January 3, 2011

After the jump . . .

I don't know about you but I visit lots of blogs. One of the things that makes me crazy is stories that finish "after the jump" (or "the fold"). In other words, the stories where you have to click a link to read more.

Half the time, this brings you back to the beginning of the story, and you have to find your place all over again. Even when it brings you right to the next paragraph, I don't enjoy the process. Why do it?

I understand if you have a "news page" format with lots of stories, it's probably a good idea to show only a bit of each in order to showcase the lot. But we're mostly bloggers who put a post or two up each day. For us, I don't see the need.

Even when the link takes you to the right spot to continue reading, I sometimes forget to go back to where I was when I'm done reading -- which is aggravating. Then I have to go to history, reload the page and choose Back, to continue again.

We're big kids. We can scroll. So you'll sometimes see long posts here but I will never tuck the ends "after the fold". What do you think? 

PS: I do like the occasional site where after you click the link and read to the end of the story -- you find the next story waiting right below. Amazing. Glenn Greenwald's blog at Salon is like that. I like it but this sort of thing is rare and I doubt you can do it on Blogger.

No comments: