I tend to like things simple and uncluttered. Unfortunately my life doesn’t always reflect that. I try but when you are busy and have this many people sharing a house. . . well, it can be a challenge. I think that’s one of the reasons I like my online space. I can design it and clean it up and it stays that way. . .until I fuss with it again that is.
If you’re a long time reader of my blog you know that I have changed my blog design pretty frequently. You also might notice that I haven’t done it in a while. Don’t worry this isn’t a warning because I actually like the clean simple look here. Oh I’m sure those lovely flowers will morph into something else as the seasons pass but the general layout will stay the same because I like it and it works. The clean feeling of the white background feels very fresh to me. But fresh in the summer could feel cold in the winter so we’ll see. . .
Anyway, in the interest of simplicity I did rather something “un-blogger” like today. I deleted all my categories. . . and it feels great! Categories were always such a bugaboo for me. What category should I put a post in, how many should I use? Is it too many? Do they make sense to anyone but me? Does it even matter and does anyone even care about them? It all just seemed like this stupid thing hanging over me so I got this idea today to simply go category-less. Well, almost. Wordpress doesn’t let you have zero categories, you have to have at least one. So I have one and it’s title is “everything”. I figure that covers pretty much, well, everything.
So what do you think? Have I completely lost my marbles or was it a stroke of genius? Humor me and pretend you care —let me know what you think. I’m curious.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Ellen 08.29.08 at 6:45 am
i like your idea. When I started blogging, I set up a few categories. It lasted for about 2 or 3 posts. It was just one more thing to think about and my brain is already on overload.
How are the newlyweds? And how are you adjusting to one less person in your house?
Kimberlee 08.29.08 at 7:19 am
Categories are helpful for people looking for certain old posts, but as long as you have a ’search’ function that serves the same purpose.
Sara 08.29.08 at 7:25 am
I think the labels are handy, but I usually forget to put them on my posts and have to go back and do it.
It’s not as if anyone is searching my blog for anything, though! But I do have a recent post or 2 on de-cluttering!
Nancy 08.29.08 at 8:12 am
I hate categories, I have a million and one of them on my blog. My categories remind me of that one drawer in every kitchen… Anyway, good for you for making it make sense to you. I love your blog design. It is calming and so pretty. I would love to be able to do something like that with mine but I can’t figure it out, maybe someday…
Meredith 08.29.08 at 9:52 am
Love it, and I always say, when in doubt, K.I.S.S.
Heather - Doodle Acres 08.29.08 at 6:23 pm
I think it’s a stroke of genius, but you know that I think that everything you do in brilliant!!!
MicheleQ 08.30.08 at 5:48 pm
I do think that the categories are sometimes helpful but my problem here was that there just seemed to be too many options and it had become confusing. Plus, most of the time I forgot to tag a category and so it wasn’t helpful anyway. I think the search option is good and it does seem to work well.
I do still have categories over at my sewing blog. It’s easier there to separate something into a specific category. At least in my mind.