Why You Should Use A Sideblog
October 31st 2007
A sideblog is a mini-blog that sits in your sidebar. The entries are only ever short snippets, and you can post them on anything you like.
They could be personal updates, like Sil does with Twitter, link recommendations like on Abduzeedo, or even blog updates.
They are very common on personal blogs but not so common on others. I'm considering adding one to Pro Blog Design though, and I can think of a few good reasons for a blog to have a sideblog.
Why Use A Sideblog
- More frequent updates. Whilst some blogs update multiple times a day, most don't. Your blog may only update every 2 or 3 days, which means that there are 2 or 3 days where the only new content from you is in comments. A sideblog breaks up these inactive periods.
- More personal. Sideblogs would work for bloggers who love to be themselves, but still work hard to retain their professionalism in their posts. A sideblog is a good way of showing a little more of yourself (e.g. through recommendations), without compromising the quality of your articles.
- Encourage RSS readers to visit. Some of your most loyal readers may never actually visit your blog. A sideblog (Which is separate from your main feed) would give them a reason to check in every now and then, which may lead to them adding comments, or even ad clicks.
- Posting quick updates. You can probably think of a time when you had a thought/update you'd like to share, but it wasn't substantial enough for a full post (e.g. "A guest post of mine just went up on xyz"). Sideblogs give you a place for those thoughts.
- Spreading the love. Can you empathize with this situation? have many blogging friends now, all of whom write great articles. They rarely relate to my topic though, so I can't link to them from my blog. With a sideblog I could be a little less stick about where I link to, spreading the love.
Why Not To Use a Sideblog
On the flip side of course, there are reasons not to use a sideblog.
- Take up a lot of space. Even though the update are short, they still take a fair amount of room. You'll need a good reason to justify the added clutter.
- Easy to go over the top. It is one thing to start out only posting snippets about your blog, and the odd recommendation. It is a different thing altogether for that to develop into a stereotypical Twitter feed on your professional blog.
- One-way interaction. Unless you use a social service like Twitter or Pownce, there is no way for your readers to reply back to you (Short of sending you an email). This may suit you better in some cases, but it does run counter to the community nature of blogging.
There has been a lot of talk lately about social media profiles, and about tumblelogs. Are sideblogs a good alternative to these?
And for the regular Pro Blog Design readers, should I add a sideblog to Pro Blog Design? I'm leaning towards it now because I want to share more links, and to largely replace the "Weekly Wrapup" sections with shorter, more timely, update snippets.
The downside is that I would most likely remove the Top Commenters widget, to stay uncluttered. Perhaps just linking to a separate tumblelog would be better then?
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Twitter
October 31st at 2:37 pm GMT
Comment #1
I really think that a sideblog would be really cool, especially when you're sharing some RSS links and other links to other blogs. Pro Blog Design should have it since there isn't really much on the sidebar anyway. There are also nothing related to some updates other than the top commentators.
October 31st at 3:16 pm GMT
Comment #2
Hey Michael! I think that a "sideblog" on this site would be terrific. But for most blogs, I wouldn't find it too appropriate. For technology blogs like this one it's great, it adds value (if done correctly), and helps you network. So you should definately go for it!
I am no big fan of tumblelogs, just keep it in the sidebar.
That's just my 2 cents. Good luck
October 31st at 3:17 pm GMT
Comment #3
I implemented a sideblog (sidenotes) on my own site, and it is really helpful in making people come back. Unfortunately, I must agree that they cannot comment on the content, but at the moment it is not like a lot of people would do that anyway;-)
I try to be selective about what I post in my sidenotes, but it sometimes becomes quite hard when you find lots of nice content on one day...
October 31st at 3:27 pm GMT
Comment #4
I like the idea of sideblogs. I do a similar thing with the link posts on my site, although they flow with the rest of the site (in the feed) so I always feel the need to write an explanation and post an image or video.
I'd be interested to see how you integrate the sideblog without disrupting the rest of the site.
Oh - and I wouldn't miss the top commenters plugin - personally I don't think they add much to any site.
October 31st at 3:37 pm GMT
Comment #5
You know what, Michael? I was thinking of ways to make myself blog more on my charity blog when I picked this article from my feed reader.
Why haven't I thought of using a sideblog to close the gap between "proper, long" posts??
Thanks for the inspiration!
October 31st at 3:44 pm GMT
Comment #6
Ouh, and BTW, the Sideblog plugin that I used to use enables comments and it has an option to be included/excluded from the RSS feed.
The Sideblog plugin can be downloaded here:
http://katesgasis.com/2005/10/24/sideblog/
October 31st at 4:03 pm GMT
Comment #7
You must be telepathic! I was just thinking about sideblogs. I've been considering adding them, but I'm not quite sure yet.
October 31st at 4:26 pm GMT
Comment #8
Thanks for the link Pelf - that's a pretty cool plugin
October 31st at 4:29 pm GMT
Comment #9
But how would you implement it with a different RSS feed ? Another blog inside this one ?
October 31st at 4:33 pm GMT
Comment #10
Whoa! I was just thinking about this earlier today and come here to see that you wrote about it. Freaky.. but it is Halloween, so everything is freaky! Booo!
October 31st at 4:44 pm GMT
Comment #11
Sly - That's true. There are very few changes made to the sidebar. This could be a little more dynamic.
Dominik - I forgot that you had that. You've linked to me from there before. It's definitely the sort of thing I was thinking of.
Ben - I love the linkblog on your site. They're quick little messages with links that I can easily jump to. I also like how it fits in seamlessly with the design. (And thanks for the opinion on the top commenters widget. That's going to be a tough decision. xD )
Pelf - I had a glance at that plugin before, but I didn't realise that it still allowed comments. That's very cool! Thanks for sharing.
(My other alternatives were a Twitter/Pownce account, or manual updates. The first doesn't easily allow links though, and manual updates would mean I don't get archives. I like your way!)
Matt - lol - Great minds.
Francis - That was one option, but Pelf's plugin actually comes with an "Exclude from RSS" option.
Robert - lol - Happy Halloween.
(Do people actually say that? You know what I mean! xD )
October 31st at 4:47 pm GMT
Comment #12
Alex - Sorry, your comment got caught in Akisment originally.
I don't particularly like Tumblelogs either to be honest. The separation from the blog is only a small thing, but it's still too much. I'd rather have it all in one place. If I want to keep up with the blogger outside of their blog, I'd rather use a social media service (Where I can interact with them and others
)
October 31st at 5:35 pm GMT
Comment #13
I think a sideblog is a great idea. I've seen them on a couple sites and have thought about doing one myself. My site is suppose to be my "Random Thoughts" although I try to stay on topic of web design, web publishing, etc, essentially I've left the blog open for any of my thoughts. A sideblog would be great for my site (I think) as I could stay on topic for all of my main blog articles and anytime I had something "random" come up that I wanted to write a quick blurb about, the sideblog would be perfect for it.
My current design wouldn't allow a sideblog without completely cluttering everything up, but if I get motivated to redesign, I'll definitely make room for a sideblog.
October 31st at 5:38 pm GMT
Comment #14
Sorry, I meant to add that I was unsure of a sideblog when I first started reading this post because I didn't want to create another separate RSS feed, but you make a good point that the sideblog would be a good reason for people to visit the actual site instead of only reading through RSS. I can't take time to write a real in depth blog post but once or twice a week right now, but I could take ten minutes to write a mini sideblog post, so that could be a way to keep the site updated even when you can't update the main blog. Good tips!
October 31st at 6:04 pm GMT
Comment #15
Francis - You can splice different RSS feeds into one using yahoo Pipes. It takes a little experimentation to set it up, but once it works it is great.
October 31st at 7:36 pm GMT
Comment #16
I think it is a good idea to have a SideBlog here.
It would be a great way for you to share all the great posts you find.
I had a sideblog once, and I liked it - but it didn't fit my blog.
You should to it!
October 31st at 9:39 pm GMT
Comment #17
Go for it! I'm a fan of tumblelog/miniblog/sideblog
It help me to know the blogger better,faster
If you decide to put sideblog on the same WordPress install, consider this plugin
http://wordpress.org/extend/pl.....-excluder/
October 31st at 11:05 pm GMT
Comment #18
One minor problem would be that it kills your post/comment ratio, skewing it to make it look like you have a less active site. The side posts/asides may still get some comments but it will definitely be minimal.
You could always do something with Twitter.
October 31st at 11:46 pm GMT
Comment #19
Connor - maybe I'm missing something here, but why would that even matter?
I don't see what this ratio would have to do with anything, especially if the posts aren't in the main feed. It doesn't really matter if posts don't have comments does it? As soon as someone checks out the main posts they will see stacks of comments anyway, removing any concerns.
Personally I read sites for the content, not the interaction that follows (although I agree that it can sometimes be just as interesting as the original post).
November 1st at 12:25 am GMT
Comment #20
It's more or less a vanity metric, Ben. My comments to post ratio as it were is up around 6 (1400ish and 235ish) which by most standards would be high. You can go ahead and list it as a point of interest on an advertising page, but like you said, it pretty much doesn't matter.
On another note, I would actually include the asides/side blog/link blog posts in the main feed, as well as offering separate feeds for both.
November 1st at 12:46 am GMT
Comment #21
Deron - Sounds like it would work for you as well. Your blog would certainly lose that "Random" aspect then.
Brian - Thanks for the confidence. I think I'll go for it.
Nice - Cool. Seems it would be a popular move.
Connor - I hadn't thought of that. The ratio here works out at 21, but I'm the only person who ever knows that. I've seen that metric hightlighted before on advertising pages now that you bring it up, but I don't sell ads here (And don't intend on it either).
Including it in the main feed is an interesting one. Personally, it would actually put me off the feed. Overposting is the biggest cause of me unsubscribing from a feed, and I'm sure that at least some of the other readers here would be the same.
You've convinced me that a sideblog feed would be worth offering though, incase anyone was that interested.
November 1st at 1:29 am GMT
Comment #22
Connor - that's fair enough then. Personally I wouldn't let vanity put me off doing something like this.
If I was giving commenting metrics for an advertising page then I would just ignore all the sideblog posts. You can always gloss over these things to improve statistics by using clever wording
November 1st at 1:40 am GMT
Comment #23
Well, there is no need for a plugin, just a little WP loop with its own cat placed in the sidebar = comments, feeds and archives will work with it.
November 1st at 3:28 am GMT
Comment #24
Judging from the comments received, I think you should just place the sideblog immediately, Michael
If we don't like it, we'll tell you
November 1st at 4:13 am GMT
Comment #25
I had a sideblog implemented at one time. However, I barely ever used it, and it made my site look like it was never updated.
If you see a sideblog, you kinda expect it to be updated a couple of times a day. Plus, it's probably not very time efficient.
November 1st at 12:46 pm GMT
Comment #26
I guess I am a bit late, but here goes:
Sideblog really sucks for loyal readers(myself included) coz, we cannot read it in feed. Also, the reading area would be cramped - unless its a widebar which accomodates the entire width of your 2 sidebars, in which it would look awkward to see sidebar and post area having long text blocks.
Also, missing the topcommentators is a bit mushy.
Overall, I dont think it would be that noticeable an addition - so I really hope you wont add one, michael-after all, its not your personal blog.
November 1st at 2:22 pm GMT
Comment #27
Hi Michael, thanks for the mention! I totally agree with all your points on why sideblogs can be a great addition to personal blogs, particularly the point on quick updates. There's no such thing as a quick update on an ink blog! I wanted an option where I could REALLY QUICKLY just type some thought and go, anywhere, anytime.
I chose Twitter over Kates' Sideblog plugin in the end because Twitter is much faster to update on the go than having to use Blog by Email.
However, having a sideblog on a professional blog? It can work but I think some restraint will be necessary with the 'personal touch'. You wouldn't want to be caught blathering on in a professional blog e.g. like me whining recently about my late LE1700 delivery LOL. A personal touch is good, but too much could damage reader perception.
November 1st at 2:50 pm GMT
Comment #28
I suggest just using a category and a customized loop.
November 1st at 6:35 pm GMT
Comment #29
Ben - lol - I was thinking the same thing. It's not the most important metric any ways.
Milo - I'd still need a plugin to exclude the category from the main feed (Nice from Thailand's plugin would do it I suppose).
Pablopabla - Sure seems that way, eh? I'll do it over the next few days (The only hold up now are the niggly little details, eg. I want to know exactly what I want to do with it, whether or not I want comments, would Twitter would be a good option etc.)
Armen - Hmm... I'm not sure if I would update it that often. Once or twice a day I'd hope, but that would be the very most. Do you think that's too infrequent?
Sumesh - Never too late! You make some really good points there.
"Sideblog really sucks for loyal readers(myself included) coz, we cannot read it in feed" - What if I offered a separate sidebar feed so that you could get it as well?
"the reading area would be cramped" - I've been thinking about that as well. I think the best shot is to really let the titles do the talking. Very, very short messages just.
"Also, missing the topcommentators is a bit mushy." - lol, there's a good reason for it as well! The people mentioned there are extremely active (20-30 comments per month!) and I love talking to them. It's great to give them that recognition.
"after all, its not your personal blog." - That's true. But what if the only updates were about PBD itself (Never about me personally) and design-related links (Not just any links!)? Would you approve more of it then?
Silver - Thanks for sharing. You're right about needing restraint. That's one of the things that's pushing me away from Twitter. If the sidebar is that easy to update, I probably would go off-topic unintentionally...
Redwall - That would work as well. The plugin does little more than that, but I do want to keep the mini-posts out of the main feed, so a plugin would still be needed.
November 1st at 7:53 pm GMT
Comment #30
Maybe your right, a plugin would probably be better. I don't want the sideblog stuff in the main feed. I also agree that the sideblog should be "about PBD itself (Never about me personally) and design-related links (Not just any links!)"
November 1st at 8:00 pm GMT
Comment #31
Place this code anywhere in your theme functions.php.
function myFilter ( $ query ) {
if ( $ query -> is _ feed ) {
$ query -> set ( ' cat ' , ' -5 ' ) ;
}
return $ query;
}
add _ filter ( ' pre _ get _ posts ' , ' myFilter ' ) ;
The code example above is for excluding category no 5 from your feed.
To exclude category from main page change is _ feed to is_home. Or if you want to exlude for both feed and main page, change if ( $ query - > is _ feed ) { to if ( $ query -> is _ feed || $ query -> is _ home ) {
November 1st at 8:03 pm GMT
Comment #32
No need for a plugin, sent you the code via mail...
November 1st at 8:54 pm GMT
Comment #33
Redwall - It's definitely not going in the feed, glad you agree on that.
Milo - Thanks for that. If I set this up using WordPress, I think I'll go with your code.
November 1st at 9:45 pm GMT
Comment #34
It's an interesting idea Michael and might be better for my needs than a second blog I was thinking of setting up so I could just post little posts. As for not being able to comment well, your using WP and from what I've seen from playing around with themes on it there really is nothing you can't do.
November 1st at 11:56 pm GMT
Comment #35
I'm not using a sideblog and I don't intend to due to space constraints.
There's enough things going on around the sides and I wouldn't want any more distractions.
November 2nd at 8:31 am GMT
Comment #36
Wanna see it in action?
November 2nd at 12:11 pm GMT
Comment #37
While I appreciate the work of plugin developers, there is sometimes no need for a plugin like in this case.
WordPress can handle a sideblog easily with a functional functions.php (sic!).
November 2nd at 1:51 pm GMT
Comment #38
You may find this post useful:
How Should You Implement Asides?
November 2nd at 3:17 pm GMT
Comment #39
Bob - That's true. WP can manage just about anything.
Goldfries - Fair enough. If there isn't a good reason to do something, there's certainly no reason to clutter the place up!
Mohsin - Haha - Lookin' good! You'll have to let us know how it works out for ya.
Milo - You've definitely proven that, but plugins are easy. They're easy for any user to install, and in many cases, setting up the plugin will take less time than answering all the support questions that a "how-to" would earn from less savvy users.
November 2nd at 4:41 pm GMT
Comment #40
Hey, why didn't my comment appear? It's id was "#comment-2036" by the way. Did Akismet catch it?
November 2nd at 4:51 pm GMT
Comment #41
Redwall - Sorry, it's there now! I think the link is wrong though. xD
November 2nd at 4:54 pm GMT
Comment #42
What the heck? OK. Here's the working link, sorry.
http://www.webmaster-source.co.....nt-asides/
November 2nd at 5:04 pm GMT
Comment #43
That's better. Reading it now.
November 2nd at 7:19 pm GMT
Comment #44
Well, I have my sideblog up now (on Webmaster-Source. It's pretty cool, but the only thing I'm worries about is having a category full of puny little posts (example). Could that hurt my Google rankings? I'll basically have who knows how many posts that are just a couple sentences, but have normal permalinks like /2007/11/02/post-name/
November 2nd at 7:46 pm GMT
Comment #45
Matt - I'm not sure if it would really hurt you (The pages will never rank well for anything, but I doubt they'd cause much damage to the rest of your site), but if you wanted, you could add a code to your theme that would exclude pages in that category from being indexed by the search engines.
If you want the code, just say.
November 2nd at 7:54 pm GMT
Comment #46
Matt:
I actually do not have seperate pages for my side blog. They just appear in the archive and link straight to the resource that I would like them to link to. Also if you consolidate your sideblog posts on one page like coudal.com has done, google is bound to think that it is one juicy post. (The only downside is that they might start believing that you sell links—didn't copyblogger have a problem with that recently?)
November 2nd at 11:48 pm GMT
Comment #47
Michael, how do you exclude them? I know my way around an .htaccess file, but my permalinks don't have the category name in them. I could block the category archive (which I'm not worried about) but I don't see how you can exclude all the sideblog posts.
Dominik Lenk, that's cool. How did you do it?
November 3rd at 10:10 am GMT
Comment #48
Redwall_hp - There is a handy plugin that can exclude any category from your RSS even if you don't have the categoey title in you permalinks.
Advanced Category Excluder by Zsolt Lakatos worked for me for excluding some of my cats
November 3rd at 1:25 pm GMT
Comment #49
redwall_hp: I am working with Expression Engine on my own blog, and since you are probably working with Wordpress... ehm. You would probably have to use another loop, if I remember my Wordpress days correctly.
If you use Bob!'s Advanced Category Excluder you can create two loops one for the main content and one for all the sidenotes, which you then place wherever you want to.
Sorry to not be of more help, but its been a while since I used Wordpress.
November 3rd at 8:25 pm GMT
Comment #50
Just stick this into header.php Redwall (replacing 1 with the id of the sidebar category)
<?php if(is_category('1') || in_category('1')) { ?>
<meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow">
<? } ?>
November 4th at 12:35 am GMT
Comment #51
Brilliant! Why didn't I think of that? Normally I'm a PHP-Freak. I'll have to add that soon.
November 4th at 12:45 am GMT
Comment #52
lol - Sometimes the simple solutions are the ones we just don't think of.
November 4th at 5:47 am GMT
Comment #53
I think it's a good idea, provided you use it conservatively. Some people go crazy with links that are only mildly amusing or interesting - that would turn me off quickly.
In terms of implementations being discussed the separate category excluded from the main feed sounds like the best. I agree that it doesn't need a plugin - sure if you're not comfortable with coding a plugin would be better, but if it's not necessary I'd steer clear. One of the reasons being that you're dependent on that person maintaining the plugin with future versions etc.
I don't understand the aversion to tumblelogs. I think they would be ideal for this sort of thing - you could use the RSS feed from your tumblelog, which other can subscribe to as well, or there's also a script that you can use. It's separate from your main posts, it's really easy to add to (using a bookmark to add something directly from the page you're on - if you're using Tumblr, not sure about others). Sure, you can't have much interaction, but do you really want to for something like this. What kind of comments are you going to get? "Great link", "Thanks for sharing", "LOL, that was great.", "Yay! I've been waiting for this." Sometimes those comments are appreciated, but too many of them is very tiresome and generally pointless.
Or if you really want interaction, use the RSS feed from a site that you already use - SU, Twitter etc. You've already established a presence there, by having a main blog feed, a Sideblog, an SU account, a Twitter account and whatever else you might be spreading yourself or your readers too thin.
If using a category: why do you want to "nofollow"? Are the links good enough to share, but not good enough to give Google cred to?
Also, I thought your own page rank was determined by incoming links. So having a page of outgoing links is not going to affect your rank.
If they think that you're selling links, point out to them that you're not and they'll fix it (a la Copyblogger).
November 4th at 5:47 am GMT
Comment #54
Sorry that comment was so long! Woops
November 4th at 2:57 pm GMT
Comment #55
Kristarella,
Google hates pages with "little original content." Basically the post pages of the sideblog entries have a couple of sentences of content...and the rest is the single.php template. Here's an example. 95% of the sideblog pages are template.
November 4th at 5:34 pm GMT
Comment #56
Hehe. I found a solution. I was able to transition to my new system pretty much seamlessly, and we'll see how it works out.
I outsourced my sideblog to Tumblr.com, and then I pull it's RSS feed over to my blog via the SimplePie RSS parser. It looks just like it did before the switch, and now I don't have to worry about all the puny posts.
For more: http://www.webmaster-source.co.....-sideblog/
November 4th at 11:16 pm GMT
Comment #57
How would they know what part of your page is original content? Do they compare all the pages of your website or something?
November 4th at 11:51 pm GMT
Comment #58
Kristarella - lol - No apologies for good comments! :p
I don't like an off-site Tumblelog because it's too much hassle to check often as a reader.
As for setting one up and importing its feed onto your sidebar (Like Redwall has now done), I don't like the limited control over the formatting, e.g. The post title links back to Tumblr. With WordPress you could have your post titles as the links, or not use titles at all.
As for the nofollow+nofollow, that would only be on the individual post pages for each aside (You'd basically be telling Google to ignore those pages altogether). The actual links in your sidebar wouldn't be nofollow-ed though. They'd still be regular links, and work as such.
Redwall - Good post.
November 5th at 12:08 am GMT
Comment #59
Haha, ok! I didn't apologise for my long comment on the premium theme post.
Good call. I wouldn't really be interested in checking someone's Tumblr unless I was seeking more insight into them or if I was subscribed to it. Technically it's only a click away, like any other page on your blog.
Yes, the headings linking back to Tumblr seems a bit pointless actually, unless there's more of the post that's not shown in the sibeblog. If there wasn't more I'd be tempted to just remove the links from headings if possible.
Oh, good - that sounds like a good idea (re: the no follow stuff).
November 5th at 12:37 am GMT
Comment #60
Yep, it's only a click away, but one click is a lot. And when the only incentive to make the click are a few words to the effect of "My links," not many people will do it.
Still, Tumblr blogs do look very nice, and importing them to your sidebar like you said would be no worse than using Twitter.
November 5th at 12:49 am GMT
Comment #61
True, true.
Heh, I've never really paid attention to Twitter before, but the name seems to give an accurate impression... like I'm so glad to know that Alex King went to pick someone up at the airport?!
November 5th at 4:20 am GMT
Comment #62
Ugh...Twitter. Speak not it's name!
"How would they know what part of your page is original content? Do they compare all the pages of your website or something?" You bet, and along with the rest of the web. Google avoids putting anything in it's index if it seems to be the same as another page.
About the linked headings, I'm not entirely done with my styling yet. I'm still tweaking it slightly.
I, personally, think that it's good to keep the sideblog separate. I just don't think it's entirely a good idea to use Wordpress for the asides. In addition to the search engine thing (which is solvable with the php/meta tag trick), I just don't like the idea of having all those post pages for the sideblog entries. If I could have a separate template and permalink structure (like /sideblog/2007/...) for the sideblog post pages, I'd go right ahead. But otherwise, I just don't want it in there. Also, I probably don't want the sideblog entries mixed-in with normal posts in the archives either. I just think they're better-off separated (though I'd prefer to just have a plugin so I could just use Wordpress, sans the annoyances of the sideblog posts). Yeah, I'm weird.
November 5th at 10:49 am GMT
Comment #63
Well I've went for it but plan to do it slightly differently because it's more of a challenge
I've installed a new WP install and blocked the bots (so hopefully that should solve some google issues), now I just need to code something so the last few posts show on my main blog (just, haha), which I think I'll have under my first post only on the home page and maybe some where on the posts page too. I'll let you know once it's fully functional
Thanks gain for the idea
November 5th at 11:15 am GMT
Comment #64
Look forward to seeing what you come up with Bob!
November 5th at 1:20 pm GMT
Comment #65
Well that wasn't to bad. I know have my last 5 tumbles showing under my latest post on my home page
Of course I only have two at the moment and one of them is Home World, but it the thought that counts
November 5th at 2:19 pm GMT
Comment #66
Kristarella - lol - I've never used it much either (For the same obvious reasons... xD )
Redwall - That would be possible (Use category slugs to change the URLs for that category, and category-specific templates for posts in that cat).
Bob! - That was an interesting place to put it. Looks good.
November 5th at 5:28 pm GMT
Comment #67
I changed my asides again. *rolls eyes* I couldn't deal with the lag-time between posting to Tumblr and SimplePie's cache expiring.
I'm using Wordpress again, but with some changes.
We're dealing with a new form of blogging, so I guess it makes sense to do all this experimenting.
I'm using the "Sideblog Wordpress Plugin" but I've made some changes.
1. I'm using if(!in_category()) to customize the single.php template for the Asides category.
2. I'm using a filter in functions.php to remove the asides from archives pages. It's working well for me now. Go ahead and look around on WSC if yo want to see what I've done.
Bob! - Nice work. Much better than Matt Mullenweg's asides (which are totally out-of-hand).
November 5th at 6:34 pm GMT
Comment #68
Redwall - Cool. Looks like the sort of WP-implementation we've been talking about. Good to see.
November 5th at 11:28 pm GMT
Comment #69
redwall_hp - I do like how it comes out using that method. Bit nicer than the Tumblr way actually (the link headings were not so easy to look at).
November 6th at 2:11 pm GMT
Comment #70
Glad you like it (and I'm glad I finally like it
).
So, Michael, have you decided yet whether you're going to add a sideblog? And how you'd implement it?
November 6th at 7:23 pm GMT
Comment #71
Redwall - lol - Sort of!
I know that I'm going to add one, and I'm pretty certain that I'll be using WordPress. The problem is just finding the time to do it (And add in the updates. Quite a few good things have happened this week, which I'd like to mention! xD )
November 7th at 3:58 pm GMT
Comment #72
I think I know where you're going to put it.
The rightmost sidebar, below the most popular posts...right?
November 8th at 8:47 pm GMT
Comment #73
lol - Yep, that's why the Top Commenters is gone. It's almost ready. Just want to sort out commenting and RSS still.
November 9th at 4:04 am GMT
Comment #74
Nice, it looks good. How did you link the titles like that? What plugin are you using (or is it just a manual-made Loop?)?
December 1st at 12:06 am GMT
Comment #75
I know I'm late to this discussion, but I use two different sideblogs (Sideblog and Miniposts). Both server their purposes very well, and are highly configurable. Although miniposts hasn't been updated to work with WP2.3.1, I'm using it on that platform with no issues whatsoever. Between Sideblog and miniposts, it's given me a little place for updates and corrections, and mini news posts. And they can be added to or excluded from feeds. It beats things like Twitter IMNSHO.
January 19th at 7:25 am GMT
Comment #76
Interesting idea. In some ways this mirrors a newspaper better and it creates different levels for communication and engagement. Very cool.