Sunday, September 14, 2008

How to Read Blogs

I used to have everything in bookmarks, because I like to read by weaver/author and follow the thread. Particularly with weaving blogs, often the posts are not isolated thoughts but in sequence. This is why I am always tempted to go all the way back to the first post and read months and years of thoughts in one go to get to know a weaver. (And, boy, what a read!) But I felt guilty I'm not keeping up with the latest, though I look at your pics when you visited me.

I've noticed many of you are now using Google Reader or similar, so I've given that a go since Thursday, but I already don't like it. First off, I think we pay a lot of attention to the look of our blogs, and it says a lot about each weaver's/author's aesthetics/temperament. (OK, today I seem not to be able to pick the right word.) But with Reader, look:

It's generic. And then the number of "unread" posts grow and grow and I feel terribly rushed and I start get the blogs/weavers mixed up. I know all I need to do is click on the blog name to go into the individual blog, but I feel like whichever ones I don't click, I'm neglecting and being unkind. What's worse, I made iGoogle "my home page" (start page) because I thought it might make me more efficient, so it's right in the middle of the screen! (Well, OK, I put it there.)

So I'm thinking, should I go back to my old way? Does it matter? I understand how Google Reader has its place; it's good for sites like TED and Fiber Art Calls for Entry, (neither of which I spend serious time on, but it's nice to know I can if/when I want to.)

Oh, Lachezar's Auckland Daily Photo is finally fixed. (Or he switched hosts.) Enjoy!

©2008 Lachezar Karadjov and Auckland Daily Photo
Posted with permission

5 comments:

  1. I use bloglines, and I have noticed that bloglines beta actually does a pretty good job of preserving the blog's layout.

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  2. I use Newsgator, it lets you do a preview with pictures.

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  3. I wonder if Bloglines is the other one I looked into. I will have to look up Newsgator, though...

    Or I might just leave it and click so I go inside each blog rather than just reading the posts.

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  4. I used to read the blogs individually as did you and, like you, prefer that way. And if i read just a few blogs, that would be fine. But there were just too many blogs and I didn't want to give any of them up. So I tried Bloglines. I still prefer reading the "real" post. However, there is a lot of stuff I subscribe to that I don't need or want to read the "real" posts; in fact reading many of these posts is just scrolling quickly through until I find something I want to read. So, Bloglines is extraordinarily efficient. It is easy to get to the real blog. And, if someone happens to post a bunch of posts in one day (now, who could that be?....?), all I do is click on the blog title to bring up the whole blog.

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  5. Yeah, you got a point there, Peg. I'm just frustrated I can't read quickly or too much because then I find I dilute the understanding and remember nothing.

    And, big Ha Ha Ha; I didn't set out that way but got a bit done in the afternoon and it was sooo frustrating/funny I thought I would burst if I didn't write about it.

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