Hey, thanks for joining in on this Andy. I'll be anticipating the email subscription part and hope to see some good stuff there.
I'd probably go the route of using custom fields for the headline trick myself, and am actually working with using a custom field for displaying a subhead on one blog, and plan to implement it on Dane Morgan and Blog Strokes soon.
Server loads and page speed were the primary motivations for my single loop experiment. I've been looking at ways to reduce queries, especially repetitive ones without resorting to a cache, because I'm intending to increase the amount of dynamic information on my pages with some of it taking frequent updates.
Dane Morgan
· 2 years ago
Hey, thanks for joining in on this Andy. I'll be anticipating the email subscription part and hope to see some good stuff there.
I'd probably go the route of using custom fields for the headline trick myself, and am actually working with using a custom field for displaying a subhead on one blog, and plan to implement it on Dane Morgan and Blog Strokes soon.
Server loads and page speed were the primary motivations for my single loop experiment. I've been looking at ways to reduce queries, especially repetitive ones without resorting to a cache, because I'm intending to increase the amount of dynamic information on my pages with some of it taking frequent updates.
Dana Wallert
· 2 years ago
I'm excited to see the answers to all of these. Dumb question time though...other than not having access to a reader all day, are there reasons that people would prefer to subscribe via e-mail? I know I need to add the option to my blogs...another to-do list thing, but I've always wondered why you want to receive more e-mail? Just curious...sorry, I probably just blew you "more sophisticated users" theory!
AndyBeard
· 2 years ago
Dana very few bloggers have ever done a detailed study, in fact I have read only one... Yaro Starek
He has found response rate for email to be several times better than RSS, and he has built up an email list now that is 3x the size of his RSS subscribers.
Despite having less subscribers than John Chow by RSS, he got a lot more referrals than John recently for Blogrush.
Having something to give away for free, in exchange for an email address is as important now as it was a few years ago.
Also it is very hard to give RSS subscribers a private bonus because people can always look at the feed but not subscribe
Dana Wallert
· 2 years ago
I'm excited to see the answers to all of these. Dumb question time though...other than not having access to a reader all day, are there reasons that people would prefer to subscribe via e-mail? I know I need to add the option to my blogs...another to-do list thing, but I've always wondered why you want to receive more e-mail? Just curious...sorry, I probably just blew you "more sophisticated users" theory!
AndyBeard
· 2 years ago
Dana very few bloggers have ever done a detailed study, in fact I have read only one... Yaro Starek
He has found response rate for email to be several times better than RSS, and he has built up an email list now that is 3x the size of his RSS subscribers.
Despite having less subscribers than John Chow by RSS, he got a lot more referrals than John recently for Blogrush.
Having something to give away for free, in exchange for an email address is as important now as it was a few years ago.
Also it is very hard to give RSS subscribers a private bonus because people can always look at the feed but not subscribe
maneesh
· 2 years ago
it was incidental and interesting to see ur update pop up on my omea just as i finished fixing up my feeds.. have been having some issue withit for a while...
like dane, even i'll be looking forward the email subscription part for most of my audience i presume are not avid rss users yet.. on my part I have tried to focus on the ease of getting blog updates in the mailbox to try and get users subscribing through emails, also put up a separate page on subscription though I don't expect many clicks there..
on the other hand with rss subscription, i hav tried to be a bit adventures and put a totally new image for rss breaking all standard guidelines...
let's see wat tht does to the subscription...
it was good to see ur post, especially coz i just modified my design lately..cud relate better :)...
maneesh
· 2 years ago
it was incidental and interesting to see ur update pop up on my omea just as i finished fixing up my feeds.. have been having some issue withit for a while...
like dane, even i'll be looking forward the email subscription part for most of my audience i presume are not avid rss users yet.. on my part I have tried to focus on the ease of getting blog updates in the mailbox to try and get users subscribing through emails, also put up a separate page on subscription though I don't expect many clicks there..
on the other hand with rss subscription, i hav tried to be a bit adventures and put a totally new image for rss breaking all standard guidelines...
let's see wat tht does to the subscription...
it was good to see ur post, especially coz i just modified my design lately..cud relate better :)...
Tomaz Mencinger
· 2 years ago
Well, I read your content so I don't really care how your blog looks like as long as you don't stuff too many links and ads in my face. ;)
But for new readers who come to your blog for the first time I agree that you have to "impress" them somehow with the design so that they like it.
I actually like your current design since I haven't seen it before.
So in my opinion - keep it clean and simple, put a subscription box on top with some free report or something as a bonus and keep up the good work.
You'll do fine. ;)
Tomaz Mencinger
· 2 years ago
Well, I read your content so I don't really care how your blog looks like as long as you don't stuff too many links and ads in my face. ;)
But for new readers who come to your blog for the first time I agree that you have to "impress" them somehow with the design so that they like it.
I actually like your current design since I haven't seen it before.
So in my opinion - keep it clean and simple, put a subscription box on top with some free report or something as a bonus and keep up the good work.
You'll do fine. ;)
Matt Jones
· 2 years ago
With the wave of blog redesigns that allow for maximum monetization I'm finding it hard to be pleased with the design of my blog.
Matt Jones
· 2 years ago
With the wave of blog redesigns that allow for maximum monetization I'm finding it hard to be pleased with the design of my blog.
Watch Heroes Online
· 2 years ago
Not the design is important, all that need is to load very qick the website, this is the most important, for me design is just 25% ( 100%), 75% is the information, so . . .
Watch Heroes Online
· 2 years ago
Not the design is important, all that need is to load very qick the website, this is the most important, for me design is just 25% ( 100%), 75% is the information, so . . .
bob
· 2 years ago
Ok, I would like my blog to have the lay out similiar to a book (for old guys, this is how we learned to read). left to right, oldest to newest.
While i understand that returning bloggers don't want to have to page down to find your latest blog, new visitors shouldn't have to start at the last chapter written...
couldn't their be some way that the blog thing could tell the difference between a new visitor and a returning visitor and adjust the way the lay out appears automatically?
(i'll save my "hologram rant" for another time:))
Dane Morgan
· 2 years ago
With WordPress, if the reader will register, then yes. You can put you loop into two separate files one template that is served when the reader is not logged in and another when the user is logged in.
Just use an oldest first sort for non logged in users and let long time readers skip right to the new stuff automatically.
bob
· 2 years ago
Ok, I would like my blog to have the lay out similiar to a book (for old guys, this is how we learned to read). left to right, oldest to newest.
While i understand that returning bloggers don't want to have to page down to find your latest blog, new visitors shouldn't have to start at the last chapter written...
couldn't their be some way that the blog thing could tell the difference between a new visitor and a returning visitor and adjust the way the lay out appears automatically?
(i'll save my "hologram rant" for another time:))
Dane Morgan
· 2 years ago
With WordPress, if the reader will register, then yes. You can put you loop into two separate files one template that is served when the reader is not logged in and another when the user is logged in.
Just use an oldest first sort for non logged in users and let long time readers skip right to the new stuff automatically.
Justin Premick
· 2 years ago
Hi Andy,
Thanks for the suggestions!
You're right, at the moment the blog broadcasts send based on a certain number of new posts, rather than sending every X number of days (that option is coming as one of a number of enhancements we're working on for that feature).
Some articles on upping your blog's email subscriptions would be helpful. To get you started, let me suggest that you try this out: in addition to the signup form that you use as part of your blog template, stick a form within some of your posts. We've been adding signup forms at the end of some of our own posts (example) and found that quite a few people are signing up through those.
AndyBeard
· 2 years ago
Before I forget, Justin thats for giving some feedback "from the horses mouth" - I would really love to know if you have some kind of schedule... rephrase that an "ETA you are able to release" for the daily scheduling of feeds.
It makes a strategic decision for me a lot easier.
You didn't mention the possibility of reporting feed subscription numbers to Feedburner. They are getting part of the numbers probably anyway based upon open rate with included images, but it would be good to have the full data being fed. I think it only requires reporting to in headers each time to fetch a feed.
The feedburner data is important both for social proof and revenue.
As for tips, whilst some of my readers will no doubt appreciate that, many are very advanced.
As an example, is there a way I can check via some kind of an API call as to whether a visitor is an email subscriber, or do I just have to do it with cookies?
Justin Premick
· 2 years ago
Hi Andy,
Thanks for the suggestions!
You're right, at the moment the blog broadcasts send based on a certain number of new posts, rather than sending every X number of days (that option is coming as one of a number of enhancements we're working on for that feature).
Some articles on upping your blog's email subscriptions would be helpful. To get you started, let me suggest that you try this out: in addition to the signup form that you use as part of your blog template, stick a form within some of your posts. We've been adding signup forms at the end of some of our own posts (example) and found that quite a few people are signing up through those.
AndyBeard
· 2 years ago
Before I forget, Justin thats for giving some feedback "from the horses mouth" - I would really love to know if you have some kind of schedule... rephrase that an "ETA you are able to release" for the daily scheduling of feeds.
It makes a strategic decision for me a lot easier.
You didn't mention the possibility of reporting feed subscription numbers to Feedburner. They are getting part of the numbers probably anyway based upon open rate with included images, but it would be good to have the full data being fed. I think it only requires reporting to in headers each time to fetch a feed.
The feedburner data is important both for social proof and revenue.
As for tips, whilst some of my readers will no doubt appreciate that, many are very advanced.
As an example, is there a way I can check via some kind of an API call as to whether a visitor is an email subscriber, or do I just have to do it with cookies?
Tinu
· 2 years ago
On my to-do list:
- make the blog load faster - turn the home page's focus into subscription only. that technique has always worked wonder for Both rss and email subscription for me. - more prominent comment policy - more prominent resource page
I like yours, and I can't wait to see the new design. But even if your blog was written on a brick wall in a desert I'd find a way to read it every day. :)
Tinu
· 2 years ago
On my to-do list:
- make the blog load faster - turn the home page's focus into subscription only. that technique has always worked wonder for Both rss and email subscription for me. - more prominent comment policy - more prominent resource page
I like yours, and I can't wait to see the new design. But even if your blog was written on a brick wall in a desert I'd find a way to read it every day. :)
Derami
· 2 years ago
My goals:
1) Add more in-between short posts - right now there are too many heavy-duty long posts that take time to research, write and edit.
2) Move to two right sidebars that are both geared toward typical ad sizes, instead of one right and one left that are both unusually sized.
These are as much to-do goals for myself as things I'd suggest to newere bloggers ... think ahead of time about what kind of ads you'd add and where, and how you'll maintain a healthy post frequency :)
Derami
· 2 years ago
My goals:
1) Add more in-between short posts - right now there are too many heavy-duty long posts that take time to research, write and edit.
2) Move to two right sidebars that are both geared toward typical ad sizes, instead of one right and one left that are both unusually sized.
These are as much to-do goals for myself as things I'd suggest to newere bloggers ... think ahead of time about what kind of ads you'd add and where, and how you'll maintain a healthy post frequency :)
Bobby Revell
· 2 years ago
I hate to leave an off subject comment but Google Announces The End of PageRank and introduces a new Digg like system to replace it. It’s yesterday’s news, Read all about it here: http://revellian.com/2007/09/25/google-announce...
I think it is a bad idea! Don't forget who told you!!!!!
Bobby Revell
· 2 years ago
I hate to leave an off subject comment but Google Announces The End of PageRank and introduces a new Digg like system to replace it. It’s yesterday’s news, Read all about it here: http://revellian.com/2007/09/25/google-announce...
I think it is a bad idea! Don't forget who told you!!!!!
Bobby Revell
· 2 years ago
What do you think Andy? Is it a crock?
AndyBeard
· 2 years ago
Bobby I actually saw the original post you linked to about a week ago. Quite humorous. It was all tongue in cheek though.
Bobby Revell
· 2 years ago
What do you think Andy? Is it a crock?
AndyBeard
· 2 years ago
Bobby I actually saw the original post you linked to about a week ago. Quite humorous. It was all tongue in cheek though.
Lord Matt
· 2 years ago
(in this comment I have used () instead of html pointies as I was not sure what your comment system would do to it).
Your best bet(s) for the headline is to create a custom plugin.
In Nucleus I would create a string such as $br$ that would contextually change to a real br or simply be removed. I would probably create a "skinvar" so that I can use the new tag to out put the br version but everywhere else show no br.
In wordpress I believe the theme engine is direct php so you could create a function wp_br_header();
There is a second very cool option that would work with the wp_br_header() suggestion - assume that when you type the ":" in a title you are doing a multi level title and use str_replace to swap ":" for ":(br /)" which would only happen where your template requested the specially formatted headline but would be "normal" in all other places.
In other news you might be well advised to move some of the under post disclaimer into the side bar. The reason is that it is a long scroll to comment and a skip to comments #link would cause the text to be skipped. I know I have developed an ad blindness to everything between the post and the comment box other than the Don't Be An Idiot badge.
However with all these things it could just be me...
Lord Matt
· 2 years ago
(in this comment I have used () instead of html pointies as I was not sure what your comment system would do to it).
Your best bet(s) for the headline is to create a custom plugin.
In Nucleus I would create a string such as $br$ that would contextually change to a real br or simply be removed. I would probably create a "skinvar" so that I can use the new tag to out put the br version but everywhere else show no br.
In wordpress I believe the theme engine is direct php so you could create a function wp_br_header();
There is a second very cool option that would work with the wp_br_header() suggestion - assume that when you type the ":" in a title you are doing a multi level title and use str_replace to swap ":" for ":(br /)" which would only happen where your template requested the specially formatted headline but would be "normal" in all other places.
In other news you might be well advised to move some of the under post disclaimer into the side bar. The reason is that it is a long scroll to comment and a skip to comments #link would cause the text to be skipped. I know I have developed an ad blindness to everything between the post and the comment box other than the Don't Be An Idiot badge.
However with all these things it could just be me...
lucia
· 2 years ago
It might be possible to write a plugin to do some specific title formatting. (There is a hook for the_title()).
What precisely do you want to do? Insert a break only when the post appears at the blog, but otherwise, keep it out?
AndyBeard
· 2 years ago
I suppose you would need a box with "display title" that is used in most places on the blog, but that method would get messy when people are using recent comment plugins and widgets.
I think it would be easier to just modify a theme, and use a custom field if it is set, otherwise use the_title.
The RSS feeds would still use the_title by default.
lucia
· 2 years ago
It might be possible to write a plugin to do some specific title formatting. (There is a hook for the_title()).
What precisely do you want to do? Insert a break only when the post appears at the blog, but otherwise, keep it out?
AndyBeard
· 2 years ago
I suppose you would need a box with "display title" that is used in most places on the blog, but that method would get messy when people are using recent comment plugins and widgets.
I think it would be easier to just modify a theme, and use a custom field if it is set, otherwise use the_title.
The RSS feeds would still use the_title by default.
lucia
· 2 years ago
You could modify the theme... but it was pretty easy to write a "Nifty Titles" plugin too. (I think so anyway.) Let me know what you think.
lucia
· 2 years ago
You could modify the theme... but it was pretty easy to write a "Nifty Titles" plugin too. (I think so anyway.) Let me know what you think.
Justin Premick
· 2 years ago
I don't have an ETA to give as those improvements are among many that our development team is working on, but I'll be letting them know that the demand is definitely there :) The Feedburner reporting is something we're looking into as well.
There's not an API call to check that but what you can do (and what we do on our blog) is to integrate Google Analytics so that your source is tagged as "email" (your readers may also find Google's URL builder helpful).
Justin Premick
· 2 years ago
I don't have an ETA to give as those improvements are among many that our development team is working on, but I'll be letting them know that the demand is definitely there :) The Feedburner reporting is something we're looking into as well.
There's not an API call to check that but what you can do (and what we do on our blog) is to integrate Google Analytics so that your source is tagged as "email" (your readers may also find Google's URL builder helpful).
Brian Clark
· 2 years ago
Wish I could be of more help Andy, but all I can take credit for is bitching and moaning about things (like images in feeds and headline breaks) and Chris figures out a way to work me a solution. I'll ping him with this post and maybe he'll stop by and give a quick tutorial.
Brian Clark
· 2 years ago
Wish I could be of more help Andy, but all I can take credit for is bitching and moaning about things (like images in feeds and headline breaks) and Chris figures out a way to work me a solution. I'll ping him with this post and maybe he'll stop by and give a quick tutorial.
Chris P.
· 2 years ago
Andy,
The solution for handling [code] [/code] tags within headlines is actually quite simple. Essentially, those tags are only there for display purposes on the site itself (in this case, on Copyblogger), and we really don't want them to affect the presentation in any other areas where headlines may be displayed.
Within the site itself, headlines appear on the [1] front page, on [2] individual post pages, at the bottom of individual post pages in the form of [3] inter-postal links, and in lists of [4] related posts that follow individual posts.
In cases [3] and [4] from the previous paragraph, all I had to do was add in some very simple CSS to suppress the [code] [/code] tags, which have been added in the title field of the post entry page (within WordPress).
I use the rule of specificity to target the headlines, and a CSS declaration to "turn off" the [code] [/code] tags, like so:
[code]ul#related_posts li br { display: none; }[/code]
The above declaration prevents all [code] [/code] tags from displaying, but only if they lie within the li elements of an unordered list whose ID is "related_posts".
As far as feed readers go, I don't have any direct control over the display of [code] [/code] tags there. Despite that, I suspect that popular readers like Google Reader and Bloglines suppress [code] [/code] tags within headlines. It would make sense to do so, simply because one of the major challenges these readers face is to present a unified interface that features content from a zillion different sites, each of which probably has a unique way of formatting and organizing content.
Chris P.
· 2 years ago
Andy,
The solution for handling [code] [/code] tags within headlines is actually quite simple. Essentially, those tags are only there for display purposes on the site itself (in this case, on Copyblogger), and we really don't want them to affect the presentation in any other areas where headlines may be displayed.
Within the site itself, headlines appear on the [1] front page, on [2] individual post pages, at the bottom of individual post pages in the form of [3] inter-postal links, and in lists of [4] related posts that follow individual posts.
In cases [3] and [4] from the previous paragraph, all I had to do was add in some very simple CSS to suppress the [code] [/code] tags, which have been added in the title field of the post entry page (within WordPress).
I use the rule of specificity to target the headlines, and a CSS declaration to "turn off" the [code] [/code] tags, like so:
[code]ul#related_posts li br { display: none; }[/code]
The above declaration prevents all [code] [/code] tags from displaying, but only if they lie within the li elements of an unordered list whose ID is "related_posts".
As far as feed readers go, I don't have any direct control over the display of [code] [/code] tags there. Despite that, I suspect that popular readers like Google Reader and Bloglines suppress [code] [/code] tags within headlines. It would make sense to do so, simply because one of the major challenges these readers face is to present a unified interface that features content from a zillion different sites, each of which probably has a unique way of formatting and organizing content.
All Comments
I'd probably go the route of using custom fields for the headline trick myself, and am actually working with using a custom field for displaying a subhead on one blog, and plan to implement it on Dane Morgan and Blog Strokes soon.
Server loads and page speed were the primary motivations for my single loop experiment. I've been looking at ways to reduce queries, especially repetitive ones without resorting to a cache, because I'm intending to increase the amount of dynamic information on my pages with some of it taking frequent updates.
I'd probably go the route of using custom fields for the headline trick myself, and am actually working with using a custom field for displaying a subhead on one blog, and plan to implement it on Dane Morgan and Blog Strokes soon.
Server loads and page speed were the primary motivations for my single loop experiment. I've been looking at ways to reduce queries, especially repetitive ones without resorting to a cache, because I'm intending to increase the amount of dynamic information on my pages with some of it taking frequent updates.
He has found response rate for email to be several times better than RSS, and he has built up an email list now that is 3x the size of his RSS subscribers.
Despite having less subscribers than John Chow by RSS, he got a lot more referrals than John recently for Blogrush.
Having something to give away for free, in exchange for an email address is as important now as it was a few years ago.
Also it is very hard to give RSS subscribers a private bonus because people can always look at the feed but not subscribe
He has found response rate for email to be several times better than RSS, and he has built up an email list now that is 3x the size of his RSS subscribers.
Despite having less subscribers than John Chow by RSS, he got a lot more referrals than John recently for Blogrush.
Having something to give away for free, in exchange for an email address is as important now as it was a few years ago.
Also it is very hard to give RSS subscribers a private bonus because people can always look at the feed but not subscribe
like dane, even i'll be looking forward the email subscription part for most of my audience i presume are not avid rss users yet.. on my part I have tried to focus on the ease of getting blog updates in the mailbox to try and get users subscribing through emails, also put up a separate page on subscription though I don't expect many clicks there..
on the other hand with rss subscription, i hav tried to be a bit adventures and put a totally new image for rss breaking all standard guidelines...
let's see wat tht does to the subscription...
it was good to see ur post, especially coz i just modified my design lately..cud relate better :)...
like dane, even i'll be looking forward the email subscription part for most of my audience i presume are not avid rss users yet.. on my part I have tried to focus on the ease of getting blog updates in the mailbox to try and get users subscribing through emails, also put up a separate page on subscription though I don't expect many clicks there..
on the other hand with rss subscription, i hav tried to be a bit adventures and put a totally new image for rss breaking all standard guidelines...
let's see wat tht does to the subscription...
it was good to see ur post, especially coz i just modified my design lately..cud relate better :)...
But for new readers who come to your blog for the first time I agree that you have to "impress" them somehow with the design so that they like it.
I actually like your current design since I haven't seen it before.
So in my opinion - keep it clean and simple, put a subscription box on top with some free report or something as a bonus and keep up the good work.
You'll do fine. ;)
But for new readers who come to your blog for the first time I agree that you have to "impress" them somehow with the design so that they like it.
I actually like your current design since I haven't seen it before.
So in my opinion - keep it clean and simple, put a subscription box on top with some free report or something as a bonus and keep up the good work.
You'll do fine. ;)
While i understand that returning bloggers don't want to have to page down to find your latest blog, new visitors shouldn't have to start at the last chapter written...
couldn't their be some way that the blog thing could tell the difference between a new visitor and a returning visitor and adjust the way the lay out appears automatically?
(i'll save my "hologram rant" for another time:))
Just use an oldest first sort for non logged in users and let long time readers skip right to the new stuff automatically.
While i understand that returning bloggers don't want to have to page down to find your latest blog, new visitors shouldn't have to start at the last chapter written...
couldn't their be some way that the blog thing could tell the difference between a new visitor and a returning visitor and adjust the way the lay out appears automatically?
(i'll save my "hologram rant" for another time:))
Just use an oldest first sort for non logged in users and let long time readers skip right to the new stuff automatically.
Thanks for the suggestions!
You're right, at the moment the blog broadcasts send based on a certain number of new posts, rather than sending every X number of days (that option is coming as one of a number of enhancements we're working on for that feature).
Some articles on upping your blog's email subscriptions would be helpful. To get you started, let me suggest that you try this out: in addition to the signup form that you use as part of your blog template, stick a form within some of your posts. We've been adding signup forms at the end of some of our own posts (example) and found that quite a few people are signing up through those.
It makes a strategic decision for me a lot easier.
You didn't mention the possibility of reporting feed subscription numbers to Feedburner. They are getting part of the numbers probably anyway based upon open rate with included images, but it would be good to have the full data being fed. I think it only requires reporting to in headers each time to fetch a feed.
The feedburner data is important both for social proof and revenue.
As for tips, whilst some of my readers will no doubt appreciate that, many are very advanced.
As an example, is there a way I can check via some kind of an API call as to whether a visitor is an email subscriber, or do I just have to do it with cookies?
Thanks for the suggestions!
You're right, at the moment the blog broadcasts send based on a certain number of new posts, rather than sending every X number of days (that option is coming as one of a number of enhancements we're working on for that feature).
Some articles on upping your blog's email subscriptions would be helpful. To get you started, let me suggest that you try this out: in addition to the signup form that you use as part of your blog template, stick a form within some of your posts. We've been adding signup forms at the end of some of our own posts (example) and found that quite a few people are signing up through those.
It makes a strategic decision for me a lot easier.
You didn't mention the possibility of reporting feed subscription numbers to Feedburner. They are getting part of the numbers probably anyway based upon open rate with included images, but it would be good to have the full data being fed. I think it only requires reporting to in headers each time to fetch a feed.
The feedburner data is important both for social proof and revenue.
As for tips, whilst some of my readers will no doubt appreciate that, many are very advanced.
As an example, is there a way I can check via some kind of an API call as to whether a visitor is an email subscriber, or do I just have to do it with cookies?
- make the blog load faster
- turn the home page's focus into subscription only. that technique has always worked wonder for Both rss and email subscription for me.
- more prominent comment policy
- more prominent resource page
I like yours, and I can't wait to see the new design. But even if your blog was written on a brick wall in a desert I'd find a way to read it every day. :)
- make the blog load faster
- turn the home page's focus into subscription only. that technique has always worked wonder for Both rss and email subscription for me.
- more prominent comment policy
- more prominent resource page
I like yours, and I can't wait to see the new design. But even if your blog was written on a brick wall in a desert I'd find a way to read it every day. :)
1) Add more in-between short posts - right now there are too many heavy-duty long posts that take time to research, write and edit.
2) Move to two right sidebars that are both geared toward typical ad sizes, instead of one right and one left that are both unusually sized.
These are as much to-do goals for myself as things I'd suggest to newere bloggers ... think ahead of time about what kind of ads you'd add and where, and how you'll maintain a healthy post frequency :)
1) Add more in-between short posts - right now there are too many heavy-duty long posts that take time to research, write and edit.
2) Move to two right sidebars that are both geared toward typical ad sizes, instead of one right and one left that are both unusually sized.
These are as much to-do goals for myself as things I'd suggest to newere bloggers ... think ahead of time about what kind of ads you'd add and where, and how you'll maintain a healthy post frequency :)
http://revellian.com/2007/09/25/google-announce...
I think it is a bad idea!
Don't forget who told you!!!!!
http://revellian.com/2007/09/25/google-announce...
I think it is a bad idea!
Don't forget who told you!!!!!
Your best bet(s) for the headline is to create a custom plugin.
In Nucleus I would create a string such as $br$ that would contextually change to a real br or simply be removed. I would probably create a "skinvar" so that I can use the new tag to out put the br version but everywhere else show no br.
In wordpress I believe the theme engine is direct php so you could create a function wp_br_header();
There is a second very cool option that would work with the wp_br_header() suggestion - assume that when you type the ":" in a title you are doing a multi level title and use str_replace to swap ":" for ":(br /)" which would only happen where your template requested the specially formatted headline but would be "normal" in all other places.
In other news you might be well advised to move some of the under post disclaimer into the side bar. The reason is that it is a long scroll to comment and a skip to comments #link would cause the text to be skipped. I know I have developed an ad blindness to everything between the post and the comment box other than the Don't Be An Idiot badge.
However with all these things it could just be me...
Your best bet(s) for the headline is to create a custom plugin.
In Nucleus I would create a string such as $br$ that would contextually change to a real br or simply be removed. I would probably create a "skinvar" so that I can use the new tag to out put the br version but everywhere else show no br.
In wordpress I believe the theme engine is direct php so you could create a function wp_br_header();
There is a second very cool option that would work with the wp_br_header() suggestion - assume that when you type the ":" in a title you are doing a multi level title and use str_replace to swap ":" for ":(br /)" which would only happen where your template requested the specially formatted headline but would be "normal" in all other places.
In other news you might be well advised to move some of the under post disclaimer into the side bar. The reason is that it is a long scroll to comment and a skip to comments #link would cause the text to be skipped. I know I have developed an ad blindness to everything between the post and the comment box other than the Don't Be An Idiot badge.
However with all these things it could just be me...
What precisely do you want to do? Insert a break only when the post appears at the blog, but otherwise, keep it out?
I think it would be easier to just modify a theme, and use a custom field if it is set, otherwise use the_title.
The RSS feeds would still use the_title by default.
What precisely do you want to do? Insert a break only when the post appears at the blog, but otherwise, keep it out?
I think it would be easier to just modify a theme, and use a custom field if it is set, otherwise use the_title.
The RSS feeds would still use the_title by default.
There's not an API call to check that but what you can do (and what we do on our blog) is to integrate Google Analytics so that your source is tagged as "email" (your readers may also find Google's URL builder helpful).
There's not an API call to check that but what you can do (and what we do on our blog) is to integrate Google Analytics so that your source is tagged as "email" (your readers may also find Google's URL builder helpful).
The solution for handling [code]
[/code] tags within headlines is actually quite simple. Essentially, those tags are only there for display purposes on the site itself (in this case, on Copyblogger), and we really don't want them to affect the presentation in any other areas where headlines may be displayed.
Within the site itself, headlines appear on the [1] front page, on [2] individual post pages, at the bottom of individual post pages in the form of [3] inter-postal links, and in lists of [4] related posts that follow individual posts.
In cases [3] and [4] from the previous paragraph, all I had to do was add in some very simple CSS to suppress the [code]
[/code] tags, which have been added in the title field of the post entry page (within WordPress).
I use the rule of specificity to target the headlines, and a CSS declaration to "turn off" the [code]
[/code] tags, like so:
[code]ul#related_posts li br { display: none; }[/code]
The above declaration prevents all [code]
[/code] tags from displaying, but only if they lie within the li elements of an unordered list whose ID is "related_posts".
As far as feed readers go, I don't have any direct control over the display of [code]
[/code] tags there. Despite that, I suspect that popular readers like Google Reader and Bloglines suppress [code]
[/code] tags within headlines. It would make sense to do so, simply because one of the major challenges these readers face is to present a unified interface that features content from a zillion different sites, each of which probably has a unique way of formatting and organizing content.
The solution for handling [code]
[/code] tags within headlines is actually quite simple. Essentially, those tags are only there for display purposes on the site itself (in this case, on Copyblogger), and we really don't want them to affect the presentation in any other areas where headlines may be displayed.
Within the site itself, headlines appear on the [1] front page, on [2] individual post pages, at the bottom of individual post pages in the form of [3] inter-postal links, and in lists of [4] related posts that follow individual posts.
In cases [3] and [4] from the previous paragraph, all I had to do was add in some very simple CSS to suppress the [code]
[/code] tags, which have been added in the title field of the post entry page (within WordPress).
I use the rule of specificity to target the headlines, and a CSS declaration to "turn off" the [code]
[/code] tags, like so:
[code]ul#related_posts li br { display: none; }[/code]
The above declaration prevents all [code]
[/code] tags from displaying, but only if they lie within the li elements of an unordered list whose ID is "related_posts".
As far as feed readers go, I don't have any direct control over the display of [code]
[/code] tags there. Despite that, I suspect that popular readers like Google Reader and Bloglines suppress [code]
[/code] tags within headlines. It would make sense to do so, simply because one of the major challenges these readers face is to present a unified interface that features content from a zillion different sites, each of which probably has a unique way of formatting and organizing content.