Vimoh's Blog

This blog of mine underwent a redesign recently. That doesn’t mean a lot by itself, seeing as how I change themes as often as I bathe (Damn it! I did NOT say that). But this last design change was something a lot of thought went into. I like to think that it marks the beginning of a new path for vmohanty.com.

I wanted to do a post on what has changed and my reasons behind making those changes. Also, Patrix asked for it (see his post on the same topic).

Till now my blog has been like an article repository. One that got updated with essays and stories whenever I wrote something worth sharing. To this end, the blog has had a look more suited to a content-powered website. I have traditionally gone for a solid, full, and well-organised look. To cut a long story short, vmohanty.com has been more a site than a blog.

Add to that situation the fact that social media has grown in prominence in recent months. My own presence on Twitter and Facebook has a decent following (I’m just saying!) and I post tons of content there in the form of short text updates, photos, and comments. In the olden days, people did all this on their blogs.

But times have changed and the amount of interaction people used to have on blogs has dropped very noticeably. I share my photos in controlled environments inside social networks and they are viewed by people who care. My blog posts get more comments when they show up as notes on my Facebook profile. I have more followers on Twitter than I have feed subscribers on my blog. I actually get more feedback on my blog posts via twitter than I do in the comments section! Who would have thought of all this a few years ago?

I figured therefore, that I should “plug” my blog into my social media profile, because it sure as hell is not going to be able to stand on its own in the middle of all the other places that define my “presence” on the web nowadays. The blog must become a part of my small extended empire (as opposed to the centre of it).

Much of the new plan didn’t need any work at all. My blog URL is on my Twitter profile, and my posts get pushed to Facebook and Friendfeed via RSS. But what I needed was a way for the blog to share in the feel of the social web.

To this end, I tried to make my blog look more real-time. I let go of the need to categorise my posts into one of my ten clean categories and went for the more fluid convention of tags. My sidebar consists of nothing but a tag list now. This serves many purposes. Firstly, the list is a clear indication of what the blog is ‘about’. Secondly, the list is never static and keeps changing as I make new posts, with old tags coming up as and when I revisit those topics. What’s more? The tags also make for a great gateway into the deeper recesses of my blog.

Next, I implemented the Backtype Connect plugin on my Wordpress installation. It finds mentions of my blog posts on Twitter (and elsewhere) and plugs them into the specific post’s comments area. I found a plugin to do the same with facebook too, but it doesn’t seem to work too well. I have also installed a new Twitter-based microforum app called Tweetboard that shows threaded Twitter conversations right on this page. You can acces it by clicking on “tweets” on the left.

The theme I am using is called Prologue and it is a Wordpress theme to mimic Twitter. I made some minor adjustments to it (added a horizontal top navbar, changed some labels, implemented the post title function, etc). I chose it because it is simple, minimal, and easy to read. In addition, it lets me have a Twitter style display picture near the beginning of my posts.

This is more important than it might seem because a lot of my readership (most of it in fact) comes from Twitter and the display picture makes for a useful comfort element when that happens. I know this because I find display pictures very comforting on Twitter myself. They are like faces of people I know.

I have also changed the default URL structure on my blog so that it is very short and simple now. Only the base URL followed by a 3-digit post ID. This makes the links easy to remember and easy to post on Twitter etc. Yes, I know about URL shorteners, but you and I both know that we all hate them. I want postings on Twitter to look like they came from my blog, not a spam nest. Update: Changed the URLs to a fuller form. Pho Freak made a good point in the comments.

In the long run, I intend to keep posting all manner of stuff here. Articles and stories will continue to show up as before, but unlike the past there will also be a lot of opinion (politics, culture, life in general) just like on my Twitter stream.

I have rambled enough. Feel free to let me know what you think of the redesign and of the blog. If I have missed something, ask away.

I wrote the last post in anger. Then I started wondering what possible recourse a blogger might have against legal threats from a media biggie like NDTV.

In popped a comment from Mr Naavi. I recognised him as a cyberlaw person (of naavi.org) who was involved in a blogging related case in Chennai a few years ago. I mailed him, asking him what he thought the blogger in this case might have done. He replied saying that Mr Kunte “could have remained silent until the next action.” Here’s an excerpt from his email.

He could have in the meantime shared a copy of the notice in the blog and sought views.

On the other hand he could have also replied back refusing any attempt to defame without apologizing.

Probably no further action would have been taken up by Burkha.

In the worst instance, a case would have been filed and Mr Kunte might have had to find a lawyer and reply to the notice as well as follow up. It is unlikely that the Court would have given any credence to Ms Burkha’s notice.

All this, of course, assuming Mr Kunte received a notice from NDTV lawyers. He may simply have had a change of mind since he made the blog post. Or he might have faced pressure from quarters other than the NDTV camp.

Mr Naavi shares more of his views on the matter here and suggests that the Press Council of India step in.

Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one. — A J Liebling

Dear NDTV and Barkha Dutt. Hope you are well, now that you have arm-twisted CKunte into submission.

Don’t get me wrong. You have as much right to sue people as I do. Especially when your reputations are at stake. But here are a few reasons why your approach may not be best suited to the present circumstances.

Following the terrorist attacks that happened in Mumbai on 26 November, 2008, many people took offence to the way Barkha Dutt reported the event. Her reporting was called “shoddy” and “irresponsible” (among other things).

Read the rest of this entry »

Browsing the well-made pages of Indiblogger.in today, I was struck by their badges. They got me thinking. The badges are little (or not so little) graphics that the website lets users put on their respective blogs as a mark of membership.

Each badge makes a statement. Whether you are a homemaker, a techie, a gamer, or a traveller, there is a badge for you to flaunt. Even if you are undecided, you will very likely find a badge to suit your blog.

Coming down to the basics however, a badge is only a design element. If we manage to find the reason why people put up badges on their blogs, we will know what the purpose of design is (or at least what the generally accepted definition is).

People display badges to make a statement. Those who blog to speak their mind find badges an easy way of making some basic facts clear. “I am a rock fan!” or; “I love my bike.” Things like that.

Trouble is, a lot of blogs I stumble upon are so crammed with such ’statements’ that the point is all but lost. I might stick around if the blogger is reasonably well-known or if I went there looking for something particular. Otherwise, I would mostly just move on.

Most surfers are ruled by basic needs. They wander the web in search of things to read, gawk at, and use. Your content is what will feed their needs. Think of your writing as medicine and your design as the capsule that contains it. The capsule can be any colour you want. But it would not serve its purpose if it is too unshapely to be swallowed with ease.

In addition to needless badges, you might also want to rethink heavy images (especially full-page backgrounds), javascript chatboxes, and flash-based widgets. Drop them if you think you can do without them.

A blog’s design can be as arresting a tool as the writing itself. But it will do your blog no good if it starts fighting your content for the reader’s attention.

I have noticed that copywriters take to blogging with more ease than any other race of sentient species. I have seen students quit their blogs because of exams. I have seen journalists look upon blogging with a condescending downward gaze. Office-goers of all types are known to have been fired for blogging unpleasant truths.

I feel copywriters are fuelled by the enormous amounts of pent up creativity that their profession never lets them exercise. I can tell you from experience that the shimmering maid that invites you into copywriterland makes many false promises to the clueless newbie.

The newbie wants to write. And here is a line of work that would pay him to write. It sounds too good to be true. It is.

There is a certain amount of soul-selling involved. But in the middle of all the selling that a copywriter does, the soul eventually becomes just another commodity. I should know. I have written copy for banner ads and pop-ups. God forgive me!

Small wonder than, that the copywriter turns to the blog. He can’t afford to scoff at its low origins and its mostly peasant patronage. And he can’t let it rank lower than his current top priority (selling bank accounts by way of lying to people) for fear of losing what little is left of his soul.

His blog becomes his playground. A place where he runs wild and does what only he can do — write like himself.