Friday, December 21, 2012

Blogs I Don't Read

I don't want to be negative about this.  But there are a great many very fine blogs out there that I don't read . . . because of their subject matter OR format.

First, probably the three most gamed "periods" in historical gaming are Napoleonics, WWII and "Ancients".  and for whatever reasons, I've never been drawn to the first two (I am to far too many periods as it is) and I've had my fill of "Ancients" having gamed them almost exclusively for about 15 years.

So I tend to ignore almost all blog posts on those subjects . . . although I do admit to enjoying the pretty pictures of "Ancient" battles and troops.

Next, as an older gamer with poor eyes I find that a number of blogs are just too difficult to read with any comfort.  These problems fall into a few categories:
  • Difficult Visually -- white text on black background and using the different shades of the same color for both background and text.
  • Huge Paragraphs -- some posters seem to think that huge paragraphs with no breaks between them are easy to read . . . they are not.
  • Formatting Problems -- I particularly HATE those posts where you have to scroll across the page to read each and every line of text.
I should point out that there ARE a great many blogs that I read and enjoy that do not suffer from the above problems . . . and hopefully a few that will correct some of the above issues.

Finally, I should mention that I enjoy the non-gaming aspects of many blogs . . . I like learning about the gamers' real lives as well as their painting, plans and table top games . . . we are all people with "real lives" as well as our gaming interests . . . and learning more about each other is not a bad thing at all.

Anyway, presuming that the world doesn't end today (ala Mayans), I hope that you all enjoy a wonderful Christmas.

-- Jeff



8 comments:

Archduke Piccolo said...

I nitice on you Alpian Wars blog you have chosen a sizeable sans-serif font. I do admit it is easy to read, and makes the blog look good as well. But then it seems to go with the pictures and the style of presentation of the games.

A J said...

I use the 'Large' font on my blog for the very reasons you espouse, Jeff. We're none of us getting younger, and anything which aids easy reading is fine by me.

ColCampbell50 said...

Jeff,

I agree with your comments, especially about the white letters on black background.

Hope you have a Merry Christmas!

Jim

Fitz-Badger said...

I'm with you on the gaming periods. Actually, I have little interest in anything post-Victorian; never really had a big interest in Napoleonics, or Ancients, for that matter. There are one or two blogs I read who fit into those periods for the most part, but I read them because of the perspective on gaming in general appeals to me.

I also agree on the legibility issues. I hope I'm not one of the offenders! (maybe too dense on text once in a while?) I'd definitely want to hear if people found my blogs were difficult to read due to font issues, colors, backgrounds, and such. Those are some of my own pet peeves, and there have been sites I simply cannot read due to poor design along those lines.

Merry Christmas, happy Solstice, et al. to you, too!

Kelroy Was Here said...

Merry Christmas, Jeff. There are some blogs I've noticed those same issues. I usually set my font size to medium because it matches the rest of the font on the site, but also I think some computers' resolution is set different than mine, so maybe it appears larger to them. I admit, I'm not entirely sure.

Steve-the-Wargamer said...

Jeff - some of those white text on black backgrounds are difficult.. you mentioned mine was difficult to read sometime ago.. be interested if it's better now?

One of the changes Blogger bought in was the ability to widen the display bigger than the old standard 640x480 - I guessed most people would have bigger/better screens now and widened mine... so I may be one of those fellows you have to scroll on... if so... apologies...

PS. A wassail to you this Christmas

tradgardmastare said...

Merry Christmas Jeff!
very best wishes
Alan

tradgardmastare said...

Merry Christmas Jeff!
very best wishes
Alan