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September 27, 2004

Continue Reading

Occasionally, I get a complaint about this blog. Some of the complaints revolve around the content. Que sera.

Yesterday, I got the latest appearance of one I've gotten periodically since I switched this blog to Movable Type last spring: someone didn't like the way I split longer articles into a lede and a link to the rest of the story.

I keep going around on that. I split articles because I know a lot of my traffic is here from other sites. When someone visits a site, cold, they usually give a blog a couple of seconds to grab their attention. I figure if I present a couple of articles in the first page-full of material, they'll be that much more likely to stay; each visit isn't dependent on the quality of just one story to be turned into a regular. I hope.

I understand why people don't like the stories split, too. It all makes sense.

In the end, I like the way the page flows when I can break it up the way I do. Usually.

So I guess I can only offer one thing to those of you who don't like the split stories. Sorry.

What, after all that you expected me to write something more?

Posted by Mitch at September 27, 2004 07:38 AM | TrackBack
Comments


I prefer the split, and appreciated the one liner after the fold.

Thank God I wasn't drinking anything at that moment. It would have sprayed my screen *laughing*

Flash

Posted by: Flash at September 27, 2004 09:06 AM

There's a potential compromise out there for MT; some code that allows you to use the "More" link to simply expand the extended entry on the front page instead of sending you to the individual archive page. I was using it on my page when it was on the U of M servers, and Michele at http://asmallvictory.net/ uses it as well (scroll down to the "Yelling With My Mouth Shut" entry to see it in action). A Google search returns this page http://tweezersedge.com/archives/2003/11/000173.html which I believe is an update of the code I used.

The main downside would be that every time someone loads your main page they are loading all of the extended entries as well, which takes more time and bandwidth.

Posted by: Steve Gigl at September 27, 2004 11:18 AM

Chalk me up as one who doesn't care for it. When you think about new-reader-retention vs. regular-reader-annoyance consider that very few of the most-read blogs out there use the Continue Reading feature with any regularity, let alone as often as you do (24 out of 44 entries on my screen).

Posted by: MWB at September 28, 2004 04:12 PM

I prefer the split -- you give enough of the piece to get the "flavor" so I can decide whether or not to read the rest. I scan a lot of blogs so I appreciate this aid to efficiency.

Posted by: Cam Williams at September 29, 2004 03:12 PM
hi