Website Fiddling
One upside to writing as much as I do is that I don't have time to fiddle with the design of my blogs very often. I'm so busy putting out copy that I seldom stop and think about colors or fonts or any of the other design features available to me. Part of that is prompted by the bog hosts I use: Micro.blog, Scribbles and BearBlog, all of which offer a text entry template with the option to insert inline graphics. It follows the model that social media sites use. Back in the olden days, we used to face a lot more design choices. I built most of my 90s web pages with the page builder that was included with Netscape Navigator. I eventually got a copy of Microsoft FrontPage and moved my website to a host who supported those extensions. this was all prior to CSS and the need to make web pages fit on cell phone screens. The first big social media site that drew attention was MySpace and it allowed you to design a site with music and colors that were unique to your personality if you wanted to.
Some of the people I follow closely online have done a lot of work with design AND they are also good writers. Some examples include:
- Blog | And So It Goes… (krueger.ink)
- Notes by JCProbably (jeddacp.com)
- NOT ALL WHO WANDER ARE LOST (wand3r.net)
My goals are pretty modest. I'd like to have a better landing page for my links blog - Linkage. Right now it is basically a mirror of the landing page for this blog, which is nothing more than an all text "about me" page. I'd like to incorporate a little color into the design of both sites.
Over on Micro.blog, my catch all home on the Internet Amerpie is currently using the TinyTheme template by Matt Langford Matt just recently released a new theme, called Sumo, that I'd like to experiment with. I've avoided copying other bloggers designs (not that I am above that) but I definitely have some ideas that others have implemented that I'd like to try. My main goal in changing the design isn't so much to make it look cool as it is to engage with more people by making my most popular writing more accessible. Although I wish my personal essays were what most people look for, it's the technical content, Obsidian articles, productivity tips and app reviews that most folks gravitate toward.
I have to stop and consider that I have only been at this for a few months and that I don't have a design background. Making web pages in the 90's doesn't count for a whole lot. I'm enjoying the journey, and I try not to put too much pressure on myself. Blogging is a hobby and something I do for fun and I will resist things that make it seem like work. There are a lot of resources out there and a lot of helpful and friendly people too.
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