Advice wanted...

[ewt]

I have notes for a rather long article for the foraging blog, basically tips for safe and enjoyable foraging for beginners. It could be split up into several sections, each of which could be a post in and of itself, or it could be posted all as one article.

Which is better and why?

Comments

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

I think it would be best to use 'bite size pieces'. People can read them more easily - in a shorter break from other activities - and find each section again more easily. Also, it will be easier for you to write up, in managable sections.

[abigailb.livejournal.com]

my vote is for sections, serialised one a day or somesuch - blogs are for regular bite-sized chunks.

[yady.livejournal.com]

If you can tag them so that specific posts are easy to find, I would do them as separate posts and make sure they are both tagged with their subjects and with the name of the series. That way, if someone wants to look for tips on a specific subject, they would only need to read the relevant posts and not search through one long post.

[phelyan.livejournal.com]

The expression you're looking for is: "tl;dr".

Too long; didn't read. Plus, as yady said, it's easier to find the bits you're looking for.

For something completely unrelated

[lady-ligeia.livejournal.com]

Found this and made me think of you:
http://scienceblogs.com/clock/2007/05/carolus_linnaeus_floral_clocks.php

[mubeimmik.livejournal.com]

What everyone else said, basically. I get distracted and don't end up reading super duper long posts, so when they're broken into smaller posts it's helpful.

[elmyra.livejournal.com]

Without knowing anything about the content and how easy it would be split it down into meaningful self-contained chunks (but assuming that it can be done), my got feel is to go for several small, easily digestible posts over a week or so.

Reason: I read differently online/on-screen than I do from paper. My expectation of something written on screen is that it will be short, to the point, engaging, interesting and maybe actionable - bitesized, digestible information. (That, or pr0n, in which case I'm willing to read quite lengthy stull on screen. ;-) If I'm reading on paper, I will happily read lengthy treatises on just about anything. Partly it's that reading on paper is easier, partly it's a conditioned response to computers/the Internet.

Does that make sense?

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

I prefer one long article. When I'm going back for reference, I can never remember which chunk I need and end up paging through all of them. It's much easier just to be able to search within a page and simpler to scroll through it. Articles chopped up look like they're just trying to maximise page-hits at the expense of my convenience. When reading documentation I always go straight for the "all on one huge HTML page" link.

[redcountess]

For a blog, separate posts for each section is best, for the reasons the others gave :)

[battlekitty.livejournal.com]

As others have said:

If it can be split into self-contained articles, do it.

If it can't, do it as a single articles but split it into nice short paragraphs and definite chapters with headings so you don't lose your readers. If that makes sense...

(If you read some of what I write, you'd notice I don't listen to my own advice... Although there's not too many examples of it, either...)

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

split it into nice short paragraphs and definite chapters with headings

Yes, this is definitely good advice!

[cabd.livejournal.com]

Take your pick, although if you're writing a beginners guide to foraging I'm sure we'd be happy to host it at Downsizer (linking to your blog if you choose). It would be a most useful addition to our collection of articles there, a lot of people would find it handy.

[pplfichi.livejournal.com]

Split up with tags to group them together, and a link directly to the next (and possibly previous?) one so people can carry on reading the whole lot in one go if they want to. It's a blog after all...

[mirrorshard.livejournal.com]

I prefer to read things like that all together, but it's easy to do using the tag view, and that also accommodates the people who prefer chunks. Whereas the reverse isn't true. So on balance, chunking it seems sensible.