Finally got around to doing my super-duper changes to the way my complete Stundent Blogroll is displayed on the screen. So, for those that haven’t quite noticed or worked out what changes I have done they can be split into 4 bits:

1. Main BlogRoll
This consists of two bits and both can be expandable/collapsable by clicking the arrows (or the small square box on some browsers!). The first bit is titled ‘Top Links’ that conists of 4 links at the moment that are automatically expanded to be visible and include links that I directly add.

The second is titled ‘Most Active Blogs’ and is intended to be exactly what it says. You see I thought about what is the real use and benefit of a Blogroll, and it is clearly to go quickly and easily to those blogs with things happening on them. At the moment the count stands at 59 entries and these are initially ‘hidden’ but can, by clicking the arrow to the immediate left of the entry, be expanded to reveal the entries. Now I want to get this count down to no more than 50 so I will be adding/removing entries from the list as time goes by. Initially, in preparing this initial list of 59 I made a crude subjective attempt of deciding who should be on this list based on my own visits to the blogs, the frequency of posting/commenting on the blog and general level of contribution to the overall Alex Jeffreys Community. I know for a fact I will have missed some obvious candidates (whoops, I can think or some already!) but it was my first stab at it and I will be adding/removing to it as time goes by. Remember my target is to have no more than 50 so anybody added will mean someone is removed!! (Plus also I have to loose 9 to start off with!!). Also, remember there is no precise scientific formulae I am using for who is on or off. If you feel you are worthy of inclusion compared to other entries on it and feel I’ve inadvertently missed you off then please let me know. (You don’t have to say who you think you should replace, just let me know you think your blog is sufficient to be added and I’ll decide who is replaced.)

2. Top Monthly Commentators
This section is exactly what it says. The 15 most active commenters on this Blog over the last rolling month are shown here. If you hover your pointer over an entry you can see the number of comments a person has made and thus you know what your target is to be included. (Seems there is a slight overflow problem when the comment count gets into triple figures but doesn’t have any real impact). Obviously people in this list can appear in the prior ‘Main Blogroll’ so in effective listed twice on my front-page

3. Random BlogRoll
Again this does exactly what it says. It will pick 5 entries at random from the entire list in my Student Blogroll. Now these 5 are pulled from the entire list and not just the ones described above – it includes the ‘hidden’ ones for want of a better description. The entire Student Blogroll is around 270 at the moment. These 5 random entries will change each time you visit my blog or click to go to a different page.

4. Complete Student BlogRoll
I’ve not got around to getting this up yet, but the entire Student Blogroll will be on a secondary page as well. This will replace the old ‘overflow’ page as this will be expanded to include everyone. People can use this find out about all the other student blogs which may not be displayed on the first page and also use it to check if they have been included on my Student Blogroll.
In the end, I think the changes I have made achieve the primary aim of been useful to all my visitors (as well as me!) but at the same time not punitive to anyone. Everyone has an opportunity to be visible on the front screen (in 2 places!) based on there contribution, activity and overall value to the entire community. Plus there are always ‘guest’ spots through the Random section.
Anyway, I’d appreciate you let me know what you think. Do you think the changes are an improvement? Do you think it is fair?
As a side note, some statistics may be interesting that I gathered in the compilation of the current 59 Most Active Blogs. Of those 59, 40 (68%) were previously already on the original front page blogroll which consisted of 71 entries. So we have ‘replaced’ 31. A further 17 (29%) have been ‘promoted’ from the prior overflow page. The final 2 (3%) were not even on my overflow page and thus have been pretty ‘late’ starters but have already made very impressive strides to get on the front page. Can you guess who those 2 are? (Hey for now you ’2′ that obviously know who you are, let the others guess a while and see if they can ‘suss’ you out!)

Filed under: Alex Jeffreys • Garry Parkes • General

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!