Subscribe to Comments - Remarks from the Creator
I wrote a post 4 days ago talking about how bloggers should have the Subscribe to Comments plugin unchecked by default. I emailed the maker of the plugin to find out why he put the option in to have it checked by default.
Here is what I said:
“I am writing a post about your subscribe to comments plugin. I was wondering why you make it available to have the box checked by default?
I hope to hear back from you soon and thank you for your time”
Mark Jaquith emailed back saying:
“Some people wanted that option. But I’m probably going to drop it now that there is per-user preference retention. That is, when you submit a comment, it gives you a cookie that remembers whether the box was checked or unchecked… and the next comment form you visit on that site will have the same status.”
That sounds great, I can’t wait until that comes out!
Well 11 minutes after he sent the first email he sent this one:
“There we go. All done:
That was awesome. I love it when people actually take the time to reply and take what you said seriously instead of just giving you lip service.
A Blog Scrutinized - Slyvisions
I’ll be honest with all of you readers right up front, I’m writing this review mostly because of its “Get a Free Backlink” page which I think is a great policy to have. Slyvisions is a place for online tips. The about page explains that Sly Blanco (the author) is just a student and that blogging is something “ANYBODY can and should do.” Although I agree with that statement I am legally bound to saying that it is silly (not really I just though it was an interesting thing to say).
One thing I want to say before I get on with the usual “things I like and things I don’t” segment of the review, Sly is trying to raise money for a MacBook Pro, you can see on his about page though that he has only had $5 donated towards it, that is just plain sad. I would tell you to go donate but wouldn’t you rather buy something on amazon.com
Things I like:
- Good looking and simple theme (sounds stupid but first impressions count, he even says so)
- Great about page and contact page (I’m digging deep)
- The “10 Things To Do When You Have Nothing Else To Blog About” post
Onto dislikes:
- GET RID OFF ALL THE ADS! there are waaaaaayyy too many on each page, it is extremely annoying.
- Why would you ever make a “Webmaster tools” page? especially when the blog is about online tips. This may warrant a post but it shouldn’t get its own page!
- Why would you ever make a “Make money” page” especially when the blog is about online tips. This may warrant a post but it shouldn’t get its own page! (is it just me or did he make the same mistake twice)
- There are TWO count them TWO “add this blog to my technorati favorites” button
So that is about it, I think the content on the blog is actually pretty good but the blog does have room for improvement.
Two Themes I like and One I Don’t
I wrote a post last week called Two themes I hate and one I love. I decided to do another post like that this week except this time I’ll have two themes I like and only one that I don’t.
First Theme I Like - Ambient Glo [live demos - fixed width, fluid width]
The theme has a great color scheme of blue green and black. As many of you know I love 3-column themes and this one is no exception. The theme also includes a readme with detailed instructions to change the default logo. It comes in two versions, a fixed and fluid width.
Second Theme I Like - Blujet [live demo]
This theme does not have 3-columns but makes up for it by having a great color scheme and simple/clean look. The main column that includes your posts is very wide showing that it is very focused on the content and not on anything else. It is also “light and breezy” which can never be bad.
Third Theme (the one I don’t like) - CityPark [live demo]
To start out with let’s look at the weird color scheme of purple and blue, those colors only go together on Easter. Although it is a 3-column theme the search box looks terrible! (I know those aren’t related but I just think the search box is ugly.
Ok so maybe if you are doing a blog about parenting targeted at Moms this could be a good theme but I don’t think that it is worth many peoples time.
Subscribe to Comments - UNCHECK BY DEFAULT
One of the most popular plugins for WordPress is subscribe to comments and for good reason it is a great plugin. For those of you who have been living under a rock (why do people use that saying? no one lives under a rock) Subscribe to comments allows you to add a checkbox to your comments form so that people can get notified via email when a new comment has been made. There are a couple of problems with the plugin however.
For one thing if you are a larger site then you may become blacklisted as a spammer if tons of people check the box and a ton of emails go out simultaneously to all of them at once. That is obviously not good. The other reason I don’t like this plugin is all of those freaking annoying sites that seem to think leaving the box checked by default is a good idea. WELL IT ISN’T A GOOD IDEA! Don’t do that, I just got an email last night from a blog who does this very thing. I didn’t want to be notified by email of follow up comments and my biggest annoyance is that the post was from 2 months ago!
Please all of you bloggers leave the box unchecked by default otherwise I hope no one comments on your stupid blog.
Posting Schedule
Here I’m going to talk about my blogging schedule and this is something I plan on sticking to. One of the things I think that all bloggers should do when starting a blog is actually have a schedule (especially if their blog isn’t news related). However I find myself getting posts in my RSS feed completely randomly throughout the day, everybody please just sit down with a piece of paper and a pen and just come up with a schedule!
I also feel that it should be well known by all of the readers when it is that the blog is updated. I am very happy to say that on my other blog I update 4 times a day on weekdays and 2 times a day on weekends and almost always the updates are at the same time. So here is my plan for this blog, at least for the next few weeks or so until I get my blogging work flow down to a science.
No posts on weekends (this post is obviously an exception).
1 Post a day on week days with the post showing up at 12pm eastern time.
I hope this will help my readers, at least with a better understanding of when I post you won’t end up visiting the site 4 times a day wondering when the next post will show up, so I’ll pretty much be like no other blog out there. This will definitely help me with my writing. By setting a deadline I will force myself to get it done.