I have to say that I’m pretty happy with this digital garden as it stands right now.
It does what I want it to do. It gives me a place to write, think, and put ideas out into the world without overthinking them. [What is a Digital Garden]
But… I keep getting ideas.
Not big, grand plans. Just little things that I might add, change, or experiment with over time. Some of these will happen soon, some later, and some probably never.
That’s the point, I think. This isn’t a finished thing. So with that in mind, here’s a running list of where this might go next.
Things I’m Thinking About
Newsletter
Some people might want updates when new posts go live. I’ve been looking at Buttondown, and it feels like it would fit nicely without turning this into a “marketing” thing.
RSS feed
This is an easy win. I just need to stop putting it off and actually switch it on properly.
Planted and tended dates
I like the idea of explosing the date any post is created (Planted) and modified (Tended), it would just give the reader and idea of the age of the piece and nothing else. Now Live. Not going to lie, it took a lot of time to get the Tendered date sorted, which was actually my error as it seemed to be giving spurious dates, but I forgot that I changed some labels around 😂
Comments
I’m in two minds about this. This space is mainly for me getting ideas out of my head, but I know some people will want to respond. Digital gardens don’t always lean that way, so this might stay off. Definately staying off, I don't want Comments on this, it's my space.
Analytics
I don’t want to get obsessed with numbers, but I do want a rough idea of what people find useful. If something connects, I’d like to build on it rather than ignore it. Live
Bidirectional links
This is a big part of the digital garden idea. If a post links to another post, or something links back in, I’d like to show that connection. It helps ideas feel joined up rather than scattered. I still have no idea how I am going to achieve this.
A “Now” page
A simple page that shows what I’m doing or thinking about right now. No polish, just a snapshot. Now Live
Best of the Garden
A small, changing list of posts that are worth a read. Not everything, just the ones I think have something about them. Live - they are on the homepage as "Pinned" and "Best Of".
Topic pages
Turning some labels into proper pages, so related posts live together in a more intentional way.
Updating old posts
Going back and adding notes to older posts when my thinking changes. Less “publish and forget”, more “publish and grow”.
I might also move towards a simple structure where posts are tagged as #seed (a quick idea), #sprout (something taking shape but not quite there yet), and #flower (something I’m happy to call finished).
It feels like a natural fit for a digital garden, and it would give me an easy way to find posts that need a bit more work.
Short notes
Not everything needs to be a full post. Quick thoughts, ideas, or links with a bit of commentary. Live in sense that I have started writing shorter posts ... germs of ideas (or indeed seeds)
A proper search page
Blogger already has search, but giving it its own page would make it feel more like part of the site. Now Live and part of the core navbar.
Blogroll / interesting people
A page of sites and people I rate. Feels like a nice nod to the wider web.
Changelog
A simple log of changes to the site. Small tweaks, experiments, things that worked and things that didn’t.
This isn’t a roadmap. It’s just a list of things that feel interesting right now.
If you’re reading this in the future, you’ll be able to see which ones actually made it.
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