Topics Page Redesign

Check out the redesigned Topics page at nolongerset.com! It's now auto-updating and optimized for discovering new content.

Mike Wolfe

Apr 22, 2022 • 3 min read

I have written nearly 600 articles since I started this blog on September 1, 2020.

Want to know how many articles I've written by the time you are reading this? Just run `?Date() - #2020-09-01# + 1` in the VBA immediate window.

When I first started out, I planned on curating a Topics page where I would lovingly arrange each article into the broader context of the overall site. Or something.

That did not last.

Instead, the old Topics page was a time machine of sorts. That's where you would go if you wanted to read one of my first 100 or so articles. Because after a few months, I stopped maintaining it. Every few weeks, I went through an elaborate process where I would try to incorporate each new article onto this hand-crafted Topics page. That was a fool's errand.

Hand-crafting is for Etsy moms, hipster micro-brewers, and M.C. Escher forgers.

Inevitably, my hand-crafted web page turned as stale as the growler of acai berry-infused IPA I politely accepted six months ago from my imaginary millenial friend whom I conjured for the sole purpose of personalizing this simile.

Now that's what I call "hand-crafted!" (*Maurits Cornelis Escher, "Drawing Hands," 1948. [Robin Lubbock/WBUR]*)

An Actual, Useful, Always-Current Topics Page

The redesigned Topics page has a minimalist design.

No images. No colors. Small, simple font.

Articles are arranged by their primary tag (every article on my site has at least one tag; some have several). Within each category, the articles are displayed chronologically. I sorted them like that to keep my article series (serieses?) together.

A simple [Ctrl] + [F] lets you use your browser's built-in search to find content (though I'd highly encourage you to use the dedicated SiteSearch360 search box if you're looking for something specific; it's fantastic).

The font is intentionally small to make it easier to scroll through all of the content. That may make the page less useful for phone and tablet use, but that's a relatively small portion of my readership: