March 8, 2008
Some Thoughts on Style Guidelines for clusterflock
When I first started the site I was a stickler and would often go back into posts and tinker, not with content, but presentation. Over time, I eased off on this both because I didn’t have the time and because I sort of liked the mishmash of approaches people took in terms of how they presented things.
With the new site design I find myself somewhere in the middle.
I would like to suggest that any image we post be between 500 and 600 pixels at its tallest or widest. If anyone is at a loss for the software for making those adjustments, I’m sure we can set up a system whereby those of us with the proper software can help out. With the jumble of posts each day I think having images at a manageable size will help the page load more quickly and give the posts a cleaner look.
To that end, I would also suggest that for posts longer than four or five paragraphs, we use the ‘more’ link in the editor so that the remainder of the post can be accessed on a separate page. If you have questions about how that works, please let me or Andrew know.
Also, I have requested that people post using their real names, as I find the straightforwardness of that more in the spirit of what clusterflock is about. To that end, I would prefer if everyone’s screen name represented at least their first and last names with the appropriate spacing. If people feel strongly against this, I am open to discussion. I simply wanted to state my preference.
I know there are still some issues that need to be hammered out concerning paragraph spacing in blockquotes, and some other formatting issues, and I know that Chris, Andrew, and Patrick are still working on these. If there are still issues that come to mind, please drop them a note at the basecamp site Andrew set up for us so that those issues can continue to be resolved.
Finally, I know we all have our own preferences for linking and thanks and vias and I’m fine with that. If people want to suggest a standard, I’m open to that also, but for now, like I say, personal preference is comfortable for me. In the past, I think I suggested that external links pop into a new window, but I think now I prefer the way most of us do it, using a simple link.
Okay. Those are my thoughts. If any of these seem outrageous or somehow dampen people’s enthusiasm for posting, please don’t hesitate to let me know. Also, if others have ideas or suggestions for shaping the style guidelines, please feel free to jump in. I hope that creating a loose range of standards will allow the page to load quickly, allow us to clearly state who we are, and allow us to present a somewhat coherent version of the chaotic jumble the site is.
Any thoughts?
Update: Here are the parameters that should be selected when uploading an image:
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I’m nowhere near the middle. I’m over here, enthusiastically in favor of our adhering to the simple standards you present in this post!
good. I’m all about going all typographic-elements-of-style up in here but I didn’t want to be all huffy about it.
I’m all for everything you’ve laid out here, Deron.
Oh, and I really am going to write a Clusterflock Handbook one of these days. People need to know what is required (such as knowing every line from The Big Lebowski) and what is merely preferred (knowing every line from Bottle Rocket). And people really need to know that there is no goddamned apostrophe in M&Ms.
I am pro all of this except for using my full name on everything. Being—as you are, of course, Deron—highly Googleable, I prefer to be selective about where I use both first and last. It’s part of an undoubtedly futile attempt to manage my online presence, but I make it anyway. I don’t think it confuses anybody when I post as simply “India.”
Other thoughts:
Using “more” for longer posts is a very good idea. Our feed, however, does not in any way indicate that a post is continued on the site. There’s probably some WP plugin that fixes that, but I don’t know of one off the top of my head. Alternatively, it would be great if our feed could just show the full post, regardless of whethere it uses “more.” As an RSS junkie, I know I’d appreciate that.
I hate targeted links, i.e., those that by default open in a new window; we use them on Nextbook.org, and I think it’s a big mistake. I’ll decide where I want pages to open, thanks.
Re attribution, unless I’m trying to keep people in suspense, I prefer to use meaningful link text over a simple “link” or “via.” Using those generic terms does little to help the Googleability of the sites we’re linking to—something that presumably we want to increase, when we’re recommending sites we like. Link text also affects accessability—Flying Spaghetti Monster help anybody browsing the CF home page with a screen reader. All they’ll hear is “Link . . . Link . . . Via . . . Link . . . Link . . .” I don’t know that we need a standard, but it’s something to keep in mind.
Your suggested image insertion settings raise the question of whether we should link images to outside pages. This depends on the nature of the post, obvy, but I think it’s often helpful to link the image to something, such as whatever the post is advising the reader to go look at. On my own bloggen, I nearly always link a header image—e.g., to its Flickr page, if I’m using a CC-licensed image by somebody who’s not me, or to the site I’m posting about, if I nicked it from there.
great thoughts, India. my image guidelines were for images without external links, the default on wp is to have the image link to itself, which I find tiresome. if the image needs to link to something externally, then by all means make the image a link to an external. absolutely.
name-wise, I understand your hesitation. I think you and Renner and maybe Sean deviate from the standard. I would prefer that we all use our full names, as it shows people coming from outside who we are. I won’t force it though if you feel strongly against it. I do draw the line at pseudonyms, however!
I think every ‘flocker — including India — should be named Michael; no last names.
Or Dude.
I’m all for standards and apologize for operating without any for the last few days (my entire life).
As always, if you’re unhappy with something I’ve done, feel free to release the attack squirrels…or tell me to fix it.
Michael, the attack squirrels are already released. And my apologies to everyone, these comments are not directed at any one individual and certainly were not caused by a particular incident, they are just the result of a series of thoughts that have occurred to me since the site redesign.
Release the squirrels!
Hopefully, I’ll have a tutorial video out soon on how to use wordpress here and I will incorporate some of this discussion.
I wonder if I just lost interest.
Tracy, I hope not. I was worried about that before I made the post. Enjoying posting here is more important to me than standards or styles. Consider this a conversation, for what it’s worth.
Tray — cee! Some ‘flockers may value a tutorial.
And Andrew’s video persona is utterly engaging, no matter what he is saying or doing.
And don’t let my occasional outbursts get your goat. I wouldn’t rap your knuckles if I didn’t like you.
Indeed. It was just sort of a “are you going to use a coaster?” moment for me is all.
Thanks for playing along!
I’m cool with the standards and I’ll even use a coaster. It’s Coasterflock!
Oh, and I’d like to be known as Michael Anna Nicole Smith from now on, please.
Here is the video tutorial.
clusterfascist.
(p.s. Michael is sensitive about his sister Anna Nicole. Be nice.)