Archive for category Content Creation
X and Y Axis Page Layout
Posted by mcgelligot in Content Creation, css on January 25, 2012
The current manifestation of this blog has a column that runs up the right side and overlays the horizontal nav bar at the top. I admittedly like this look. I call it the X and Y axis page layout. This is because, for me, it resembles a cartesian plane with the column representing “y” and the nav bar representing “x”. I think I like it because it makes elegant use of the space available and over the years I have gotten tired of the same-ol’-same-ol’ with page layouts.
In any case, I decided to do a redesign of Learn Chess Rules. I decided to employ this design concept in the simplest manner possible, using something close to primary colors. I wanted to see the format in its essense. I also employed a fixed div at the bottom of the page. I like the effect, but the wife liked the ambiance of the site before I changed it. At this time many of the support pages are still in the old format, the FAQs for example, so you can see the difference.
I originally wrote the Chess Rules site in 1998. My memory has me starting at ten in the evening and working to four in the AM. If so, I was working fast. The redesign and rewrite took me two days.
The internet moves faster than a speeding bullet, and even faster than Superman. When I wrote the site it was all tables. Even though in the rewrite I employed a table here and there, where appropriate, the entire structure hangs on the <div> tag and the CSS behind it.
X and Y Axis at Learn Chess Rules
See the Future: Sarcastic Magic 8-Ball
Posted by mcgelligot in Content Creation on October 22, 2011
I have been trying to figure out where the future of the internet is so I can get there in front of it. Typically, I am one step behind the trend. Getting out in front is more difficult than it might seem and is about as dangerous as getting out in front of a speeding train! Well, not that dangerous, but it can cause a huge diversion of resources, and if you go in the wrong direction it can be a train-wreck. Well, not a train-wreck, but you get the metaphorical idea.
I am of the notion that the old approach is slowly eroding. Anymore, strong written content is being undedrmined by the search engines themselves. They put so much of the content on the page on the search results that there is often no reason to click through. Also, they are becoming significantly more ad heavy, pushing natural results down the page.
A few commentators on the internet scene have long been noting this trend and say that the best way to get traffic is outside the search engines and make it as self-sustaining as possible. This has been a difficult model for me to push forward. But I am slowly bending my mind to it.
So where is the future? Well, I am a little like a blind man feeling his way down a busy commuter rail line. The good thing is, I can hear the trains when they are coming. Okay, okay, too much mindless metaphor, not to mention aggravating alliteration. In my quest for knowledge I decided that it was time to conult the Sarcastic Magic 8-Ball. Truthfully, the answers didn’t clarify much, especially since the questions have to be able to be answered by a yes or no. Nevertheless, here is a screenshot of my latest project:
Magic Eight-Ball Page
HTML 101: An easy first lesson
Posted by mcgelligot in Content Creation on July 17, 2011
I just recently published a short book with my best friend from high school. (we go way back to the 1970s.) It’s called the “Wizard’s Apprentice“. We have decided to create a website for the book. Which I am sure that I will write about in due course. In any case, he wants to take a hand in it and wants to learn HTML. So, in an email. I gave him a basic first lesson:
Hi Andrew,
I usually write html from scratch rather than use a WYSIWYG site creator. I do this because then I know exactly what is in it. I also generally get what I want, though I admit it isn’t always as slick as I would like, but that is a matter of conception.
Here is your first lesson. HTML tags are generally opened and closed. The basic page has two sections, a head and a body. Here is the basic structure:
<html> tells the browser that this is a page containing html.
<head> opens the head which contains background info like:
<title>This is the Title</title>
</head> Closes the head (which sounds funny in nautical terms.)
<body> Opens the body which contains:
CONTENT
</body> Closes the body which punifically gets us near the end of the “operation”.
</html> Indicates the end of the page.
Standards dictate that tags are in lower case, but they will still work in upper case.
As usual,
Bill
How Much Content Is Enough?
Posted by mcgelligot in Content Creation on March 4, 2011
The new Google Farmer “Panda” update has got every web publisher soul searching and every content creator wondering, “what next?” What if Google whacks my site for thin content. What is thin content?
I have been creating web content since 1997. I admit that in the course of that time I have written short pages, long pages, intense technical stuff, psychobable, and fluff. But mainly I have one main goal when I write, “to convey the essense of a subject as clearly as I can.” I don’t worry about keyword density. I don’t worry about length. I just write.
As for page structure I try to optimise it so that there is a maximum return on ads while still looking like a quality website. The key to getting long-term growth out of a site is creating pages that people want to link to. To do this the pages must convey information that is timely and timeless. It must fulfill a need.
But how In-depth should you go? That is always a tough question. My gauge is, how much do I want to know? I am a relatively curious guy and if I have a vague notion that I would like to know more about some aspect of a subject then I figure it is probably worth doing a little more research to include that info on the page. I do hire out a few pages here and there and inevitably I will dig a little deeper and add a few insights of my own to these pages. After all, what is an editor for?
So how much is enough? Imagine it like eating dinner. Stop when you feel full.
Barry Lyndon vs. Flashman
Posted by mcgelligot in Content Creation on February 17, 2011
I have long been a fan of George McDonald Fraser and his Flashman series. It was one of the things that prompted me to read Thackeray’s Barry Lyndon. I got a chance to read it for free on my Sony eReader. Reading the book prompted me to create an entire web folio on the book, which includes a synopsis, analysis, a comparison with the movie, as well as a biography of Thackeray.
One subject I did not address, though I considered it, was a comparison between Flashman and Barry Lyndon. Indeed, reading Fraser’s first book makes Flashman out to be as bad or worse than Redmond Barry. But a funny thing happens in the Flashman series. The hero mellows, so that by the last few books he is a thoroughly likeable rascal. The opposite is the case with Barry Lyndon. By the end of the novel the reader can naught but despise him.
Thackeray had considerable trouble writing Barry Lyndon. I can see why. Having pounded out a few novels myself I know how hard it is not to identify with the protagonist. You feel as though you are meeting daily with this person. He becomes as familiar as your best friend. If this familiar were a thoroughly bad fellow, you would certainly not enjoy your meetings. I think this is what made things so difficult for Thackeray, and also why Fraser’s Flashman becomes a good guy.
It is probably a good thing this phenomena occurs with writers, because I am convinced it is just as marked with readers who identify with the hero of a novel. They often emulate the behavior. If more heros were thoroughly despicable in the manner of Barry Lyndon, it would be the worse for society as a whole, and many individuals in particular.
New to the Web
Posted by mcgelligot in Content Creation on January 22, 2011
A good friend of mine from way back when has just created a website featuring his photography. You can check it out at Lee Presser Studio. It is not as easy as you would think to create a website. This is why so many people use WordPress. It is a great platform, and easy to use. It is especially nice for blogging. However, because it was developed as a tool for bloggers it does not always work for certain structures. A website on photography that exhibits multiple portfolios is a perfect example.
I generally write my own html code for a website. This is because I pretty much know what I want and how I want it to look. However, I always keep it simple. This is probably a good rule of thumb for someone new to the web, unless you have technical skills already, start simple. You can attempt to dabble in program languages, but if you are trying to get a message out, the place to start is content creation. Presentation does not have to be complicated to be effective or attractive. In fact, too much clutter can be distracting.
Easy navigation is also a must. I created a site a few years ago that gives basic instruction on how to link internally and externally. Creating a good linking structure for a website is vital. Part of the key is not to do too much extraneous – off topic – linking and to focus on a structure that allows the reader to easilly find exactly what he or she might be searching for.
So if you are just starting out and want to create a website, keep it simple and content intensive and you can’t go too far wrong.
Getting Motivated in the New Year
Posted by mcgelligot in Content Creation on January 10, 2011
I am not one for making excuses. Nevertheless, I believe in looking at root causes and motivations for my own actions. Once isolated, factors can be manipulated to help create better efficiency. Getting to the crux of the issue: It has been a slow start to the new year. I don’t mean this with regard to traffic or other statistical factors. But rather my own personal output.
This is typical for me. Christmas is a tough time for my family because my wife has a toy store. I am required to pitch in more than ordinary. Then there is inventory. Then there is the effect of cool Christmas presents, which also form a distraction. (This year my wife got me a Sony eReader. If any thing will suck time away from work it is whimsically choosing from and reading the thousands of free books available and perusing the more modern titles.)
I generally slog my way through the Christmas season. Eight years ago when Toy Crossing was first created I was rather a humbug about the whole thing. Now I accept that December and half of January are simply a lost month in half. Not that I consider them un-lived, so to speak. Rather I consciously allocate their time to priorities other than those I have in place the rest of the year. The problem is shifting gears back to my normal.
This I do with some kind of cathartic essay and a “to do list” the length of which reflects all I have let slide since December 1.
Suddenly I feel as though I am sliding back into my old groove…Ah, it feels good to get back to my real life!
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