Adam’s Peace

No, this article is not about peace.

Articles online have a major problem.

Either the articles are too short, and leave the reader wanting more, or they’re too long, leaving the reader overwhelmed with information that they don’t need.

Some authors have found a middle ground that works more often than it works for most people, but people still tend to read the first 2 paragraphs, skim the headings of the article, and find something else to read.

I have caught myself skimming many articles… I simply can not keep myself interested in the long articles. I purposefully leave articles unread in my RSS reader if I know that an author tends to write long articles. Even worse, I don’t usually add authors who only write short articles, because I don’t feel that I’m getting enough out of their writing to justify reading their articles.

This brings me to an idea I’ve been building over the last couple of weeks. For now, I’m calling my idea Tangent Rich Hyper-Textbooks, and I will be developing it on my other site, Code Artist (CodeArtist.com).

It’s like a blog blended together with lengthy in-depth tutorials, and a dash of Wikipedia’s link-crawling addiction thrown in.

The idea is far less time-sensitive than traditional blogs, where an article posted a week ago is considered ancient news, but far more interactive than news or how-to sites.

Here is my idea:

Each tutorial will span several individual pages… They’ll be split by sub-topic. For instance, the first tutorial that I’m writing will be on HTML, and its sub-topics will include a minimal HTML page, how to make links, how to format text, how to insert images, etc., each on their own page.

Inside of each sub-topic’s page, there will be links to tangents… a “further reading” section, if you will. Tangents can be on any semi-related topic, such as the difference between text editors and word processors, basic Search Engine Optimization, the death of Frames-based web pages, to name a few.

Each tangent will also include links to in-depth content that I (personally) rate as Super-Nerdy… For instance, in the tangent describing the differences between text editors and word processors, I might explain the inner workings of different file types, and how to put the raw data together. If this idea were applied to a different field, such as veganism, then the in-depth content might explain how sucrose, glucose, starch, and the other “sugars” contribute in different ways to our blood-glucose levels, giving rise to the Glycemic Index.

This three-tiered approach satisfies my need to write long, involved articles, but because each individual article is optional, those who simply want to walk through the tutorial without distractions are free to, satisfying the needs of those who simply skim articles. Those who want more information also have this information at their fingertips.

This way, the whole tutorial stays on a central theme, much like a textbook stays on its topic, but it also wanders around the topic, giving new perspectives, much like a blog does. The extra layers of tangents and Super-Nerdy content (hopefully) give the site the same time-drain abilities that Wikipedia has. This is where I get the name… Just like a blog, it is Tangent Rich, like Wikipedia, it is full of Hyper-Links, and it has the primary aim of a Textbook.

Admittedly, it isn’t a very imaginative name… It doesn’t even make a good initialism or acronym, although the combination of Hyper-Text and Textbook is pretty nifty…

Anyways, in addition to the site’s structure, there are a few things that I thoroughly enjoy about blogs that I simply would not be able to leave out. The first is comments.

Anybody who has written PHP extensively has found the utility of PHP’s online documentation… Along with the developers’ notes about each function, there are also countless user-contributed comments, ranging from asking silly questions to giving in-depth, invaluable insight and sharing best practices, common mistakes, better functions than the ones being discussed, and source code that has worked for them.

The second must-have feature is RSS feeds. It will take me quite a bit of time to write each tutorial, especially since I’m adding two extra layers of content per page. Letting a person subscribe to a topic — or even to the entire site, depending on their whim — would be an uncommonly useful tool, both for the readers, but also for the site in terms of enticing readers to return.

I think that forums are also a must-have feature for large information sites. Forums allow people to share ideas without having to find the right article to comment on, to ask questions that haven’t been answered on the content-side of the site, and also provide a wealth of resources for future articles, or to help improve existing articles. Since I’ll be writing the code, I’ll be able to tie the forums, content, and comments together in a way that very few sites can achieve.

Best of all, once I get the software written, I’m hoping that people will steal my idea.

After all, I may be good at programming, but if someone could write a Tangent Rich Hyper-Textbook on time management, I would be thrilled. A Tangent Rich Hyper-Textbook on linguistics could also be a valuable tool… As could a Hyper-Textbook on writing, or on fractals, or on paintings, or truly any subject that is worth talking about.

Since my Code Artist Hyper-Textbook will be devoted to teaching people how to write software, as I develop the software for the site, I’ll be making tutorials based on that software… By reading the site, people will be able to copy it.

And, for those who don’t want to bother learning how to code, once I finish making my site, I’ll make the software available for free. (Free as in Free Beer. That’s a good thing.)

How will I make money with this site?

That’s a really good question. Perhaps I could sell other software that I develop, such as Placebo TimeAgent. (No, I have not forgotten about it… Only neglected it.) Perhaps I could also start a business selling personalized programs, although the turn-around time will be pretty long until I can afford to hire employees… Especially since my primary loyalty is to my current employer. I don’t want to sell advertising… Especially not banner ads.

I might sell special privileges on the forums… such as a paid-members only area, customizable avatars, signatures, etc… Who knows? The time to monetize the site is still far away.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 17th, 2008 at 7:31 pm and is filed under Other. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.