Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Top page posts

This question is only for true blogaholics. This is not for the faint of heart. If you're only a casual blogger, then move on, because this is not for you.

So, I'm up late tonight, as usual, on call. And, I'm out in blog land seeing what's going on. One of my favorite things to do when I find a new blog is to read the very first few posts. Even though the topics are usually the same ("My first post," "Insomnia," "Will anyone read this," etc), I always enjoy reading them.

On my blog, all 103 posts are on one page only. So, it's easy to scroll down to post number one. BTW, in reviewing my own early posts, I totally forgot about this one. Some blogs have all posts on the top page. Others, only have a few. Still others only have one post on the top page. Hmmm. I found this really interesting.

So, blogaholics, here's my curious question: How did you figure out how many posts to place on the front page of your blog?

For me, I just wanted to put everything on one page. But, some people may find that annoying, saying, "Who's going to scroll through 103 posts? Just put the five most recent up there on the top page. Sheesh!"

While you're discussing that, I'll head to the kitchen to get some refreshments for everybody. I think I have some cider and seaweed in the back. Any takers? HA!

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

when i was in blogger, i have no idea what to play with to do that sort of thing, you know, like how many posts should appear on the first page or what. to say that i don't know anything about computers, is an understatement, so i just posted and published, that's all i knew.

now that somebody is managing my site, i still post and publish, that's all i do, and that's all i know, still. he decided that two posts are good, so i agree. he knows what he is doing way much better than i do.

i don't even know if my answer fed your curiosity dr. A, but i want some cider. thanks. also, it doesn't bother me how many posts are on the first page, because if i get tired reading, then it is totally up to me to stop, right?

Kirsten said...

At first I had 5, but as I began posting more frequently, I changed it to 10. It's about a week's worth or so. I don't want more than that on mine, because personally I don't like to scroll forever to read someone's blog. If I like what I see, I'll explore more. I only read from the bottom of your page (scanned, actually) because you just mentioned it. I wrote a few things down to refer to when I have more time.

Anonymous said...

I'll admit that I left the default setting on my blog . . .maybe I should change it. You are a bad influence, Dr. A! I do like the monthly archives though. Also, I posted the appropriate links at the top of my sidebar (the ones that give enough history for those who are interested to get on the same page as me!)

Dream Mom said...

I leave just a few on the front page of my blog. I tend to think it's like talking to someone or when you first meet someone. You don't tell them your entire history up front, you chat back and forth. I think if you put everything up front, it's a bit like TMI.

I always think that if people are interested, then they will go back and check out some of my other stuff. I try to put my best writing or the posts that I deem most important on a side bar so that if they choose to check some other posts out, they'll check out the best ones.

BTW, I made some homemade granola bars to go with the cider. It's an awesome recipe that I got from Alton Brown on the Food Network. They are still warm. I hope you like them.

Anonymous said...

I think there is alot of posts on my front page. I don't know why, they're just there.

I don't care how few or how many someone has on their front page, but, i usually read more than the first post. If there is only one there then most likely that is all I'll read.

When I first started, my blog was full of nothing but arthritis posts, and information and links to more information. I had no traffic! Noone wants to read about arthritis unless they also have it. I had to start putting other topics out and change the name of my blog just to get some visitors. I felt like I was talking to myself all day. I still don't know how some of the theme blogs get so many visitors but they sure do.

Sorry Dr. A. but you may have my share of seaweed!

Jenny said...

Ha! I'll try a round! LOL ;) I have yet to figure out how many posts I should put on my front page so I will read the comments you gather here in hopes of figuring out what I'm supposed to be doing! LOL :)

rdl said...

I don't have a clue. Blogger just does it that way and I dunno how to change it. I'll have some cheese and crackers and wine or milk and cookies, thanks. Just looked on yr. front page and noticed that all yr. links, etc are way down the bottom tho. I guess you can't have it both ways?? all these posts on page 1 and yr. links up top. Almost missed my 2 fav. docs way down at the bottom. I do like how some people have things catagorized (but that might be too much work) or just listed by name. anyway thanks for the link, i'm doing the same.

The Tundra PA said...

??? We can choose how many posts to put on the front page? Really? Wow, Dr. A! You never cease to amaze me. Next thing I know you'll be telling me I can alphabetize my blogroll without laboriously copying and moving each listing "by hand". I think an alphabetized blogroll is just the cat's pajamas, and I'm in total blogenvy of those who have one (true blogaholic speaking here). But trying to do it on my own is waaaay to painful a thought!

And yeah, I'll have some seaweed; does it come with sushi inside? I brought some moose stew if anybody'd like to try some.

Mo and The Purries said...

I currently leave a week's worth up on my site's front page (however many I post in a week, that's what's there) I recently was looking into the fine print of site meter and it looks like that if you make people go back to previous pages, you get credit for their visit.
If I understand this -- if someone comes to your site & only spends time on your first page (no matter how many posts) you only get sitemeter visit length credit if they click onto a previous page. It's all too crazy for me. I just blog and sitemeter is a little extra thing on the side.
like parsley with f-ing seaweed platter.

Anonymous said...

You don't always read the first few posts, do you? *blink!* 0.o

As far as my front page is concerned, I've cut the posts down to 5 for the sake of loading time. I like to use a lot of graphics, and they slow things down for people with slow internet connections. 5 posts often brings my front page down around the level of my sidebars ... at which point there are links for navigating to earlier posts.

So, everything is accessible, without slowing things down too much.

Seaweed? Cider, maybe ... but seaweed??? *cough* Is my Jim Beam still back there? I'll bring along some Moxie ... that's my latest mixer of choice ... >;o)

Anonymous said...

Dr. Anon.,
I look at it this way: we live in an impatient (hahaha...impatient vs. in-patient, get it?) attention-deficit age (or is it attention surplus?). That's why I only show four posts. Maybe I / we should show only one. Or part of on

Word Verification = payua = Tony Soprano's password

Anonymous said...

Morgen,
you are right about sitemeter. If they come and don't leave your front page, you get (1) hit and (0) minutes from their visit. No matter how many posts they read. They have to click something for site meter to know what they are doing and how long they are doing it. That sounded obscene but you know what I meant.

HP said...

The thing with all the posts on one page, Dr. A., is that it takes me a little more effort to get my daily fix of House, because he's all the way down there!

The Curmudgeon said...

Hello, my name is The Curmudgeon and I'm a blogaholic.

I'll take a glass of cider, thanks, but until you make the seaweed taste like chocolate donuts, I'll pass.

My blog has 20 days worth of posts on the front page. Or so the template says; I've not counted them. (And the scary part is that if you choose "days" instead of a number for the length of your front page, Blogger 'strictly enforces' a limit of 999 posts. 999!

(Hope you don't mind a lawyer visiting a doctor's blog....)

Anonymous said...

Dang...I have 142 posts on my front page right now...How do I fix that?

HVS said...

10, apperently, I don't pay that much attention to it. (I'm not a site designer though, and it obviously leaves much to be desired)
Something to think about, maybe I should knock it down to five..
I love cider, and I like(d) seaweed(the one time I ever ate it)
so yeah, I'll take some of both,thanks.

Janet said...

I had to go back to my blog and check. I just left it at the blogger default of 5. Now I'm wondering about the title of my blog. It says nothing about the content unless you go back to the very first post. Maybe I should change it. I don't get much traffic, anyway.

Please pass the seaweed. got any sushi to go with it?

INAMINI said...

I don't even want to know. I'm assuming if it's just too much people will have the smarts to just turn their eyes away from the screen.;)

Kerri. said...

Hi. I traipsed on over here from the D-Log Cabin. Nice blog you've got here.

I must confess: I am a blogaholic. It's mildly out of control and I am seeking therapy. Only the therapy is an online blogging group. Not effective.

I have the last eleven posts featured on my blog, Six Until Me. The number is eleven because eleven is my favorite number. I wish I had a reason that was more "official" or based on statistics, but that's a no-go. I like the number eleven. Hence, the last eleven posts.

I also do 33 minutes of cardio every day based purely on Larry Bird's number, but that's an entirely different story.

-- Kerri.

Parlancheq said...

I have mine set at 21 days. I used to have it at 30 days, but seemed like all the pics take awhile to load, so I cut it back. I hate when I have a great post (or what I think is a great post, anyway) and it disappears from the front page 'cause then I figure it will never see the light of day again. :)

Dreaming again said...

when I made mine, it gave me the option, one of the choices was 7, 7 days in a week, just made sense to me.

*shrugs*

Bazza said...

I think having them all in a single scroll is fine - if they are short posts. If I discover a post I like I will go to the beginning and read the first few posts; sometimes I get ensnared and read right through the whole blog! (I'm not saying if I did that with yours!)

Dr. A said...

Cathy, I know what you mean about theme blogs. I know my title isn't a theme, but people may have an expectation of something medical. When I started, I posted a lot of medical stuff, and now, I've found myself talking about other stuff (like Pluto). Is that bad? Probably not, just an evolution of things.

Moof, the Jim Beam is running a little low. May have to bring more when you return. I'll keep it in the back for you, along with the Moxie.

Curmudegon, thanks for stopping by. Everyone is welcome here! I may have a little rant every once in a while. Don't take it personal. My therapist says it's good for me. *smile*

Thanks to all for your comments. I had no idea the cider and seaweed would go over so well (with some people). HA!

Anonymous said...

Still not knowing the blogging habits of people, I like the idea of having lots of posts up front, for the reason you stated: I assume people who newly find my blog might be more likely to dig around if there's a lot on the first page. I hope so, anyway. I assume any given post of mine may not be a given reader's cup of tea, and am hopeful they'll stay long enough to see if other posts are worth a look, and indicate a reason to come back. If experienced blog-surfers tend to dig through archives, then I guess it's moot.

ipanema said...

How to control number of posts on frontpage, let me share. From the dashboard...

1. click SETTING
2. lower row, click FORMATTING
3. first thing you can edit is under SHOW. Here, you have an option to display either by number of days or number of posts.
4. Since you want to control # of posts, choose that option.
5. TYPE number of posts you want on frontpage. Go to the other box, choose POSTS not days.
6. Finally and MOST IMPORTANT, scroll down and SAVE settings.

If you have long posts, choose maybe 5 and like what Moof said, for faster uploading of page. At the moment I have 9. I do this to balance my sidebar and the posts. At the moment the posts are longer than sidebar..lol. I have to adjust.

I have a question. How do you post pictures on the sidebar? lol

Unknown said...

I am a relatively new blogger (July 2006), but I decided to respond anyway, because I like to convince myself I'm an overachiever, which would mean that I could call myself a "true blogaholic" even if I don't meet your definition - what is your definition - I'll have to search for that.

Anyway, to answer your question, I left that setting (number of posts to display) at the default setting until my sister told me she was getting carpel tunnel syndrome from scrolling on my page and the only thing that saved her was the fact that my posts cured her insomnia.

Anonymous said...

I really like your blog and the word blogaholic jumped out at me! I've been at this for two years and remember those first days when getting even ONE comment was a thrill. As far as posts per page...I would usually keep up ten at at time but to be honest, I don't really know what I am set at now. In Typepad (Blogger killed my first blog) they have a list of recent posts so I figure if something catches someone's eye they will read it.

I really like your place here, I'll go check out some of your previous posts now.

Anonymous said...

Well, I crashed blogger when I tried to post all my 550 posts on the front page, and then I was accused of having a spam blog, and had to clear that up, so I've settled (after much "Umm"ing and "Ah"ing) to just post 20 at a time.

However, that only gives me about 4 days worth of posts, so I may put something at the bottom to link to the first archive. Assuming I'm clever enough to do that, that it.

Owl.

Muddy said...

I have a lot of graphics on my blog, so for me to let everything load on the front page might be quite the overwhelming load for some. I really never thought much about it. I think 5 or 10 of the most recent are my front page posts, while everything else gets hidden in the archives. I set it that way when I started blogging and never really thought much to do it differently.