Trying out new blogging format

22nd August 2019
3 min read

Going forward I am updating how blog posts are structured. My thinking is that it will help people to consume the content and makes it a fun challenge for me. So each blog post will have summary as its first paragraph, then go on to the main body of the content. If possible, I will keep the most relevant and important stuff at the top and the least at the bottom of the page. Hope everyone (the very few people who visit my blog) enjoys the new change.

Here's a more visual explanation:

A sketch of what I explained above

An interesting background story

I recently watched a video on YouTube which inspired what I'm going to try out next and this post. I am currently looking to get a new iPad and I did what most people would do - search my question on YouTube. I was expecting the same old unboxing and reviewing type of videos from YouTubers whom I follow already because they tend to be big names on the platform. I'm very surprised to have found this video Which iPad should you buy (2019) - Analysis of iPad Pro vs iPad Air vs iPad Mini vs iPad by a YouTuber called Ali Abdaal. I was quite impressed with how he layout his video content.

His video structure:

  • Quick intro and summary of the video
  • Conclusion
  • The main content of the video

Compared to most (if not all) other similar videos, the content is backwards. But I found the video very refreshing. I can't remember all the time I watched half or most of a video only to find I knew most of the stuff anyway and got nothing out of it. The fast the conclusion goes first means I can check what is interesting then proceed if there is something I'd like to learn more about. Also, the YouTuber even added timestamps to allow people to jump to the different sections without wasting their time on things they weren't interested in.

I want to do this with my blogs going forward. I'm very much aware that I often give some background that might not interest most people, but it just feels odd and headless if I don't give an introduction first. Especially given the first paragraph of my blog posts are taken to show on the home page. It would be pretty useful for both people visiting my blog and myself (when I'm trying to remember what I wrote about) if everything can be summarised into that one paragraph.

Final words

I hope this format makes sense and ends up improving the content layout a bit. What very few readers I have, it would be good if I can get some feedback on this. Even if you are just a random stranger who just stumbled on to my blog, feel free to leave a line in the comments :)

I find Ali (the YouTuber mentioned above) quite inspiring, strongly recommend his channel!

thoughts
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