UnDugg
Digg, del.ici.ous, StumbleUpon, all those aggravators aggregators? Robert Stacy McCain doesn’t use ‘em:
The perceptive blog consumer will notice that posts here don’t have all those little thingies (Digg, etc.) the way some other blogs do. This is not because I disdain such methods of traffic enhancement, but because I’m such a primitive Unfrozen Caveman Blogger I can’t figure that stuff out. It’s the same reason I’m still on a Blogspot platform, rather than switching to a custom-designed WordPress format. Blogspot is so simple that even I can figure it out, and if they’d just offer a few more templates — hey, guys, how about a template with variable-width sidebars on both sides? — I might be able to fake that custom-designed elegance, too. I understand basic HTML, but Javascript no can do, and I’m too cheap to shell out the bucks for geek services.
“Custom-designed,” in the world of WordPress, usually means that you wrote a check to someone more talented (in that area, anyway) than yourself; a lot of us crawl by with modestly-modified, or even unmodified, WP themes. I have yet to figure out a way to duplicate my legendary Movable Type front page, which was done in HTML, with the PHP that underlies WordPress, other than to call up, say, Lisa Sabin-Wilson and offer her pockets full of dollars.
And me, I get occasional visitors from StumbleUpon, but I figure, it’s not worth contorting the templates into full-fledged automatic link-whoring devices just to roll the SiteMeter a percentage point faster — like I can claim to be some sort of Elder Statesman just because I got my millionth hit three years ago.
McGehee »
21 February 2009 · 9:32 am
I used to have an entirely self-designed template when I was on Blogspot, but these days I’m not sure I could do that. When I tried out WordPress the themes were so heavily CSS dependent that I had trouble figuring out the WP codes I’d need to plug into my HTML — and I’d be real surprised if Blogger’s themes wren’t the same.
fillyjonk »
21 February 2009 · 9:40 am
“unfrozen caveman blogger” Heh. That would also describe me, well, except for the “man” part.
I lack sufficient brain capacity and time at this moment to learn Java and other such languages. (Or rather, there are other things I’d RATHER spend my brain capacity on learning).
Popularity might be nice but sometimes I doubt it would be worth the effort.
Robert Stacy McCain »
21 February 2009 · 11:48 am
Charles, I just added Add This to the blog, which allows people to Digg, Facebook, StumbleUpon, etc. That was a suggestion from Eric Reasons, who also directed me to the 3-column format guide.
Charles Pergiel »
21 February 2009 · 12:04 pm
I agree with Stacy & fillyjonk. Blogger works well enough for me. There are things I don’t like about it, and things that could be better, but for the most part it’s adequate. If your message is good, the trimmings won’t matter. If it isn’t, the trimmings won’t help.
All that trimming around the edges is just a nuisance. I put stuff there because other bloggers put stuff there, but I don’t know if anybody ever uses it. The only thing I use on my own blog is the search feature.
I kind of like the idea of the “Next Blog” button on blogger, except most of the blogs it pulls up are in a foreign language that I can’t read, and after half a dozen clicks I end up at a dead end: some blog where they have mucked with the template so there is no search function and no Next Blog button.
Style is nice, but only if there is some substance underneath. It’s like frosting on a cake. Unless it’s dark chocolate frosting. Mmmmm.
sya »
21 February 2009 · 12:16 pm
I like to blog simply, thus no need for all that other stuff. As for customization, I don’t think I’ve ever messed with other people’s templates. I’ve written all of mine in Notepad.
CGHill »
21 February 2009 · 12:33 pm
“I’ve written all of mine in Notepad.”
A woman after my own heart.
McGehee »
21 February 2009 · 3:16 pm
I think the last HTML I wrote in Notepad was over ten years ago. These days I use EditPad.
McGehee »
21 February 2009 · 3:17 pm
(Even us luddites can get competitive.)
CGHill »
21 February 2009 · 3:45 pm
I still do the Vents and other non-bloggy pages in WordPad.
Tatyana »
21 February 2009 · 4:55 pm
I can’t even operate Microsoft office templates properly. Excel is Chinese to me. Not Mandarin, that’s too much knowledge already.
I’ll go get a banana and resume my half-aware monkey existence now.
McGehee »
22 February 2009 · 7:42 am
WordPad? That’s no text editor — it’s practically a word processor!
Scott »
22 February 2009 · 8:22 am
Charles, you are far more than technologically capable enough to re-build your site to your old style if you wish. PHP, CSS, and MySQL can be frustrating, but usually, it’s me getting in the way of myself.
Notepad++ is my editor of choice. Once you have experienced language-based highlighting, well, the world never looks quite the same.