Long vs. Short

When I was writing the software that powers this blog, I did what every copycat developer does — surveyed the competition, saw what features they supported, and then implemented the ones I could. Many of the blogs I looked at had some kind of extended content feature. The idea is that you can take long, boring posts and hide the long, boring parts behind a "Continue reading…" link. So, OK, if that's what everyone else does, who am I to argue?

I've never used this feature. I've never even thought of using this feature. If I have something to say, I just put it all out there. And while I may be mistaken a lot of the time about the quality of my own work, I figure that if it's good enough to go online at all, then it should be there in it's full glory right on the front page.

Recently, though, I've detected that my preference for the long-form layout on the front page doesn't just suit me as a writer, but as a reader, too. I'm not averse to scrolling, and being able to read a whole post while doing nothing other than hitting the space bar seems right to me, and helps me stay focused. If I don't like the post, I hit the space bar twice and I'm on to the next one. Simple.

Thus I was a little disappointed to see that when science blogger Chris Mooney moved his blog a couple of weeks ago, much of his front-page content got locked behind a "Read on" link. The strange thing is, however, that many of Chris's posts aren't very long, and in this case, the content hidden behind the link is a three-sentence paragraph. What a waste of time for me to have to click that link each time, then hit the back button when I'm done. I'm guessing this is caused by some editorial policy, but I wish they'd reconsider it.

This topic gives me a good excuse to point to a new addition to my blog roll, Michael Bérubé, who writes the kind of stuff you would expect a lefty cultural studies professor to write, only better than you would expect. Many of his posts are massive, but he just let's them flow down the page. My kind of guy.

Update: It looks like Chris Mooney has changed his style. Some posts are still continued after the click, but most now live in full glory on the front page. Thanks!