Comments on: Innerlogue: List Posts

By: mahalie

mahalie — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:32:09 +0000

I used to read so many list posts, saving good tuts/resources or whatever in my PIM, but there’s so many all the time now. Why bother? Just do a cursory search when you are actually taking the time to use those PS brushes or latest jQuery techniques. They don’t deserve a spot in my RSS feeds – I’m declaring today Take Back Your RSS Feeds day – swapping out list-overload feeds with more interesting content…like this blog.

By: Graham Smith

Graham Smith — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:13:40 +0000

I try to avoid from doing list posts myself, rather, concentrating on more editorial, opinion and advice.

If I am to do a list post, then it will be a subject that I can offer thoughts and opinions on. So its not just a empty, list post of ‘whatever’, soulless even. Adding your reasons why you pick each example helps to provide context and meaning.

The few I have done, mainly the Logo RoundUp series is not so much a basic list post as it offers commentary from each designer on the design of their logo. I feel this kind of post can still offer inspiration and interest.

Like many others, I just feel that many list posts are an easy peasy way to get a post up, with some outbound links. They are heartless and have no ’substance’. But people will demand more in time, so I hope the tide turns.

Good post,
Graham

By: Innerlogue: List Posts | CrazyLeaf Design Blog

Innerlogue: List Posts | CrazyLeaf Design Blog — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 17:24:37 +0000

[...] The pros and cons of list posts, which is widely seen within the web design blog-sphere these days. View source [...]

By: Jin

Jin — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 03:30:47 +0000

@James, thanks! SM is still my primary resource site that I’m subscribed to. I feel even though it’s primarily showcase based, the quality is still very high.

I keep searching for design blogs that have original content all the time. But since they can’t compete with list blogs for exposure, it’s rather difficult hard to find.

By: James De Angelis

James De Angelis — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 03:08:01 +0000

Completely agree with the sentiment of the post, It’s been on my mind a lot recently when looking at the RSS reader.

I’d even hazard a guess that sites like Smashing Magazine rely on them entirely, i mean honestly – when was the last time you read an informative post there? It’s *always* Free icons/brushes/lists.
On the same token (as you’ve mentioned) it’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s great to have resources like this. It’s just sad that it’s such a “magic bullet” for traffic that it’s permeated into the entire scene.

To the contrary (for a moment) i’d love to see some list posts with some content that actually caters to designers needs. What i mean by this is that all of these sites are always designers portfolio’s or for super progressive clients that you almost never get.
It would be great to see examples of great eCommerce sites, highly useable experiences, well designed content managed sites (managed by the client) to get some real insight on things most designers do in their day to day work.

(Great site by the way, reading through the other posts now :)

By: Jin

Jin — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 20:15:01 +0000

@Adelle, Janko, Soh thank you for commenting.

@ThomasP, thanks. I don’t doubt when you say lists are successful. But I think you mean “successful” in a commercial type of way, in terms of traffic right? That’s the reason why they’re popular, because everyone wants to achieve the same success. I can’t really blame them, but I also don’t want my inbox to be spammed. Un-subscribing was the only way I can think of to solve that problem.

By: Soh

Soh — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:59:32 +0000

Great article Jin, thanks!

By: Janko

Janko — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:28:19 +0000

Fantastic article! I must admit list post annoys me, but I still do a quick-scan through them. I often find some new stuff. You should, however, limit the number of blogs with such posts. Smashing magazine, for example…

Personally, I like to publish one post-list-article per month to share the best article I read that month.

p.s. I like “twitter screenshot”

By: ThomasP

ThomasP — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:57:21 +0000

I understand why people might think lists are useless or annoying. But fact is: they are often really successful! Just look at the most popular saves on delicious.
I might be a bit prejudiced due to the fact that my blog is all about links, but I really like them because you can determine wether the post is relevant to you just by reading the headline.
Still, really like this post and the way it is written!

By: Jin

Jin — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:54:51 +0000

@Binocle, I read your article since I’m also fluent in French(not really, but GoogleTranslate rocks). I think the anger is lost a bit in translation :)

I’m glad that I’m not the only one feeling this way. I still like reading lists if they’re high quality, and used in moderation.