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A Very Skelliewag September
2007-10-02 10:25:00 Another exciting month for Skelliewag.org has drawn to a close. It’s been great to see a number of new faces around the place and it’s a pleasure to welcome almost three-hundred new RSS subscribers into the community. On a personal note, this month has taught me something I wish I had learned seven years ago: beginning ... More About: General , September , Kell
A Lesson I?ve Learned About Common Knowledge and Advice Writing
2007-09-29 02:00:00 Some of the most successful and appreciated blog posts I’ve written elsewhere have been complete surprises to me. As I wrote them, I worried that they’d be criticized as being too basic, and as merely restating common knowledge. One thing I’ve learned is that what is common knowledge for us may be a revelation to others, ... More About: Advice , Writing , Knowledge , Common , Lesson
Criticism: A Rite of Passage on the Web?
2007-09-28 03:48:00 Photography: Fort Under Fire by sonnysaguil If you want to gain some level of popularity and visibility for your site, one inevitable side-effect of that popularity will be nasty, mindless criticism. In fact, I would suggest that the only thing that might save you from criticism is obscurity — and that is, of course, a big price ... More About: Blogging , Criticism , Critic
The Blog Usability Checklist
2007-09-26 05:57:00 Photography: Hedge Maze by Ingorrr In light of the positive feedback received for A Beginner’s Guide to Making Your Site More Usable, I’ve composed a 19 point checklist that should be useful to any blogger looking for a practical way to evaluate (and improve) the usability of their blog. Many of the principles here will apply ... More About: Blog , Usability , Simplicity , Sabi
What Aristotle Has to Say About Stats and Subscribers
2007-09-25 02:22:00 Aristotle contemplating the Bust of Homer, by Rembrandt The Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle (384 BC — 322 BC) believed that happiness did not lie in honor. Why? Because only others can give it, and only others can take it away. I think this philosophy can readily apply to bloggers and webmasters. We tend to gauge our success by ... More About: Blogging , Aristotle , Stats , Subs , Scribe
The ?Simple Web?, Part 5: Talking
2007-09-22 04:18:00 Photography: Azzuro by fabbio This post is part of the Simple Web series. It?s best enjoyed in light of Part I (an introduction), Part II (how to grip readers), Part III (how to resonate with them), and Part IV (encouraging them to interact), but will make sense in its own right. In this post I’ll be examining ... More About: Simplicity , Talking
The ?Simple Web?, Part 4: Interacting
2007-09-21 03:01:00 Photography: Interact ing with the art 3192 by vertigonoir This post is part of the Simple Web series. It’s best enjoyed in light of Part I (an introduction), Part II (how to grip readers), and Part III (how to resonate with them), but will make sense in its own right. In this post we’ll be looking at ways ... More About: Simplicity
The ?Simple Web?, Part 3: Resonating
2007-09-20 04:49:00 Photography: Nooooooo by fabbio This is the second post in a series on the ?Simple Web? philosophy I subscribe to. It?s a philosophy of completing only the actions that grow your site and cutting out those that don?t. You?ll get the most out of this post by reading the introduction to the series, followed by its ... More About: Simplicity , Part , Part 3 , Sona
The ?Simple Web?, Part 2: Gripping
2007-09-19 06:47:00 Photography: Grab hold! by jpockele This is the second post in a series on the ‘Simple Web’ philosophy I subscribe to. It’s a philosophy of completing only the actions that grow your site and cutting out those that don’t. You’ll get the most out of this post by reading the introduction to the series. If your site ... More About: Simplicity , Part
The Art of De-contextualization
2007-09-19 03:10:00 I’m sure I’ve mangled that word, but as far as I’m concerned, the word was probably mangled in the first place. I wanted to update a previous post on rethinking link round-ups by pointing you to an interesting strategy by Michael Martine. He’s used the ‘Quotes’ format (where you take a quote from the piece and ... More About: Innovation , The Art
A ?Simple Web? Philosophy For Getting What You Want
2007-09-17 17:04:00 Photography: Sunrise by d’n'c Most hard questions have simple answers. The hard part is in the doing. The question: how can I lose weight? can be answered truthfully in one sentence: eat three modest, healthy meals each day (and no more), and make exercising a habit. But that isn’t good enough. It’s the how that gets us. It’s ... More About: Philosophy , Simplicity , Simple
3 Little Ideas: StumbleUpon, Notebooks and Swapping Stuff
2007-09-17 03:11:00 If you’re not in the market for a new project, you can skip this one. If you are, consider these three ideas. Not sure if they’ll be useful to you, but I had to get them out. 1. Start up a blog or website dedicated to StumbleUpon. It could include profiles of great stumblers, tips, hacks ... More About: Ideas , Innovation , Stuff , Notebooks , Stumbleupon
Weekly Swipe file
2007-09-16 02:36:00 Photography: Filing cabinet by alexstaubo This week’s Swipe file contains 8 links. Learn how to achieve blogging Zen, write/publish/sell an eBook, protect your online identity, dream up big ideas and then give them away, write a memorable (and different) list-post, boost productivity with an organized desk, read Kottke on tumblelogs and finish your first book. Bonus: are ... More About: File , Weekly
A Beginner?s Guide to Making Your Site More Usable
2007-09-15 03:26:00 Photography: Usability by SantaRosa_OLDSKOOL As of today I’ve completed a total of 34 simplicity reviews. I’ve spent some time discussing design simplicity already, but now I’d like to introduce a new topic: web usability. Design simplicity is about creating a site distilled down to its essential elements. Usability is about creating a site that is easy to ... More About: Site , Beginner , Guide , Simplicity , Makin
8 Ways to Lose Money Online With Pride
2007-09-14 03:55:00 Photography: Tunnel [Cheonggyecheon / Seoul] by d’n'c Regular readers will know that Skelliewag runs no ads or affiliate links. I’ve never made a cent of direct income from this site, but I have lost money as a direct result of it. The money I lose each month is a modest double-digit sum: something I have no ... More About: Money , Innovation , Online , Pride
On Giving Yourself Away
2007-09-13 15:02:00 What’s the best thing you can give your readers? Cory Doctorow published his first novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, in 2003. He also put the complete electronic text of the book online and encouraged readers to copy and share it. The novel has been downloaded 700,000 times. It has also been through six ... More About: Giving
A Guide to Throwing a Great Party (and Holding the Perfect Competition)
2007-09-12 02:36:00 Photography: “Awa” Dance by d’n'c Most bloggers and webmasters don’t get it right when holding a competition. It’s usually because of, not in spite of, their best intentions. The person holding the competition invests time and money in the project and naturally they want to see it become as successful as possible. In order to encourage this, ... More About: Party , Competition , Great , Guide , Holding
The Blogger?s Library: 28 Free eBooks and Excerpts for Bloggers
2007-09-09 23:00:00 Photography: Color coded bookshelf by ranh Looking for some reading material? These eBooks cover topics ranging from content creation, promotion, social media, general blogging, business blogging, making money blogging to web writing/copywriting, SEO and design. The collection totals more than 864 pages and 31 megabytes. Enjoy! Instructions: left-click on the links provided to download or save the eBook from ... More About: Blogger , Library , Ebooks , General , Features
Weekly Swipe file
2007-09-08 23:00:00 Photography: Filing cabinet by alexstaubo This week’s Swipe file contains 10 links. Learn how to review a book by example, leave gifts for your readers, argue with a blog skeptic, master the art of stress-free blogging, contract the IdeaVirus, keep the menu simple, say more in less words, try out 5 new headline formulas and forget about ... More About: File , Weekly
Why Simplicity?
2007-09-08 00:52:00 As of this evening I’ve reviewed 21 blogs with a focus on heightening simplicity and reducing clutter. It has been a privilege to interact with a wide variety of interesting bloggers and to survey the results of the changes. When receiving feedback I was occasionally asked why I had suggested the removal of a certain element. ... More About: Simplicity
How to Overcome the Web 2.0 Time Deficit by Batching Reactive Tasks
2007-09-07 04:25:00 Photography by fabbio I doubt there are any dedicated bloggers, webmasters, or web 2.0 users who feel they have enough time to do everything they want to do online. The recent proliferation of lifehacks and productivity tips reflect this. It’s a reaction to a climate where web users have more tasks and less time than ever before. These ... More About: General , Time , Tasks , Overcome , Web 2.0
Little Words, Big Meaning
2007-09-06 14:31:00 Photography: Small Bee-Eater 01 by Enigmatic-Halcyon There’s a segregation between two types of content across the web. Content with lasting value, enduring use, and lots of meaning, tends to come in big packages. Its opposite — content which is disposable, easily consumed and discarded, entertaining once and not again — is often bite-sized. This binary is founded ... More About: Words , Meaning , Litt
7 Useless Web Traditions That Should Be Broken
2007-09-05 04:16:00 Photography: Broken Hand by Ack Ook #1 — Web 2.0 must come in separate boxes How much time do we waste switching between and checking our StumbleUpon, Digg, Facebook, Twitter, Jaiku, Quechup, Del.icio.us, etc. accounts? The sheer amount of these accounts, the chopping and changing required, ensures that most of us will drop a few of ... More About: Traditions , Useless , Sele
Haywire
2007-09-05 04:16:00 Apologies to everyone who tried to comment in the last 12 hours or so. It appears comments (and several other features of the site) were temporarily broken by the yes-www Wordpress plug-in. Plug-in is now deactivated and all is well in the world.
Haywire
2007-09-05 04:16:00 Apologies to everyone who tried to comment in the last 12 hours or so. It appears comments (and several other features of the site) were temporarily broken by the yes-www Wordpress plug-in. Plug-in is now deactivated and all is well in the world.
7 Useless Web Traditions That Should Be Broken
2007-09-05 04:16:00 Photography: Broken Hand by Ack Ook #1 — Web 2.0 must come in separate boxes How much time do we waste switching between and checking our StumbleUpon, Digg, Facebook, Twitter, Jaiku, Quechup, Del.icio.us, etc. accounts? The sheer amount of these accounts, the chopping and changing required, ensures that most of us will drop a few of ... More About: Traditions , Useless , Sele
Get a Free Clutter-Busting Review of Your Blog or Website
2007-09-04 04:19:00 Photography: Makes you think by timtom.ch I’m a strong believer in the benefits of web simplicity and reducing clutter. One thing I’ve previously enjoyed doing is giving one-on-one feedback to bloggers and webmasters on how they can simplify and declutter their sites, strengthening their core message. It’s also something I don’t get to do often enough. In an ... More About: Website , Review , Free , Blog , Clutter
Get a Free Clutter-Busting Review of Your Blog or Website
2007-09-04 04:19:00 Photography: Makes you think by timtom.ch I’m a strong believer in the benefits of web simplicity and reducing clutter. One thing I’ve previously enjoyed doing is giving one-on-one feedback to bloggers and webmasters on how they can simplify and declutter their sites, strengthening their core message. It’s also something I don’t get to do often enough. In an ... More About: Website , Review , Free , Blog , Clutter
101 Essential Blogging Skills
2007-09-03 16:00:00 Photography: Street Studio NYC by moriza Over the last few weeks I set myself the challenge of boiling an entire hypothetical meta-blog down into one post. I asked myself: if I could only write one more post about blogging, what would it be? This was the result: 101 essential skills for any blogger, gleaned from more than ... More About: Features , Blogging , Skills , Essential
101 Essential Blogging Skills
More articles from this author:2007-09-03 16:00:00 Photography: Street Studio NYC by moriza Over the last few weeks I set myself the challenge of boiling an entire hypothetical meta-blog down into one post. I asked myself: if I could only write one more post about blogging, what would it be? This was the result: 101 essential skills for any blogger, gleaned from more than ... More About: Features , Blogging , Skills , Essential 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 |
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