Guestblogger: dcl
A back-burner issue around here at BrendanLoy.com has been a migration to WordPress. In the process of the migration, or in its immediate aftermath, there is the possibility of redesigning the site. In the interest of moving this project forward a little, I would like to ask the BrendanLoy.com reader base some fairly basic questions about the direction of the project.
What do you think works on BrendanLoy.com, and what does not work? What features on the sidebar do you use or read — and which features might be more useful on their own pages? What kind of features would you like to see on a future site?
If you choose to respond, by no means do you need to answer all the questions. Also, answers from the very broad “I don’t like blue” to the extremely narrow “I want to be able to subscribe to RSS feeds for comments on individual posts” are both valuable in figuring out how to make BrendanLoy.com more useful and convenient for regular visitors and occasional visitors alike.
So, let us know what you think, and this project might be completed sometime before Brendan and Becky’s fifth wedding anniversary…
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Categories: Uncategorized
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February 1st, 2006 at 4:11:34 pm
I don’t like blue.
February 1st, 2006 at 4:42:57 pm
In all seriousness, the sidebar is too busy. I don’t know if I have any better idea about how to unclutter it, but since it is never the same from week to week, maybe it can have a “hot topics” section (i.e. Vaginagate, tribute to Sarah, etc.), an “About me” section, a “sports” section, etc.
That’s all I’ve got for now :-)
February 1st, 2006 at 4:47:33 pm
And please, please get rid of the Brendansphere and Bloypedia. Or at least rename them. Or at least take Jay Harris’s advice and add a section on humility. I mean, seriously. Do you really deserve an entire encyclopedia about yourself? Does the world really revolve around you (Brendansphere)?
February 1st, 2006 at 4:58:32 pm
Bloypedia exists for a reason (to provide background information about topics that are frequently discussed on the blog), and the name fits. I try to offset the narcissistic implications of having an encyclopedia about myself by being self-deprecating about it (see the “About” page), but at the end of the day, I don’t think changing the name would help anything. People are either going to understand that it’s there for a reason and that its presence doesn’t actually mean I think I’m that important, or they won’t. (I mean, really, I don’t “deserve” to have my own blog, I don’t “deserve” to be in the New York Times or Spike Lee’s movie, I don’t “deserve” to have a daily audience of 1,750 — but I *do*, so why should I run away from it?) That said, if anyone has any suggestions for a better name, I, like Ross Perot, am all ears.
As for “Brendansphere,” I am even more open to suggestions for a better name. I came up with it (actually I think someone suggested it to me, but I don’t remember for sure now) a while ago, as a play on “blogosphere” and a way to describe my blogroll of friends & family blogs, because “friends & family” was too long and clumsy, and also too narrow (since I don’t personally know some of the people in there, like some of the Domer and Trojan bloggers) but “blogroll” or “links” are overbroad — I have other bloggers in my blogroll, like Andrew Sullivan, InstaPundit, etc., and other sites in my links, including non-blogs. The “Brendansphere” is my more like me “intimate” blogroll if you will, my “blogfriends” perhaps.
I guess I could call it “blogfriends” but that sounds sorta clumsy. Suggestions are welcome, though.
As for the “section on humility”… I could create a Bloypedia page on humility. That’d be ironic. :) What would I put in there, though? Again: suggestions?
February 1st, 2006 at 5:24:08 pm
Does the Bloypedia have a section on the blog irish ? (j/k, Joe ! (grin))
Is there any way to have threads/posts which have *any* fresh comment rise above any post/thread which has *no* comments ? That would keep the lively discussions on the first page more reliably …
February 1st, 2006 at 5:50:17 pm
Things I consistently use on the current site:
The Brendansphere
The archives–almost entirely because it’s the only way to keep up on comments from something more than a few posts old.
Thing I miss from the old design:
The recent comment feature. If there’s any way to get something like that back, I recommend that you do so.
Thing I never found terribly helpful from the old site which I imagine might cause difficulties to reimplement:
The built-in search feature. Sorry, but with how long it took, it was easier and faster for me to do a google search for what I wanted and screen the results to just things from www.brendanloy.com, or to include the phrase “Irish Trojan” in the query.
General comment:
The “more about me” section is way too low on the side. At the very least, you should include a link to an anchor there in your higher up “about me” section. You also need to update that section–Adrienne, for instance, has not been in grad school for quite some time.
February 1st, 2006 at 6:11:53 pm
Definitely a way to keep commented-on threads fresh would be great!
February 1st, 2006 at 7:54:03 pm
Another question occurred to me. Right side sidebar or left side sidebar….
The argument for a right side bar is, well it is trendy, and it is technically more user friendly except for the left side argument is everyone is use to stuff like that on the left.
Seriously though, think as far out side of the box as you like.
February 1st, 2006 at 10:16:49 pm
I like the way quotes are formated in white while the main part of the posts are grey.
I like the blog and read it daily.
I don’t use RSS.
February 2nd, 2006 at 5:41:06 am
1) ‘blogroll’ and ‘other worthy links’ are both far too long, making the sidebar too busy and pushing the ‘more about me’ section quite low.
2) The photo albums need to be not under construction anymore. :)
February 2nd, 2006 at 6:18:06 am
The side bar is far too cluttered for my taste. I suggest moving some of the information to an about me page. In addition areas in the sidebar like the photo links are redundant with the links allreadly available at the top.
I say leave the little about me box, the countdowns and the occasional big event (like the Vaginagate box and the wedding box now, or the USC games earlier) in the side bar.
February 2nd, 2006 at 6:41:10 am
“dazed and confused” e-mailed me the following yesterday:
Sidebar is too busy, I seldom read anything there.
Perhaps break it into sections regarding sports and the rest.
You could, perhaps use different color background for different types of posts, political, opinion, sports, etc.
or:
choose a different color of blue…….!
Seriously, I found your blog in the pre Katrina days (from Instapundit, I think) and have come back nearly daily ever since.
Hope you got my advice on how to keep married just before your wedding, and my best wishes to you and your bride.
February 2nd, 2006 at 7:17:51 am
1. Color could be improved but not just for esthetics. The text could be made easier to read with a different color scheme and layout.
2. I agree the sidebar is busy. Alot of it could be reduced to clickable URL links instead of a full text passage, which brings me to number …
3. Space issues. It seems like a more effcient use of space could be made in order to clean up the busy quality and yet make it more readable.
4. I’d like to see entries that stay on the main page LONGER, note: Brendan’s reference to how this entry was “fast moving down the page” or some such. This is intertwined with the above space issues.
5. Layout is important and could be worked on. I mean, how things are organized might create not only more space but a more easy read for the eye.
6. How about designing a new logo? You could keep the ND and USC icons but maybe snazz the whole thing up?
7. How about an area for news feed links for immediate access to news sources and fact checking places in order to help the hardcore debating types who need their facts?
February 2nd, 2006 at 7:20:01 am
8. Oh and I forgot….Is there an Alasdair filter available on the internet?
(evil Alasdair grin)
February 2nd, 2006 at 10:29:08 am
I agree, sidebar is too busy. I don’t see the point of having the blogroll and Brendansphere - roll them into one, and just link to the list.
February 2nd, 2006 at 12:30:18 pm
“…if anyone has any suggestions for a better name, I, like Ross Perot, am all ears.”
I’d have thought more like all Nose, Loomerloy :), but thenagainfinnegan the Nose, I Suppose, cannot Hear :>. (Of course strictly speaking, in order to Read the submissions you need to be All Eyes but enough about Chief Justice Roberts. :)
“As for ‘Brendansphere,’ I am even more open to suggestions for a better name.”
Well since my Ears detect a Whiff of the verymodest, not to say furtive, Anonymous’s disTaste for selfcentricity, almost to the point of seeming Loyaverse ;], let us humbly redesignate it the Section on Cosmoloygy. ;}
“Does the Bloypedia have a section on the blog irish ?”
Alasdair, you ignorant swampscot moorish braetrotter. You’re getting all blogged down, here. Again. (peatcutting grin :)
Well I know sez McGragh we have wild heather Bogs,
But ye’ll find in ould Ireland we are good men and Dogs,
Lead on, bold Britannia, give none o’ yer jaw,
Stuff dat up yer *arsehole sez Master McGragh.
~ from “Master McGragh” (*de-expurgated from the Clancyfied edition :)
* * * * * * * * *
NAOW then! on a more Practical note, my Survey response:
I like blue.
:)
February 2nd, 2006 at 12:56:01 pm
Hmmm, that depeonds on what your definition of “blue” is ;-)
February 2nd, 2006 at 1:43:40 pm
Weren’t the Pete Moss Bog clan precursors to the Irish Blog?
February 2nd, 2006 at 1:49:21 pm
Hee hee, wee chastityVowed Mousie! :) Yes I do believe they Were. :>
February 2nd, 2006 at 2:45:22 pm
I’d welcome a permanent header link to archived Katrina posts, proclaimed by a red-headed, bugling cherub astride, perhaps even humping, the header bar. I like that posts and quotes are boxed in contrasting colors, but the concrete / white scheme evokes East German dreariness. Cast off this chilly palette, with Cream! Tan! & warmer shades now available in stores.
Sidebar: Ditto David’s remarks. Prominent issue boxes and “upcoming events” are good. Eliminate “my blog” and text links to photo albums. Replace Dome & Moon pic w/ random link photo(or slideshow) to entice album interest. Musical links, like the Tim McGraw tribute, balance, and provide refuge from, the political nature of the blog
February 2nd, 2006 at 2:59:36 pm
Joe - so *that’s* why you regularly call a loy a loy !
And here I thought that the origin of your patronymic was from L’oy (analogous to L’chaim) …
And if you’d ever actually seen the colour of my skin, you might thing lobsterish at certain times of year, but you would never thing moorish …
February 2nd, 2006 at 4:01:40 pm
waw haw / Alasdair, we are Impinging upon the Surveyreturns, here, we’re going to get Taken to Task by DC’s dcl :> when he has to read through all our Crappola for to find some Suggestions :) Nevermindabout yer crustacean-hued Crust in the high summer, Angus, just Show me Da Colour of your Euros :> Of course my Moorlands reference was to Scotland’s blasted Heath**, not to the Andalusians, though I knew you’d screw it around to the Caliphate of Cordoba, there, Tariq MacDougall ibn-Ziyad. :> (**No, no, not the UK ex-PM, I’ll take old Eddie over Dame Maggie any day, blast her milksnatching eyes. Arrrr. / Labourite snarl. :)
February 2nd, 2006 at 5:55:50 pm
You guys kidding, this is better than what I can drag out of most clients….
February 2nd, 2006 at 6:50:52 pm
Joe - that was one of the more entertaining aspects of The Iron Maiden (TIM ™)…
It may even have given some inspiration for Rove-a-dope and modern such things …
As Ministress of Education, TIM was getting grief from Labour for not building enough local colleges … then she changed primary school milk from automatic entitlement to means-tested entitlement … not so dissimilarly from currents Dems, the then Labour opposition got all het up about Thatcher, Thatcher, Milk-snatcher … she let them get all the way through a couple of weeks of political posters and other forms of publicity until the rhyme was well-associated as originating with Labour - and then let drop in select circles how, while those who couldn’t afford to pay for it still got the free milk, those who could afford it still got it just having to pay for it - and the resulting savings allowed the opening of several local colleges … for a couple more weeks, every time the ‘Milk-snatcher’ publicity resurfaced, Labour looked even sillier than usual …
It wasn’t for nothing that she was also known as Attila the Hen …
February 2nd, 2006 at 9:59:20 pm
Just bring back the Latest Comments link feature and I’m contented.
February 3rd, 2006 at 3:18:41 am
I’m just going to second comments already made to give them even more credence:
1) Find a way to keep threads on the main page longer
2) move historical katrina blog archive to a special section, not the “next” page — since the threads move to page two too fast, at least make page 2 easy to access. ;)
3) I like the random photo replacing the ND/moon photos.
4) Yay blue.