this is why . . .

I don’t know who is lost. Or who survived. I don’t know the name of the biggest loser. I can’t tell you the name of one “real” housewife, whether they are from Hotlanta or PoDunk, Alabama. (Is there really a PoDunk, Alabama?) I have no idea why Kim Kardashian is famous. I don’t know who can dance or what ridiculous thing Michael Scott did this week. (I had to Google Steve Carell to find that name.)

I don’t watch a lot of TV.

Yes, I read a lot. And I blog a little. But over the last six months or so, this is something else I’ve been doing for fun:

www.pragmaticcom.com

I’ve been working on my business website on and off since before my surgery, but I finally put it up on the internet yesterday. And it’s still not done. I’ve got pages missing, PDF downloads to format and upload and most importantly, more content to write. This site replaces an embarrassing predecessor, thank goodness. And if you like to view source code, no laughing. I’m an admitted hack, and I started with a template from www.allwebco.com. You’d think, starting with a template, that it wouldn’t be so much work. I use Dreamweaver, but I work on the code page because I’m such a control freak. Besides, I hate all the clicking that goes with using the mouse. I’m a keyboard girl.

So, if you have some time, I’m looking for opinions. First impressions. Feedback. Suggestions. Anyone get error messages? Did it take too long to load/display? See things that just don’t look right? Typos? Visible code? Pages too wordy? Does the organization make sense to you? What about the banners? Do the images make sense for the pages they represent? (I bought the images on www.dreamstime.com and built the banners in Photoshop.)

Be brutal (in a nice way). But be honest (I think).

ch ch ch changes.

I’ve decided to make some changes here at Pragmatic Compendium. I’m going to make it more of a compendium. Here are the changes:

1. I’m going to be republishing existing content from my other blogs into Compendium, so that this will be a one stop shop for all my posts. I’m doing this for a few reasons. First, I frequently can’t find my own posts because I can’t remember where I put them. Secondly, the stats from the other blogs don’t show much traffic from Compendium, so my readers are missing my posts. Compendium is only part of who I am. There’s more!

2. I’m going to keep the other blogs too and continue to publish in them. Every time I post in one of my other blogs, I will publish the exact same content in Compendium too.

Why not just put everything in Compendium and do away with the other blogs?
- The other blogs do get traffic, just not much from Compendium. Most traffic comes from subscription services/readers and search strings.
- Pragmatic Communion is JUST for devotions. By still publishing in Communion, readers who only want to read the devotions don’t have to wade through everything else to find them.
- Pragmatic Commotion is JUST for family stuff. Kid stories and quotes, photos, stuff like that. By still publishing in Commotion, friends and family who want to keep up with my family life don’t have to wade through everything else to find things only related to my family. I might not publish all the kid/family photos on Compendium. I’m not sure yet.
- Pragmatic Communication is JUST about communication: talking, writing, reading, and listening. I’m revamping my business website and will be linking to communication “articles” in Pragmatic Communication. My communication clients want to read about communication tips without wading through recipes, my favorite youtube clips and everything else unrelated to communication.
- Pragmatic Computing (my first blog, by the way) is JUST for computer tips and troubleshooting. It is also linked from my business website and my computer clients like to find computer tips without (again) wading through everything else.

3. I’ll be changing the sidebar widgets to remove the links to the last three posts on each of my other blogs. Since the content will already be within Compendium, readers don’t need to see the last three entries on those blogs. I will instead have a single link to each of the other blogs in the sidebar, in case readers want to JUST see devotions, or family stuff, or communication articles, or computer tips.

4. I think I will be removing links TO Compendium which currently appear in my other blogs. That means there will be no clear path BACK to Compendium when someone clicks over to one of the other blogs from here. However, ALL links from Compendium to the other blogs will open in a new window or tab, leaving the Compendium page open. My reasoning for this one?
- Communication and Computing? Clients don’t need to read such personal stuff about me. It makes things awkward for them. When I get to know a client better, I tell them about Compendium. I got a new client last week. A 64 year old man. He really doesn’t want to stumble upon my hysterectomy woes. Neither do I want him to. Talk about awkward.
- Communion – I haven’t decided whether to link back to Compendium yet. I think I’ll leave that two way clicking path available.
- Commotion? I’m considering telling my mother about Commotion. Somebody slap me. If I do, I don’t want her to find her way to Compendium. I will set all comments on Commotion to be approved before they appear so no one will accidentally “spill” the existence of Compendium. By telling my mother about Commotion, she will get photos and stories about the kids without me having to send the photos or tell her the stories. Somebody slap me. Or convince me this won’t be dangerous, that it’s a good idea and I won’t regret it.

5. I’m beefing up the categories and tags on all the blogs to, hopefully, make it easier for me readers to find posts about certain topics.

6. I haven’t decided how my menu bar at the top will change, but it will. (I’m open to suggestions.)

I LOVE my template, so it will NOT change.

So here’s a call for feedback! What else should I consider? What other changes should I make? What changes should I NOT make?

reading from the outside in

It’s a little chaotic this week, so I’m “re-purposing” a previous post for my “Works for Me Wednesday” contribution.

A while back I wrote about what I learned when “auditing” my son’s summer speed reading course. It was $300, so by “waiting for him” in the back of the classroom, I felt like it was really $150 per person.

These simple changes can really make a difference when it comes to reading speed and memorization. Check out this post over at Pragmatic Communication entitled “reading from the outside in.”

This REALLY works for me!