billso.com

I completed some tweaks to the blog Thursday evening, and they’re worth mentioning.

It’s easy to update articles in WordPress, the server software I use for this blog. Sometimes I edit an article to include new links or updated information.

The 3 September article on ad blocking is a good example. I updated that article today, and now the article’s header looks like this:

Notice the text that says “Updated” – this indicates when I changed this article.

I’ve also made it easier to see blog articles that have comments by adding a visible hyperlink after the article’s title. Sometimes I add comments to an article instead of updating the article itself, and sometimes user have added their own comments:

This screenshot also shows the new format I’m using to display articles on the home page and in search results.
An excerpt of the articles first words will appear, followed by the relevant hyperlinked tags. Just click the article title or the (more…) link to see the entire article. This is a good way to get additional clicks from readers, and to pull them deeper into a web site.

The excerpt isn’t a summary or abstract of the article. It’s just enough text to show the reader how the article begins.

I display excerpts on the home page and in search results to keep these pages small. This helps keep the site responsive and usable for readers with mobile device or limited bandwidth. Google Analytics has shown me that most users access this site at broadband speeds, but I want to accommodate all users, as discussed here.

Of course, the RSS feeds on this site will always display the entire article, including tags. Most RSS readers will also retrieve the updated version of each article.