I have been thinking about the more tag in blogs quite a bit recently since I want to switch to using a base theme for all of my blogs. I use the more tag from time to time and even have one blog whose template only displays previews of everything on the main page and automatically includes the more tag for each post.
I hate when people use them just hoping to drive up traffic. I am not really sure why I care, but for some reason it bugs me when I click on the more only to find two more sentences with the punchline.
I like when people use them to keep monster posts off of the front page. I hate scrolling through some 3000 word special post.
I also like when they are automated and leave the front page with consistantly sized blocks of story previews. It is a look that I enjoy seeing for whatever reason. Regular readers will not have to continuously click on posts since they will have been reading all along and will know which ones they have already read. Visitors from search engines or links from other posts will normally be sent to the full post and will never notice the previews on the main page anyway. People subscribed to the feeds also get the full post.
So, for now, I am planning on updating the templates of all of my blogs over the next couple weeks. They will contain the automated previews on the front page. They will all use the same base template at first and I will eventually customize them all. I’ll start with unique color schemes for each and then eventually get some unique banners for each.
What do you think about more tags? Good, bad, or indifferent?
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