.
I’m not right
Of course all of this is just my view and it’s likely, mostly, wrong. Or mostly right if you agree with me.
Like most things on the internet, none of it is really all that important, none of my peeves are more than that, minor irritations that flare up and disappear in seconds. In fact this is probably the most I’ve ever thought about them, let alone taken the time to try and write them down and, in the cold light of day, it does seem more than a little bit preposterous.
But then I do have to write about something so I can post it to my blog, so why not this?
I would like to thank Case because his overall take on my post made me pause to consider what I’d written and, he’s right, I am clearly a little too reticent at times to fully embrace the uniqueness of all of the wonders of the web.
That said, I’ll leave the last word to Case:
This is the indieweb we’re talking about! Weirdness has more than aesthetic value; it’s also praxis: all deviation from expected corporate norms contributes to a website’s illegibility by the Algorithm.
Can’t disagree with that.
What are your thoughts?