09Aug

Monthly Archives - What Purpose Do They Serve?

I often see blogs 'proudly' displaying their archives by month on their sidebar and am drawn to wonder - why bother? Does anyone ever click on these links to see what someone wrote 10, 11 or 12 months ago? I know I don't.

In fact, I don't think I ever have. So what's the point of them? I mean they must serve a useful purpose, right? Perhaps it's just me, as I just can't fathom it.

The whole point of blogs is that they're about the here and now. I barely have time to keep up with what people have been writing over the last couple of days, and I hardly ever go back and read old posts on someone's blog unless I arrive there via a search engine.

So why add all this visual clutter to your site when it serves no useful purpose?

On the other hand, most web design blogs have them, so there must be a reason that valuable real estate is being taken up by this 'useless' information - no?

I am always especially surprised when I see monthly archives listed on someone's home page or even listed on an individual entry page.

Surely there is a better use that part of the page can be put to? Serving ads, listing your blogroll, del.icio.us links, recent comments, photos of your family/pet, almost anything, in fact, would be better.

The only reason I can think of as to why people have monthly archive links is to show how long your blog has been around, and thus to show some level of permanence and thus credibility. Maybe that's sufficient reason - not for me, however.

Until then, I'll just stick with listing my archives by category and guessing when I wrote my first post.

Footnote: If you insist on listing out your archives, then Keith's archive page is about as good a design for one as you're going to find.

Posted on: August 9, 2005 | 11 Comments

11 Comments Posted

the only reason I can see is if you're looking for a previous entry but can't remember the title, but have a general idea when it was written.

1. Posted by Chris K on August 10, 2005

Chris, I guess that could be a use. However, wouldn't it be easier to search your site - either with your site search engine or Google if you didn't have one?

2. Posted by Christian Watson on August 10, 2005

Having the same concerns, but not looking to be an iconoclast, I simply hid my monthly archive links in a tab box behind my recent entries links.

I still have far too many links in my sidebar, but at least it's simplified the display somewhat.

Take a look:
Receptacle

3. Posted by jason on August 10, 2005

Jason - wow, you do like your sidebar tabs! Like your site too, by the way, especially the way you do your 'filed under' for each post.

I hope you don't mind me mentioning that a few things struck me when I visited your site:

1) Do you get any revenue from your Adsense ads that are at the bottom of your sidebar stuff? If you're going to have them on the sidebar, why not stick them at the top where they might get more clicks (or did you already try this)? Feel free to tell me to mind my own business! ;-)

2) As a first time visitor to your site I wanted to get a feel for what you write about so I looked for your category archives. I couldn't find them, however. My 2c is that you might consider replacing your monthly archives with these, or at least adding them in too.

4. Posted by Christian Watson on August 10, 2005

How great minds think alike!

You've read my mind Christian - how'd you do that?

5. Posted by James Watson on August 12, 2005

James, must be something to do with having the same last name...

6. Posted by Christian Watson on August 12, 2005

I always read the archives.

7. Posted by Borges on August 15, 2005

Borges, I'd be interested to know more about your browsing habits. Do you go to a site to read a specific piece of content and then browse through the rest of the site?

8. Posted by Christian Watson on August 15, 2005

I read them too. Some web design blogs have killer archives with tips I spent days searching for. :)

9. Posted by Sugar on September 07, 2005

When I was new on the standards scene and was playing catch up I remember useing the archives. I ended up read every single ALA article

10. Posted by Wesley Walser on September 08, 2005

Monthly archives come from an earlier era, where blogs were supposed to be journals--an online way of getting to know a person, if you will. Continuity was important: a person should be able to log on, see what's happening today, and then--if they're interested--follow the trail back, piece by essential piece, to where the online chronicle began. The idea was that your blog was about personality, about revealing a story.

That is NOT what blogs have become. Instead, blogs have become places one goes to for articles, links, and other relevant information. Everyone's bought into the idea that you go to a blog due to interest in a subject, not a person. If the personality behind a blog is famous, it tends to be because he or she is an expert.

If you buy into the new era of blogs, I could not agree more with the post: date-based archiving is dead.

11. Posted by Nate on February 28, 2006