sed -i -- 's/previous\]\]||\[\[random/previous]]||[[about]]||[[random/g' *.md
It seems that most people stumble on this site when they’re referred to a specific page. Since I still don’t do analytics, I don’t know whether that’s when I or a reader references a column publicly, or by twoprops’ Mastodon or Bluesky syndication, or via the Kagi small web feature.
I was looking at random sites on Kagi Small Web, and I was sometimes frustrated because I’d think a page somewhat interesting but want to know more about the site it was on: who’s writing it and what the focus and purpose was. Often, it’s hard to get that information (though some sites put it on every page). Then it occurred to me that someone who happened on a page at twoprops.net would be unlikely to be able to easily gain that knowledge. They’d have to know to click on the site title or the “Home” link at the top, then on the “about, follow, contact, what-have-you” link at the top of the home page. Seemed a bit clicky and opaque.
The first thing I did was edit the about column to put a less-verbose summary right at the top. Then I added an “about” link to the
← previous||about||random||next →
navigation tool at the bottom of every page. So if someone has made it far enough to see the end of the page, they can get more info just by clicking “about”. I don’t think that cluttered up the interface too much, and seems a kindness to casual visitors.
The sed command, at the top of this column, changed all 735 navigation footers to add the new link.
—2p