Now I really hate to meta-blog about blogging, but I do it anyways. You love it. I know. But a thought ran across my mind when I was drafting up a different post, how important is post formatting exactly?

Normally, I format my posts all very similarly. Each post is split up into sections with main ideas. Each section is labeled with a header title. I think it harkens back to print media. Chapters, sections, etc. This is not unique however, a lot of us do it. But is it important? Do people care?

Train(wreck) of thought

Thats right. These help me keep my train of thought. I don’t know about you, but a lot of times I write posts on the seat of my pants. Between the rare drafts, something pops up (much like this) and I just have to write about it. Writing like this is not advised. I mean, you screw up. I do too. Things end up repetitive, boring, and they don’t tend to keep a solid flow.

But, aside from the fact that they look cool, these headers really help me keep my train of thought. Instead of trying to figure out “what to write next”, I can look up and see what this section is supposed to be about. “Oh, right, trainwrecks”.

Presentation is everything

This is something my mommy taught me from birth. Granted, we were talking about food, but it applies to pretty much everything in life. (As an aside, I attribute my “metrosexual” tendencies to this constant drilling. Presentation is everything. And dammit I want to look and smell good. ;)) And as such, presentation applies to blogs.

It is not easy to read long blog posts. No matter how captivating. I don’t even take a second glance at a post that doesn’t use paragraphs so naturally I take it a step further. Posts need to be broken up. Headers provide a way to break up posts cleanly.

Aside from the readability formatting provides, it goes a long way to making a post look better. Having clean constant formatting not only gives readers something to identify with your blog (which I will touch on later) but it also makes them step back and go “damn, I should actually read this).

Variation varies invariably

As I mentioned above somewhere, formatting offers you a chance to make your blog identifiable. Take for example Living With Music, every post is formatted the same unique way.

Every post is accompanied by a unique, topical, image chopped into three and elegantly framed to the left of the content. Most people who read his blog would be able to spot it solely by the three images. It’s a brilliant idea that adds personality to the post.

To reference the “header” for this section; formatting can be entirely variable. You can format your post any way you want. And if you try, you can be entirely unique (clearly I am too lazy). And it doesn’t have to be aesthetic. It can be as simple as heavily commenting your posts or using plenty of bold and italics. Both of these are things I try to do. Often you’ll see me stick something stupid in parenthesis or bold and italic a word. It adds personality to a post that readers do pick up on, whether they realize it or not.

I often read what I write to myself so I can be sure I am writing exactly as I would speak it. “I would put more emphasis on this word, I would add a witty dumbass comment here, I would be sure to slow down here”. Just a stupid trick I suppose.

But regardless..

Formatting is important. For me at least. I can’t speak for everyone and there are a lot of blogs that use no formatting at all that are very successful. But I know, as a reader that likes to connect with the writer rather than just absorb the content and run away, that adding that personality aides greatly when reading.

So do with this what you will. In regular fashion, I am finishing out the post with a closing section that I ramble on in for a while. It allows me to add things that didn’t go anywhere else, and often times things that I just now think of. If you format, let me know. Frankly, a writer that puts that extra bit of time in to format is a writer worth reading. Remember, you are authors, don’t be boring. By the way, Buzzword of the day: Formatting. But that’s a given.

The blood that courses through the blogosphere is debate. We, as bloggers, need to debate. We need to have differing opinions. Although we do a lot of back patting and ass kissing that probably doesn’t need to be done, we are cold hard badasses. Blogs have given us a soapbox to stand on and god damnit we are going to stand.

Most good blog entries are entries that challenge something controversial. Something that begs for debate. Why? Because it gets people thinking. And when they think they write. And people comment. And more people comment. And when they think they can’t comment any more, they post about the same things on their blogs. And then people comment there.

It is just another one of the virus-like aspects of the blogosphere that make it an organic networking machine. One debate can spread like wildfire through every blog possible in a matter of days. Everyone gets a say. Everyone gets to argue their side. And it is wonderful. I don’t mean to say that we do not have the ability to agree, I am saying that we cannot, for the sake of blogging. We have a wonderful medium for discussion with blogging.

Blogs are where people are speaking their minds. Debate is the soul reason blogs have been catapulted into the media spotlight. Such a wide array of data. Of knowledge. Personality and perspective. We have pundits, comedians, politicians, journalists, designers, programmers, chefs, waiters, taxi drivers, fast food employees, and everything in between. Such a wide spectrum of humanity. All networking. All tapping out their thoughts on keyboards to share with the world.

I think we forget that sometimes. Blogging isn’t all about pretty designs, traffic, ad revenue, and link backs. At it’s core it is our electronic voice. Even if all you do is jot down your grocery list, don’t forget to use it. Don’t forget to be brash. And outlandish. And arrogant. And obnoxious. Because that is what feeds us. That is what makes our world go ’round. Discussion is what matters. Sharing.

I know it sort of derails the post, but it wouldn’t be a koray post if I didn’t add my ramblings to the end. I just wanted to mention that 700 people submitted their blogs to 9rules yesterday. A record. Hopefully, besides traffic and notoriety, to extend their voice even further. Because that’s what 9rules is for me, an amplifier. A chance, given to me, to share. And I’m just happy I have it. Damn I need to go to bed. This post was way less snarky than it was intended to be. Oh well. I think I made a point.

Now I have been in very few situations where I have had to work with a designer. But, as we all know, I hired Derek at 5thirtyone to do the reboot for koray.ws.

I have a project, which is all I can say at the moment, coming up that required a solid reliable designer. I’m working the administrative end, so I have no time for design. Not that I am much of a designer anyways. I think too many of us call ourselves designers these days. But, thats another post.

So, immediately I thought of Derek. We communicate very well, he understands what I like already, he is receptive but not afraid to put his creative input where it belongs. So, I went back to him. We are already throwing around ideas. But this post isn’t supposed to be an “I love 5thirtyone” post, so I’ll get to the point, how many of you stick to a designer?

If it works, stick with it

Seriously, there are lots of “designers” in the world. And so many of them suck, so when you find one that you work with well, don’t you want to keep working with them? I see so many subcontracting companies bounce from one designer or developer to another. And I just don’t understand it. What I do understand, is that designers have strengths and weaknesses. But as someone who works with designers, don’t you want to stick to one?

I think it is important. I think once you develop that repertoire you should stick to it. In the end, you get a better product. Right?

Toe in the water

But Koray, shouldn’t we test the waters before we stick to a designer? Uh, no? I mean, I suppose you should. But why mess with something that just works? You may find something better? Maybe. But you have to develop that relation, understanding, and trust. So if you have a designer who you just.. don’t like, by all means move on. What I am trying to say is that you shouldn’t piss on a good thing.

Why new is awkward

Okay, you contact a designer for a quote. You give him or her a ballpark budget and what you want, and hope for the best. You don’t know how busy they are, you don’t know if they only take certain types of work, and you don’t know if they are way over or under your price range.

It’s always an awkward situation. Especially when you choose a snobby designer. Sorry but, most designers are snobby. They all know they are the best and they conduct business as such. Which is fine. But it’s something you need to work past in the design process. This may sound weird, but doing business is not conducive to productivity. When you treat every little email like a meeting, and every little change like a major business relation change, you don’t get anything done.

There are those great designers who just love to design and honestly want you to get what you want (Much like Derek), even when the person they are working for insists upon a not so fabulous product. But they are rare, and you still need to develop a friendship to really get things done.

So what I’m saying is..

that you should think twice before moving on. Because even though you can most likely go back to your designer, why risk hurting that relationship? At this point, I have already said the word designer too many times. I know I must of reached some sort of internet limit. So I’m going to start winding this down.

Question time. If you work with designers or developers, is it important to you to develop relationships and, more to the point, do you stick with one or two main designers?

If you are a designer, do you prefer that a customer come back to you time and again? Or would you rather they pay and move on. Does it become stale? Or do you enjoy the fact that you don’t have to worrying about breaking the ice?

In a side note, the gent’ that knicked my theme found out I found out. He doesn’t have comments open, so I’d like to say that I really don’t care. ;) I’m glad someone liked it enough to knick.

you didn’t design it? I don’t know. In any case, I in fact, did not design this. This was the wonderful work of Mister Derek Punsalan of 5thirtyone fame. Just look.. isn’t it pretty. Yeah.

Update!: Vote for this reboot at CSSReboot here.

Koray! You’re lazy!

Yeah I am. I can’t help it. I recently got a promotion at work. Although I now get more money (ladies, I’m single) I don’t have the time I once had to dedicate to this blog. So I contacted Derek and asked what we could work out. And in only a couple weeks (at an amazing price) he had this ready to go for Spring Reboot.

We all let work and life get ahead of us sometimes. But I worked a way around it. I cheated life. Life, not death. I still haven’t seen Final Destination 3, and I don’t plan on it. So now that the new design is rolled out, after I smooth out all the bugs, I’m going to make it a goal to post at least twice a week. I just have obligations to readers and friends, and myself (although I went over this a few posts back ;)).

So whats new?

Uh.. not much is new. I mean, everything is new. But as far as whats under the hood, it’s the same. I’m still ironing out this live deployment, but that should be done soon. And after that, I have a few ideas. But everything is still how you like it. Baby. And through it all, Derek is still offering help getting things together.

I plan on live search. More feed integration. And a few other usability type things. Basically if it screams “Overdone Web 2.0 junk” I’m adding it. You know how I do. If you have ideas for spiffy things, let me know. I like spiffy, don’t you?

Before I move on, I will talk about whats old. Namely, the asides portion. I stopped writing asides long before I paused (like how I chose paused?) writing posts. And I think the main reason is because they weren’t in a featured position. So now that my asides are prominently displayed, I will start to write more of them. Good asides. I promise. So ignore the asides until those good asides start rolling out.

Reboot thoughts

Now since I didn’t design this, I can’t break the process down for you and all that jazz. But hey, there are so many other rebooters doing that. You don’t want to read it again here. So instead, I’m going to let you know why rebooting is so important.

It’s simple. It’s not boring. After a while, blogging gets stale. Stale for everyone. I don’t care how diehard you are, blogging loses it’s charm. Especially when you stop, look around, and notice everyone with a computer has a blog. But rebooting, it does just that, it reboots. You get that luster back. Ideas start forming. You start looking for ways to improve. I mean, I didn’t even design my reboot and already I am stoked. Imagine (because we know I have to) what it’s like for people who actually decided to go through it all themselves.

It’s just a good event. It’s something that tightens the community. Gives exposure to designers who aren’t the most recognized designers in the world. And gives smaller blogs a chance to soak up some limelight.

Anything else?

If you were wondering, I am going to release the last theme I used to the public. It wasn’t the greatest by any means. But I figured hey, I know some people liked it so why not? Especially since Some People have already knicked it.

I don’t think I have anything else to talk about. I mean, I totally have lots to write about. But if I intend to keep my twice a week promise I should probably talk about said things in a later post. So yeah, I’ll leave you with this little bit of wisdom: “Don’t blow your load in one spot.” Pretty good right? Yeah I thought so. Wisdom. Heh. I can’t believe you people read me sometimes.

Me? I’m not really bothered by them at all. Except when I have to go to bed thinking “Are Newscorp’s lawyers going to be breathing down my neck tomorrow morning?”

Screwed

So I help run a little community free hosting place. I won’t link there because I would like them to be kept out of this. But anyways, one of the “hostees” requested a domain and I registered it. Domains are my job or whatever.

Anyways, fast forward a few months and I find out that said hostee gave his login info to someone else who uploaded a phishing script aimed at MySpace users. Apparently they collected thousands of users’ login information, along with emails and some social security numbers.

I don’t have all the details, but the hostee compiled a list and then published it in an IRC channel. It got posted to Gen[M]ay, the thread got dugg, and I am sitting here sweating bullets.

Whats the big deal?

I will tell you. Since I registered the domain, my contact info is the first when you whois the domain. Life: 1842, Koray: 0. So when I found out, I suspended the account, cancelled the domain, and contacted MySpace. I haven’t received word back from them but suffice it to say, I am going to have to talk to some lawyers. Suddenly, I’m a bit more afraid of them.

“But Koray, lawyers aren’t too bad.” Well when they work for Newscorp, owner of FOX, MySpace, The New York Post, FX, Sky, The Times, DirectTV, and a bunch of other stuff, they tend to be a bit more business and a little less friendly. But who am I to judge right? I haven’t spoken to them yet. I’m just saying, if you were in my place you would be a bit scared too.

So what are you going to do?

Well, I’m going to cooperate with MySpace. Do whatever I can do to seperate myself and the hosting community from this mess, and hope for the best. What else can I do?

But here is the kicker ladies and gentlemen. People who used the same password across multiple services got screwed a bit deeper. Several MSN and Yahoo mail accounts were hacked as well. Not to mention MSNIM and Y!IM respectively. So yeah, Lawyers out the ass.

Am I blowing this out of proportion? Maybe. Maybe no one will care. I doubt it. But what can I say. I just wanted to write about it and share with you, my few readers, that tonight I will probably dream of Judge Judy and Monty Burns’ lawyers. If I can get to sleep.

So Web 2.0 is in full effect isn’t it? We all know what it is. We have all seen it. Even the lightest internet users have seen the trademark design traits, whether they know it or not. But are we moving full steam ahead with 2.0 before we fix 1.0? Are we the architects of a Web built on a failing foundation?

To some extent, I think so. We are so concerned with the cool new JS effects and the fresh design that we forget that 1.0 had some serious problems that we are not correcting. Basic usability issues are still there. We still forget the little things.

Forms

Forms bug me a lot. Not just the “too many things” argument. A lot of sites are cutting the fat when it comes to the length and complexity of forms. But what about validation? Too many sites still validate AFTER the information has been submitted.

I have always advocated server side sanitization of input when it comes to forms. But please god don’t tell me “password mismatch” and then after I fix it, don’t spit another problem out at me. And after I fix the next one, god another one?

We can fix a lot if not all of the input problems with on the fly validation. If my passwords don’t match, let me know with some JS. Take the Invision Power Board Register Form for example. I know exactly what I did wrong right when I did it.

Is that overkill for something simpler? Like perhaps a contact form? Yeah sure, but take a look at what Marco did with his contact form (click the contact tab ;)). Its attractive and it tells me whats wrong before it lets me submit. Nice eh?

Images

Oh god images. I know that an aspect of Web 2.0 is the prettyness (hah) but we really should cut back on the images. There is something to be said for a pleasing to the eye design but we still use far too many images when we design. We use images for things that can easily be done imageless in css. Lazy? Maybe a bit. But we have to remember that this age of broadband is no excuse for huge page size.

This is something I expect the most debate on. I know that designers love to have the end product be fresh and appealing. And sometimes yeah, more images are needed. But we do need to be conscious of load times for our less fortunate 56k friends. It’s not like resolutions where we can say “800×600? Pfah. No reason to still be using 800×600.”, some people have to use dialup.

I know the subtitle says images but this applies to a lot of things. Javascript? Please don’t include prototype.js in its entirety to do one little thing. Thats not needed. Cut the fat.

Navigation

Even now we forget that web browsing isn’t that native to some people. We need to start making the way we structure sites more intuitive. We need to remember that getting from page to page should be the simplest thing to do. Something that people shouldn’t even have to think about.

I cry every time I reach a site where the contact link is buried 3 pages deep on some obscure page in a footer with the smallest font possible. And I cry just as much when people neglect to include anything more than the basics when they link.

Maybe its a part of your design, maybe you are trying to keep things very.. “uncluttered”. But we should link to as many things as possible right off the bat. Take a blog for example. What do you get? Like mine, normally, you get Home, Archives, About, Contact, and maybe a personal page. But that shouldn’t be it. We should link to our categories. Perhaps someone stumbled across your site looking for one specific thing. Have 50 categories? Me too. Just do what I did and list your main categories. The all encompassing categories.

More?

Yeah there is more. There are more problems that we haven’t addressed or are on an everlasting “back burner” stage. Some only apply to a few people, and some to us all. But we really should be making a conscious effort when we design and code to fix the little things.

This was a short post but I hope that in some small way I can get a few designers to go “hey, that would be helpful”. Or something to that effect.

We live in an age of stimulation. Where interaction is key to success. The internet has traditionally been a fairly passive experience. In most cases it’s a read-only deal. But now with the advent of Web 2.0, we can observe how much more interactivity plays a role in how we browse.

Take a look at television, another traditionally one sided activity. So many game shows now include a way for the viewer to add input. Be it American Idle’s voting or the new short-show sponsered by Pontiac Torrent where you try to guess what happens next who’s name escapes me. Television is becoming a two way deal because network’s realize that people like doing things. ABC takes the whole thing a step further with their new show, evidence. A show where you get the evidence you need to solve the murder before the detectives in the show do. You get to play an active role, not just be a silent observer.

Back the the web though. Interactivity and viewer stimulation does wonders for a site’s success. Using techniques and technology (like AJAX) to make the user feel involved really does make the difference. Take something as simple as commenting on a blog, this provides an aspect of interactivity. The viewer feels he has the chance to give feedback and opinion and therefore he will come back, given you have comment-worthy content. Blogs with commenting always do better than blogs without, unless the blog without is already well established before it makes the switch.

Bottom line is that people love to do things. So give them things to do.

Excuse the name but I was at a loss for witticisms when it came to this year’s superbowl. I toyed with “superbowel” but it didn’t seem appropriate. In any case, this year’s superbowl sucks before it even started. Seahawks and Steelers. Woo-hoo. You know who is happy about this game? People from Seattle and Pittsburg. Yeah, thats it.

I turn my back on the gods of the NFL for allowing this.. this.. travesty to happen. And on Superbowl 40? Come on.. it is superbowl XL. Extra-Large. Really cool. XL. How can we waste XL on the seahawks? I mean, Superbowl XL will never happen again. It’s the single best numbered superbowl. Even 50 will suck. Just L? How lame is that. What does L stand for? Just large? Chyeah try lame.

So we wasted Superbowl X freaking L on two of the lamest teams ever, whatever. Maybe we will see some action packed football. Then again maybe not. In fact, most likely not. The game is going to be standard fare, mild, and boring. But people will come to work talking about how “freakin’ awesome” it was anyways.

So good job Godaddy.. and the rest of you advertisers. You just blew how many millions to air your mildly funny commercial during Superbowl Xtra Lame.

You know what would of been cool? If the Bengals went to the superbowl. Oh yes, that would be a real man’s superbowl. You know they deserved it. If Carson Palmer hadn’t torn a ligament in his knee during the second snap (and maybe if Kimo von Oelhoffen hadn’t barelled into the injured quarter back after the play was dead) the bengals would be in the Super Bowl.

I’m not bitter though (yes I am), I am just sad that these two teams ended up at the big game. I promise the next article I write will be less ranty, I just wanted to say some things. Oh and, if I offended you during the course of this article, just turn away from the monitor and count to 1 backwards from 20. It’ll do you good.

I think posting speed is an issue for a lot of bloggers. Do I post too little, do I post too much? What is a good interval? What do people want, five a day or one a week?

It’s a question I am facing, and one I know at least a few of you are. But the problem is, the answers to this are entirely relative. While posting once a week (or month) works for some bloggers, it can destroy traffic for others. And while posting multiple times a day can bolster reading for the “tip” style blogs, it floods the longer article styled blogs. Not to mention kills the writers.

So how do we determine when enough is enough, or what enough even is. It’s a tough question but it’s not unanswerable. Just take a look at your format. Do you write short blurbs recapping stuff you read on Digg today? Then by all means, post multiple times a day. And do it in a way that makes it interesting to read. If I am going to read stuff I can just read on Digg, be sure to go the extra mile to make it worth my while. (Woo a rhyme).

But if you make long posts on existentialism (or what you had for breakfast) then feel free to keep the pace at a week. Just remember that frequent posting attracts readers. And at the same token, remember that overloading yourself does nothing but lower post quality.

Myself, I don’t think I write often enough. Not nearly. I should be writing at least twice a week. God knows I have the content. I have about 5 drafts sitting in wordpress right now that sort of trail off into oblivion. With a bit of polishing, they would be ready to publish but I am just lazy. I really am. But it’s something I am going to try to work at.

I’ve hinted at it already, but post frequency greatly effects traffic. People don’t like stale content. Do you think they will come back to read the same post all month (Again, I’m guilty as well)? No. They don’t want to see the same thing over and over, so traffic drops.

It’s probably always the safer bet to post more often than not. As long as you aren’t over posting and under providing. I always tend to get in these redundant ruts when I write but I have to stress how important it is to not stretch yourself thin. You’ll find yourself scrapping for ideas and hitting walls with the creativity of your writing.

And even if you can manage to make 20 posts a week, if they are too long you are wasting your talent. People can’t (or won’t) read several long posts from one site in one day. Which is why the multiple post per day format is better left to smaller posts.

Anyways, just keep on top of post frequency. If you start getting bored of your own posts, somethings up. This was yet another spur of the moment post regarding something that was on my mind at the moment (yet again ignoring one of the well thought out drafts I have molding). I figured I would share.

And just to prove I do have drafts, expect posts in the next couple weeks on: Rebranding, does it work, Traffic (Good and Bad), Web 2.0 being built over a decaying Web 1.0 foundation, and more. And if I see any of these on technorati, I’ll be pissed. Clearly they are some of the most original ideas to hit the blogosphere ever. ;) Oh and, for the record, I broke 100 feed subscribers yesterday. Which may not be a lot to some, but is amazing for me. I would like to thank all subscribers. It’s a strong motivator to see people care enough to subscribe to your content.

So I decided to see what slapping some ads up on the page would do for me. So I sort of slipped them in without any fanfare and watched the stats. What I learned, was that ads are not worth it. I mean, I don’t have any immediate need for money. I am not living off the land here. I don’t need the ads, but I thought it would be an interesting experiment.

I made about a dollar a day. I stuck my ads “below the fold”, which is an ad no-no, because I wanted to keep them away from content. What I mean is, I didn’t want the reading to be cut off by ads. And I didn’t want them to be blatant. Ads detract from content any way you slice it.

Furthermore, they are an insult to your readers. We, readers, don’t like ads for lots of reasons. One fundamental reason is that they are a jab at our intelligence. Do you really think that the place we go when looking for anything is your ads? I mean, the shit that filters through adsense is amazing. I mean, let me paste the ads on the front page right at this moment.

Weird.TV Videos Online
Weird, funny, stupid videos to send your friends—Free from MSN Video.

Last Holiday Movie
Starring Queen Latifah. Check out the Trailer. Now playing

First, adsense did a horrible job of categorizing my content. Granted this is partly my fault. I didn’t add a keywords metatag or jump through any of the other hoops that people who use ads normally do. But how hard can it be to get the general gist of my content? I mean the first paragraph on the page describes what it’s about. I know the scanning system cannot be perfect but come on, this blog has no penchant towards “stupid videos” nor Queen Latifah. I mean, I don’t hate Queen Latifah but, get the hell off my blog.

Second, they are stupid. I don’t think my readers are the type who would randomly decide that they need to see videos of some dumbass lighting his pubes on fire. Nor do I think I have a strong Queen Latifah fanbase.

Granted, if I were making real money on these ads, I would keep them. As anyone would. I don’t have ill-will towards blogs that use ads. Sometimes is just an easy way to make good money. You wrote the content that brings the readers, so you may as well get a little something in return. In adblock, I whitelist all the blogs I read that I think deserve some money for their work. And of course I click some ads. But if you are making 15 dollars a month, buddy, let it go.

80% of my readers use firefox. I think it is safe to assume that at least half use Adblock. That means that 40% of my readers don’t even see my ads to get the chance to click them. So check your stats, if they show that you have the type of readerbase that doesn’t tolerate ads, don’t put them up.

Would I be adverse to using ads ever again? No. But the right kind of ads. Ads that are visually pleasing, relevant to my readers’ interests, and non invasive. If I can find an ad solution that can serve good ads and won’t detract from my content while staying pretty, I’ll use it. It’s a tall order. But it’ll fit.

Bottom line, Ads don’t work everywhere. So don’t paste them up where they clearly don’t belong. A lesson learned by Koray, shared with you. Take the advice and run with it. Or don’t. Or comment and tell me why ads work everywhere. Tell me why there are 15 ads on the site you made for your grandma, and why it’s appropriate. That’s all for today. I need some more coffee.