Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Organize

I'm getting fed up with the way I have organized my blog reading. I know, I have that dandy list of links down there on the right, but since I created that I've added at least 20 other blogs to my 'blogs' folder in my bookmarked favorites. At one time, I was all about keeping my bookmarked blogs in alphabetical order...and then I got lazy and just slapped them in the folder and forgot about re-arranging them. There are some blogs that I check every day, and others just every now and again...and others that I no longer read, but they're still in there. There are even one or two that I still enjoy reading, but their sites do something funny to my computer - either their columns overlap and I can't read all the text, or the site just causes my computer to have a seizure and freeze. I can't really read those any longer, but I want to and so I keep them around in case...something changes?

I can't decide if I should keep my links posted on the right - because then there is the expectation that I'll keep the list updated and, well, I'm lazy. However, when I'm at a computer other than THIS one it's very handy to pull up my blog and then use the link list to check in on other sites. That happens frequently because sometimes I grab a few minutes on the older computer upstairs that the kids use for games, and then there are those couple of times a year that I tag along on a business trip with Rob.

Lisa has a whole separate page for her links, and I'm considering that option as well. Even if I created a links page, I'd still have to use my favorites folder, I think, because a couple of the blogs I read are private.

I've got the desire to re-arrange those bookmarks in my favorites folder, but I can't get off the mark because I'm not sure how I want to organize them. By frequency - those that I visit every day, etc? By locale - the STL Metro people, and then...actually, I'm not sure I know all the locales I'm reading. And then, what about bloggers that blog at more than one site? Sadly, even if they have links to their other sites I don't always remember to click through unless they mention it. I don't have to read every one of their sites, but usually I enjoy reading them in the different areas.

I have no idea how Google reader and things like that work, and I haven't ventured there because I slightly afraid that I'll find MORE blogs that I HAVE to add to my list.

I'm ready to be enlightened, if you'd like to share your blog-reading methodology.

7 comments:

Jenn said...

I used to keep my favorite blogs in my favorites link folder, but I found I was spending more time going to the blogs only to find no new posts.

Then, I discovered Google reader and I fell in love. It's the easiest, fastest, most organized way to keep track of blogs and you can see who has most recently updated. Try a reader, you'll LOVE it! Although I did find it is easier to add more blogs, but, with the time I'm saving by using it, I figure it all evens out.

Ali said...

I use www.bloglines.com (another blog reader, probably similar to the Google one Jenn mentioned). Love it, love it, love it. Especially for blogs that update really often, or really infrequently. You can log in to bloglines from any computer and all your blogs are right there, including number of new posts since you last checked them.

Lisa said...

I'm too dim to do fancy stuff with my blog linky stuff. More like, paste a bunch of links down, seperate only by male or females. And then try to get through it at least once a week and read any people who have left a comment on my site... Oh and have a different page for my links. Which you can also do on Blogger. (I just created a whole new blogsite and linked it to my site. Seemed easier that way...) So I have no clue what to do or how anything else works. My way is a messy way and probably not as productive but eh... I'm lazy... Heehee. Good luck.

Lisa said...

P.s. Thanks for the linky love! :-)

R said...

you're too funny. . . i keep mine in a list on my site, but i read them through my Favorites List. I have them organized into one primary folder called "Blogs" then subfolders from there: "Favorites" "St Louis" and "other." As for google reader, I have no idea. First I've heard of it. I know, I know, I'm a twentysomething with absolutely no gadget-y, technical, electronic skills.

Glenda said...

I organize my blogs in my Favorites folder by subject -- food, crafting, unschoolers, friends, and misc.

My friends' blogs, I read most every day. The other blogs only get read when I feel like reading them -- I may go weeks or months without reading some of the others.

Now that I utilize wordpress, my friend who has a couple private blogs there, her blogs show up in my dashboard with my blogs, so, in theory, I could get by without even bookmarking her blogs.

I checked into using a reader a while back, but decided I don't mind checking blogs when I want to. There's only three or four that I would use the reader service for, and it's just as easy to check those on my own.

Daisy said...

Google Reader might be fun. It would save me from clicking on those blogs that don't update very often, but are still worthwhile reading.