Comments on: Giving up categories http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/04/28/giving-up-categories/ Jeff Nolan's take on innovation, entrepreneurship, tech and stuff that interests me Thu, 17 May 2012 21:05:23 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Tom Raftery http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/04/28/giving-up-categories/comment-page-1/#comment-1746 Tom Raftery Mon, 01 May 2006 17:23:18 +0000 http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/04/28/giving-up-categories/#comment-1746 Jeff, Categories offer another function not yet mentioned - each category has its own rss feed - so if I only want to subscribe to the stuff you post about SAP, for example, I can simply subscribe to http://jeffnolan.com/wp/category/sap/feed, and I don't see any other posts in my rss reader. Cheers, Tom Jeff,

Categories offer another function not yet mentioned – each category has its own rss feed – so if I only want to subscribe to the stuff you post about SAP, for example, I can simply subscribe to http://jeffnolan.com/wp/category/sap/feed, and I don’t see any other posts in my rss reader.

Cheers,

Tom

]]> By: Jeffrey Osborne http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/04/28/giving-up-categories/comment-page-1/#comment-1695 Jeffrey Osborne Fri, 28 Apr 2006 20:09:19 +0000 http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/04/28/giving-up-categories/#comment-1695 Categories help new users to quickly determine the general range of content on a blog. This process may happen on or near the users' subconscious perception. I think it's a good idea to offer these navigational signposts. Categories help new users to quickly determine the general range of content on a blog. This process may happen on or near the users’ subconscious perception. I think it’s a good idea to offer these navigational signposts.

]]> By: robert Hacker http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/04/28/giving-up-categories/comment-page-1/#comment-1694 robert Hacker Fri, 28 Apr 2006 20:00:50 +0000 http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/04/28/giving-up-categories/#comment-1694 Categories are useful to prospective and new readers of the blog. Think of it as the customer acquisition cost. Categories are useful to prospective and new readers of the blog. Think of it as the customer acquisition cost.

]]> By: Zoli Erdos http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/04/28/giving-up-categories/comment-page-1/#comment-1692 Zoli Erdos Fri, 28 Apr 2006 19:50:39 +0000 http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2006/04/28/giving-up-categories/#comment-1692 I think they serve different purposes.  Tags are by far more granular, can identify one or a few specific articles you've posted.  Chances are, if you write about MySQL, or Socialtext, you will tag your post specifically with those names, not just the larger category.   But if I want to see what you wrote on Open Source or Wikis, I will use the categories. In fact the list of categories has a role in itself, giving a new reader a first glance of what subject matters you normally write about.   I just got off the phone with someone who I advised to move his entire website on a blog platform (a'la Union Ventures, Texas VC, Return Path ..etc).  In that scenario <a href="http://www.zoliblog.com/blog/_archives/2006/3/4/1797794.html" rel="nofollow">categories become even more important</a>. I think they serve different purposes.  Tags are by far more granular, can identify one or a few specific articles you’ve posted.  Chances are, if you write about MySQL, or Socialtext, you will tag your post specifically with those names, not just the larger category.   But if I want to see what you wrote on Open Source or Wikis, I will use the categories.
In fact the list of categories has a role in itself, giving a new reader a first glance of what subject matters you normally write about.   I just got off the phone with someone who I advised to move his entire website on a blog platform (a’la Union Ventures, Texas VC, Return Path ..etc).  In that scenario categories become even more important.

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