Yawn
Sun Aug 30, 2009 18:56 (UTC -5)Besides being a blog, The World of Stuff is a bunch of stuff. Over the years, I’ve added new pages that defy categorization. Nonetheless, I’ve been trying for a long time to keep each extraneous page one of a few neat, little boxes. It’s not working.
Currently, the navigation links are Blog, Archives, Geek, Writing, Video, Fun, Store, and About. Of these, the Blog, Archives, and Video pages are worth leaving alone. They do their job well. It’s the Geek, Writing, and Fun pages I’m most concerned about. They’re not very intuitive. (Would you expect to find Ultimate Cool Characters in Geek, Writing, or Fun? It’s in Geek.)
I’m thinking of splitting up those three categories into the following four categories. (The current category for each page is in parentheses.)
Articles:
- Free Your Computer with Linux (Geek)
- Finding the Day of the Week (Writing)
- Courtesy Autographs on US Currency (Writing)
- Tredici (Fun)
- Being Left-Handed (Writing)
- The Dvorak Keyboard and You (Geek)
Fiction or Creative:
- PLEASE READ THIS!!!1 (Writing)
- The Prisoners (Writing)
- Romeo and Juliet: A Sock Puppet Adaptation (Writing)
Reference:
- Using IRC on UF DHNet (Geek)
- Kalilić/Kalilich Family Genealogy (Writing)
- Donation Information for Free Content Projects (Geek)
- Fix for Ubuntu Hard Drive Problem (Geek)
- “Click Here” Around the World (Fun)
- Minor Scale Chart Thing (Fun)
- Ultimate Cool Characters (Geek)
Interactive:
- RTS-SMS (Fun)
- From Canada with Love (Fun)
- Fake Cyrillic Generator (Fun)
- Greasemonkey User Scripts (Geek)
- Ask Jordon (Fun)
If I were going to change up all these organizational things, which I probably will, then I’d also change the name of the About page to “Meta” at the risk of alienating the 98% of the population who don’t know what “meta” means. It’s because I have not only About Me, About the Site, and Donations, but also press coverage of the site.
As for the store… the store makes me sigh. No one’s ever bought anything from it. Looks like I’m going to need another way to effortlessly make money while promoting my blog.
By the way, all of the above is up for discussion; that’s why I’m posting it here. Let me know what you think. Ideas for effortlessly making money while promoting the site are particularly welcome.
Awesome video: a complete Goonies reunion. (Via waxy.org)
Roomba + camera + time = Roomba time exposure. (Via J-Walk Blog)
Here are some rare and interesting mental disorders and illnesses you’ve probably never heard of. (Via The Presurfer)
13 comments
#1 by Luke: Sun Aug 30, 2009 21:21 (UTC -5)
Have you considered making an index page with many categories? If I’m looking for a page, I use my psychological profile of Jordon to find it and do so with 90% accuracy.
#2 by kristen: Sun Aug 30, 2009 22:07 (UTC -5)
i finally clicked a link! stendhal’s syndrome was a prominent theme in the chuck palahniuk book “diary”.
#3 by Andrea: Mon Aug 31, 2009 12:41 (UTC -5)
You just have to be a little bit nicer to me and then wait for your next birthday. And then I will buy that tank top.
#4 by Jordon Kalilich: Mon Aug 31, 2009 17:10 (UTC -5)
@Luke: Yeah, I might come up with a nice site map or something because, unfortunately, not many people have a psychological profile of me.
@Kristen: I knew you would like that one.
@Andrea: Ha. You know you can’t wait to buy that thing and show it off. I bet it’s on the way right now.
#5 by kevin: Mon Aug 31, 2009 17:43 (UTC -5)
i like the fake cyrillic haha.
#6 by Luke: Tue Sep 01, 2009 09:55 (UTC -5)
Is it creepy that I do?
#7 by Wendy: Tue Sep 01, 2009 21:26 (UTC -5)
making money…webpage design?
everybody’s always looking, esp. this time of year (at least where I am) political candidates (local office)….you probably could whip up something very serviceable in a short time and make a little $$
#8 by Jordon Kalilich: Tue Sep 01, 2009 22:52 (UTC -5)
@Luke: No, not really, because you actually know me in person.
@Wendy: Thanks, that’s worth looking into.
#9 by Andy: Tue Sep 08, 2009 02:56 (UTC -5)
Loved the Roomba Time Exposure Link….
Great stuff. (Get it?)
#10 by Joshua McGee: Fri Sep 18, 2009 02:46 (UTC -5)
I binned my pages into “Presence, Me, Fun, Philately, Études, Site, Site Sponsors (gotta have those), Widgetry, and Sleeve. Maybe a couple deserve note:
1. Yes, this implies “Philately” is not “Fun”. Oops.
2. “Site” is what I settled on for “Meta”
3. My “Presence” thingy kicks ass IIDSSM and I am any-day-now going to write a WordPress plugin to do it automatically for other people.
4. “Sleeve” — a list of causes I support, with clickable banners — is my over-cute reference to “wearing my causes on my sleeve”. To my great delight, less web-savvy readers have assumed this is established usage and it has entered their lexicon and it will enter conversation with me, e.g., “So, I was visiting the sleeve section of that guy’s blog….”
5. Site sponsors: they get to be in the sidebar of every page for $50/yr. Am I a whore? Yes. Do I like being a whore? Well, it pays the bills. And, excuse me, I prefer “e-sex worker” or, with a nod to Whedon, “e-Companion”, thankyouverymuch.
Here is me not being brave enough to try ordered lists on the actual post:
uno
ni
trois
四
pimp
έξι
семь
八
Ⅸ
mười
It runs 1–10 instead of 0–9 because I cannot figure out how to get [OL] to zero-index.
#11 by Jordon Kalilich: Fri Sep 18, 2009 16:54 (UTC -5)
I like “Site” for “Meta,” although my “About” page is also about me. I just really want to get “meta” into the popular lexicon. It’s so useful.
I also like your “My Presence,” of which I have a basic equivalent on my About Me page. (It’s just collection of links to my profiles on social-networking-type sites, so no Wikipedia, etc.)
The “sleeve” is also a good idea. Although I probably wouldn’t take as much pleasure in misguiding n00bs, there are a few causes I maybe wouldn’t mind promoting on every page on my site. I guess what I’m trying to say is I like all of your ideas.
And in what language does “pimp” mean “five”?
#12 by Joshua McGee: Fri Sep 18, 2009 18:06 (UTC -5)
It’s just collection of links to my profiles on social-networking-type sites, so no Wikipedia, etc.
I consider Wikipedia, from the authors’ perspectives, to be social networking. So the “W” stays, linked to my “Discussion” page at W.
I just really want to get “meta” into the popular lexicon.
I would have thought it was already. Maybe I’m hanging out with the wrong/right people.
And in what language does “pimp” mean “five”?
There’s a “yo mama” joke in here somewhere, but the answer is ‘Welsh’. Terribly useful, no?
#13 by Jordon Kalilich: Fri Sep 18, 2009 18:13 (UTC -5)
Many of the people I hang out probably with wouldn’t get it, and I don’t think my readers would either (especially because there’s some overlap between those groups).
And hey, now I know a word in Welsh. Thanks for that.