Yes, but also no! We already discussed consistency (remember my rant Stop rewarding quantity!), and you have sort of convinced me that consistency can mean helpful habit building, but I still see the greatest "value" of consitency is that alorithms and probably also other human readers seem to like it. Personally, I still prefer sporadical updates, not based on measured time but rather saying something when there is something to say and respect that there might be many things in life that are much more important than writing and releasing a DEV blog post.
People quickly pick up on patterns, even subconsciously, so if you post at a certain time at a regular interval people will start anticipating your articles.
Sounds creditble, but could you possible quote a source?
One for them, one for you
That's a very practical tip! I think I have somehow, subconsciously, come to the same conclusion. My recent post some useful git commands started as a stopgap as I didn't manage to finish my upcoming post on CSS blend-modes in time, to continue my series "What's next in CSS". I thought I might just paste some commands from my bash history that I tend to use more frequently after rediscovering, like git log -p. Then I saw that this could actually become a helpful #beginner article, and, to my surprise, the practical dev even featured it on twitter.
With about half an hour for writing the post in its initial form, and another hour for subsequent additions, this is probably the most efficient writeup I have done so far, making it a relatively low-effort "one for them" article.
Engage with a community
Another practical tip with several benefits at once!
Mentioning (@) authors and quoting their posts (\{% post) invites others to discuss, it helps to connect related posts and form some kind of thread, plus it is one of the easy ways to add more visual variety to a post without creating any imagery or even a codepen.
Make an engaging cover ... pick an interesting image or a GIF (if appropriate)
The annotation in brackets is the most important one, at least for me!
I am a person that gets annoyed quickly by GIF images, even more so if they show some dude who might be an American actor but I don't get the meme because I don't watch TV and I prefer independent films over mainstream movies. And even if I do get it, most is just irrelevant and if you need Sponge Bob or Home Simpson to get attention, then maybe your content is not that relevant at all? But sometimes it is, and people still put animated images between every paragraph! At least I live in Germany where the internet connection can get so slow that I don't have to endure that sort of "engaging" content in its entirety.
Write in conversational style ... as if you are chatting with them
Another point where I might agree and disagree at the same time. Conversational chatter adds noise that can make it harder to concentrate on the actual content, but on the other hand, DEV is a community and not a university, so conversational words can add personality and a feeling of personal contact to a post. But it doesn't make a difference if it sounds exactly like 99% of all other people would have said it, and it can even alienate readers if it's too specific to a conversational culture (like my pseudo-British German English might be as well!)
Like animated GIFs, some kind of conversational style makes me cringe, like:
Hey y'all, how are you all doing, guys? As we all know, React is the greatest JavaScript framework. So today we want to build something that will blow you away!"
In this made up example, the noisy idioms just add to some other facts like false premises and spammy click bait wording.
Make an engaging cover
Luckily DEV, unlike medium, does not incentive to add a "high quality image" just for the supposed sake of growing interaction, which makes authors browse Unsplash to add some mostly irrelevant stock photography, making them more indistinguishable instead of original. But using a cover image is indeed a good tip, as we don't want to waste the possible space and color as opposed to posts without cover images that occupy less space in a list of posts.
As we're in a community for developers, I prefer code examples and embedded code pens instead of animated memes, and likewise I tend to take a screenshot or make a collage of multiple screenshots as a cover image. Beware that DEV crops uploaded images if they don't match the target aspect ratio, so make sure to place the most important parts in the center of the image.
recycle content onto other platforms
If you cross-post the same content, take care of which is supposed to be the original (preferably a blog hosted on your own domain), and add canonical tags pointing to the original post when re-posting on DEV, medium, Tealfeed etc. That option is often hidden deep inside expert settings and it's supposed to tell Google which content to favor, and which one to hide as duplicate content. Note that this doesn't always work in the intended way which is why some people had to stop (re-)posting on medium. Read Stéphanie Walter's reason for removing her content from medium.
Heart, unicorn and bookmark your own article and leave a comment on it the second your publish.
Not a "dirty secret" but another practical tip. It's legitimate, otherwise you wouldn't be able to do it. You can't upvote your own StackOverflow answers, but you can like your own DEV posts and tweets!
Tags matter...
Another useful tip, especially using #webdev as a fallback. I regularly get overwhelmed by the number of possible tags. Some popular ones seem to have strict rules when to use, some have questionable descriptions (like #php') and some others seem to be relatively unpopular (like#a11y`) but the latter one is also chance to get noticed inside a "niche" building up popularity and authority for "long tail" (special interest) search terms.
you can't blame DEV for your own failings
But we can, and should, blame the current tech community for "our" (collective) failings, one of them being the technophile ableist dude culture mostly ignoring accessibility, diversity, ecology, inclusion, or more generally speaking having at least a little bit of decency and open-mindedness concerning our society, our world, our future, and the world we are creating for our children!
(Now it's time for my final rant, hopefully the moderators will have stopped reading before reaching this part. As I write this, Russian soldiers are attacking Ukraine, even the capital Kyiv and the city of Lviv, which is so far west, it feels like they could drop bombs on Krakow, Vienna, or Berlin as well. Corrupt western politicians make business with Russian oligarchs so they stop the EU plans to impose harder sanctions on Russia. I am so ashamed to be German, not for the first time. My grandfathers were soldiers, one died in a Soviet prison, the other managed to flee the Russian bombs and take our family as far west as possible. Now we're here and someday the Russians will bomb us again. In World War II at least we deserved it.)
That being said, don't blame DEV for anything. The practival DEV offers a platform that allows us to share ideas and knowledge, providing tools aimed at developers (markup editor with codepen integration and proper syntax highlighting for various programming languages) with an open-minded, inclusive, and welcoming approach unlike StackOverflow's gatekeeping snobbism or medium's arbitrariness.
No it is my fault.
It isn't. Your modesty credits you, but don't exaggerate.
Just because something isn't DEV's fault, it doesn't necessarily mean it's your fault or mine, see my rant above. There is a lot wrong with our society and our tech community, and as privileged people that do get a voice (at least on a small scale) it's also our responsibility to criticize and aim for a change (like you do).
To anyone who bothered to read to the end: don't let anything discourage you, don't get frustrated, if you have something to say, say it!
DEV is one place where we can have a say as techs, and INHU's tips can help us to do it in a way that might attract some additional audience as well.
Accessibility First DevRel. I focus on ensuring content created, events held and company assets are as accessible as possible, for as many people as possible.
OK so now I see why you wanted to come back to this, that is without doubt one of the most epic comments I have read.
Brutal honesty is that I have read it but I probably won't be able to respond with anywhere near as much vigour until next week!
The few bits that I will quickly mention I will certainly come back to:
the bit "not for mods"...as a poorly educated (when it comes to other Countries perspectives on things) Brit I really want to read into this more as it is far too easy to just take what we are fed at face value and it being the "truth" and I certainly need to broaden my understanding of what is outside my little bubble.
The point on conversational style - you have a great point there as I wrote that without thinking about tutorials, how to's etc. It is content-type specific and certainly an oversight on my part. I would love to explore that more.
Sounds credible, but could you possible quote a source? Not directly in terms of content creation, but I am sure I can find an interesting study I read ages ago on pattern recognition and how amazing we are at actually processing patterns in events without active thought.
Probably about 10 other really interesting talking points once I really think about it rather than just reading it.
So much to unpack here, but I will certainly find the time as soon as possible to give you the response this comment deserves (and nudge me if I forget, there really are some interesting things here I would love to chat about)! ❤
Like animated GIFs, some kind of conversational style makes me cringe, like:
Hey y'all, how are you all doing, guys? As we all know, React is the greatest JavaScript framework. So today we want to build something that will blow you away!"
When I read something like this I am entering dynamic read mode desperate to find when its end 🤣
For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse
We're a place where coders share, stay up-to-date and grow their careers.
Yes, but also no! We already discussed consistency (remember my rant Stop rewarding quantity!), and you have sort of convinced me that consistency can mean helpful habit building, but I still see the greatest "value" of consitency is that alorithms and probably also other human readers seem to like it. Personally, I still prefer sporadical updates, not based on measured time but rather saying something when there is something to say and respect that there might be many things in life that are much more important than writing and releasing a DEV blog post.
Sounds creditble, but could you possible quote a source?
That's a very practical tip! I think I have somehow, subconsciously, come to the same conclusion. My recent post some useful git commands started as a stopgap as I didn't manage to finish my upcoming post on CSS blend-modes in time, to continue my series "What's next in CSS". I thought I might just paste some commands from my bash history that I tend to use more frequently after rediscovering, like
git log -p. Then I saw that this could actually become a helpful#beginnerarticle, and, to my surprise, the practical dev even featured it on twitter.With about half an hour for writing the post in its initial form, and another hour for subsequent additions, this is probably the most efficient writeup I have done so far, making it a relatively low-effort "one for them" article.
Another practical tip with several benefits at once!
Mentioning (
@) authors and quoting their posts (\{% post) invites others to discuss, it helps to connect related posts and form some kind of thread, plus it is one of the easy ways to add more visual variety to a post without creating any imagery or even a codepen.The annotation in brackets is the most important one, at least for me!
I am a person that gets annoyed quickly by GIF images, even more so if they show some dude who might be an American actor but I don't get the meme because I don't watch TV and I prefer independent films over mainstream movies. And even if I do get it, most is just irrelevant and if you need Sponge Bob or Home Simpson to get attention, then maybe your content is not that relevant at all? But sometimes it is, and people still put animated images between every paragraph! At least I live in Germany where the internet connection can get so slow that I don't have to endure that sort of "engaging" content in its entirety.
Another point where I might agree and disagree at the same time. Conversational chatter adds noise that can make it harder to concentrate on the actual content, but on the other hand, DEV is a community and not a university, so conversational words can add personality and a feeling of personal contact to a post. But it doesn't make a difference if it sounds exactly like 99% of all other people would have said it, and it can even alienate readers if it's too specific to a conversational culture (like my pseudo-British German English might be as well!)
Like animated GIFs, some kind of conversational style makes me cringe, like:
Hey y'all, how are you all doing, guys? As we all know, React is the greatest JavaScript framework. So today we want to build something that will blow you away!"
In this made up example, the noisy idioms just add to some other facts like false premises and spammy click bait wording.
Luckily DEV, unlike medium, does not incentive to add a "high quality image" just for the supposed sake of growing interaction, which makes authors browse Unsplash to add some mostly irrelevant stock photography, making them more indistinguishable instead of original. But using a cover image is indeed a good tip, as we don't want to waste the possible space and color as opposed to posts without cover images that occupy less space in a list of posts.
As we're in a community for developers, I prefer code examples and embedded code pens instead of animated memes, and likewise I tend to take a screenshot or make a collage of multiple screenshots as a cover image. Beware that DEV crops uploaded images if they don't match the target aspect ratio, so make sure to place the most important parts in the center of the image.
If you cross-post the same content, take care of which is supposed to be the original (preferably a blog hosted on your own domain), and add
canonicaltags pointing to the original post when re-posting on DEV, medium, Tealfeed etc. That option is often hidden deep inside expert settings and it's supposed to tell Google which content to favor, and which one to hide as duplicate content. Note that this doesn't always work in the intended way which is why some people had to stop (re-)posting on medium. Read Stéphanie Walter's reason for removing her content from medium.Not a "dirty secret" but another practical tip. It's legitimate, otherwise you wouldn't be able to do it. You can't upvote your own StackOverflow answers, but you can like your own DEV posts and tweets!
Another useful tip, especially using
#webdevas a fallback. I regularly get overwhelmed by the number of possible tags. Some popular ones seem to have strict rules when to use, some have questionable descriptions (like#php') and some others seem to be relatively unpopular (like#a11y`) but the latter one is also chance to get noticed inside a "niche" building up popularity and authority for "long tail" (special interest) search terms.But we can, and should, blame the current tech community for "our" (collective) failings, one of them being the technophile ableist dude culture mostly ignoring accessibility, diversity, ecology, inclusion, or more generally speaking having at least a little bit of decency and open-mindedness concerning our society, our world, our future, and the world we are creating for our children!
(Now it's time for my final rant, hopefully the moderators will have stopped reading before reaching this part. As I write this, Russian soldiers are attacking Ukraine, even the capital Kyiv and the city of Lviv, which is so far west, it feels like they could drop bombs on Krakow, Vienna, or Berlin as well. Corrupt western politicians make business with Russian oligarchs so they stop the EU plans to impose harder sanctions on Russia. I am so ashamed to be German, not for the first time. My grandfathers were soldiers, one died in a Soviet prison, the other managed to flee the Russian bombs and take our family as far west as possible. Now we're here and someday the Russians will bomb us again. In World War II at least we deserved it.)
That being said, don't blame DEV for anything. The practival DEV offers a platform that allows us to share ideas and knowledge, providing tools aimed at developers (markup editor with codepen integration and proper syntax highlighting for various programming languages) with an open-minded, inclusive, and welcoming approach unlike StackOverflow's gatekeeping snobbism or medium's arbitrariness.
It isn't. Your modesty credits you, but don't exaggerate.
Just because something isn't DEV's fault, it doesn't necessarily mean it's your fault or mine, see my rant above. There is a lot wrong with our society and our tech community, and as privileged people that do get a voice (at least on a small scale) it's also our responsibility to criticize and aim for a change (like you do).
To anyone who bothered to read to the end: don't let anything discourage you, don't get frustrated, if you have something to say, say it!
DEV is one place where we can have a say as techs, and INHU's tips can help us to do it in a way that might attract some additional audience as well.
OK so now I see why you wanted to come back to this, that is without doubt one of the most epic comments I have read.
Brutal honesty is that I have read it but I probably won't be able to respond with anywhere near as much vigour until next week!
The few bits that I will quickly mention I will certainly come back to:
Probably about 10 other really interesting talking points once I really think about it rather than just reading it.
So much to unpack here, but I will certainly find the time as soon as possible to give you the response this comment deserves (and nudge me if I forget, there really are some interesting things here I would love to chat about)! ❤
Thank you for sharing your opinion! 👏
When I read something like this I am entering dynamic read mode desperate to find when its end 🤣