"Perfect! Now, we change everything."
I've decided to demolish this blog and rebuild it completely, starting from a muddy excavation pit. I think the reasons for doing so are self-evident:
- does this blog cater to a particular audience?
no. it's just another rant-catcher. - what does the visual design say about the author or the theme of the blog?
that he's too lazy to create his own look. - what keeps readers coming back?
not visible to the naked eye. - are there calls for help I've chosen to ignore?
hallo. I am a cry for help, already!
I feel these reasons are true because I haven't yet given myself a real incentive to blog beyond the occasional belief that something I've uncovered online merits preservation. Consequently, this site has amounted to little more than a firefly jar enclosing URLs that buzzed within my reach. Is that of much use to anyone else? Only if my most recent posting(s) cross a fortunate intersection with their fancy. The web has been about this sort of star-crossed interaction since Tim Berners-Lee first lit its fuse on his back porch in 1989, so virtually anyone who wants to have some say in the way of the world can do so online. That's absolutely great. What's not so keen is when, as a web property owner, you let the yard go to seed. I can just imagine my neighbors here at Burning Door tuttering among themselves about this blog's sorry state while standing along the fencelines of their own well-kept blogs. Can't blame 'em.
So, over the weekend I'll raze the old structure and start over. I think I finally have a theme in mind -- something that will hopefully address the balance of this blog's shortcomings. The theme includes:
- an intended audience
- personal motivation for progressive updates over time
- appropriate use of a blog as a time-ordered display of hypertextual information
- a visual style that reinforces the theme while avoiding the Herb Tarlek web-safe palette
A lot of the fun in blogging comes from putting something out there and seeing what sort of crowd gathers. The pain comes from each Google search on a topic you think you know something about revealing 68 expertly crafted blogs that beat to death your novel thesis or how-to guide idea better than nine months ago. sigh.