Over the course of the past few months, it hasn’t been entirely clear what I want this website to be. I spent some time trying to make it into a “digital platform,” but I felt that it totally lacked personality. I instead opted to push into the indie web, setting up a more retro theme that honors the history of personal blogs and modifying the CSS to better serve my own needs.
All went smoothly until I hit the prospect of the sidebar: Do I use one? What do I put on one? Do people still use sidebars at all? I gave it a shot and–while at first I didn’t like it–I’m pleased with the outcome.
One major question remained, however: Do I include a blogroll? My top Google hits seem to be arguing against them due to penalties from SEO for “low-quality links.” The most interesting response was by Flamed Fury on 32-Bit Café. He argued in favor of having one, although he uses a whole page for it in lieu of having a sidebar across the whole website. I really like the way he went about it on his own page; it has character.
I’ll be using a blogroll. It’s a way of bringing visibility to writers whose work I appreciate.
