We recently added two subdomains to hackaday.com
- LIFE.hackaday.com : learn tips and tricks to make your life better.
- HANDMADE.hackaday.com : Celebrating craftsmanship
We thought we would share our thoughts and goals with these wonderful additions.
Over the years, Hackaday has grown considerably. Hacking has also changed considerably and can mean so very many things. Lets face it though, hackaday is a blog about tech hacking. That’s what you’re here for, and that’s what we want to give you.
We are bursting at the seams with these things that we really want to share with you but aren’t necessarily tech hacking. Things like “lifehacks” and amazing videos of extreme skill. We decided that we would be doing a disservice to put all of this on hackaday all the time. We decided that what we should do, is focus hackaday on what it has always been, a tech hacking blog.
We are creating these new areas because we just really love sharing cool things with you. We really want to share them, and we think many of you will enjoy reading them too. We’re basing this off of the number of requests and tips that have fallen into these external categories over the years.
We also hope that this will make long time hackaday readers happy to know that hackaday will be staying focused on the old stuff.
in the future:
We’ve discussed making the main site have ALL the content, and creating a subdomain called TECH that would have the normal hackaday stuff. We all think that this can wait. Right now, we just want to work on getting everything running smoothly while focusing on how all of these changes can improve hackaday.com
picture courtesy of asyrum design.
I think this is probably a good thing. I know that’ll mean overall less content on this portion, but it’ll be of better quality and be something I’m more interested in reading.. though some of the life hacks are also very interesting to me. It would be cool to have an aggregate page where I can see all of the different sites’ posts put together
Yes, can you make a special subdomain ,that features everything, and always full articles , not read the rest…
like maybe therest.hackaday.com
HaD needs a COTD like Jalopnik for just this reason.
If this site works the way I would write it (and I suspect it may be) then the whole article is probably loaded from the database and truncated using javascript. Now, I’ll keep on assuming here, the article is probably contained in a tag, using jquery it’d be relatively simple to rig it so that if you click the [read the rest] link it extends the containing so you can read the entire article. It’d be a nice compromise with the compact frontpage and it would also prevent my two main problems with clicking through. If you’re interested they’re double loading (and all the time involved) while surfing on a mobile device and losing my place in the text when the page reloads.
That’s 1.2p.
aaargh the input on this removes html tages, when I say tag above I meant div tags.
Proven false by looking at the page source. The truncation occurs server-side.
It doesn’t really make a difference, the data is still loaded from the database. It’d just be a matter of sending everything to the main page, then truncate it with javascript. Then everything else as above.
Unless the intention behind the truncation is to cut down on the bandwith usage, in which case I’m just talking bollocks.
I wonder if the current setup is for the comment system. I know some comment systems are sometimes connected to PAGE ID and its rather iffy to get the buggers to work properly otherwise. It could be that the current system is setup to accommodate such a system. I guess to really understand we would have to have knowledge of the back-end of le awesome HAD. Hey, ya know I don’t mind the business it be all good on my end.
Truncated articles still pisses me off which is why I very rarely click any of the article links.
I like the truncated articles. It’s really not that hard to click through to read the rest if it’s one you are interested, and if it isn’t then it doesn’t take up so much space. For the articles I’m interested in, I’d end up clicking through anyway to read the comments.
Aye I click through to comments all the time too. I just hate having to find my place again and reloading on me phone.
I feel like it wouldn’t be too hard to make a third-party version of this. Just get all of the *.hackaday home pages, parse out all of the full article links, get those pages, parse out the content, format it, aggregate it, and render it to a single page. You could probably do it all in one pretty simple PHP script.
I wonder how their advertising is tracked, I wouldn’t want them to lose out on their income just for my ease of usage.
If you wanted to be nice, you could put some ads on your version of the final page that all used *their* API key. :)
If you follow the pattern and add “blinkenlights.hackaday.com” you could halve the number of posts on the main site ;-)
When does the madness end? ;-)
(I was thinking that you could end up having the same subdomains as the main tag/”filed under” – maybe that way you could have a flashinganledwithanarduino.hackaday.com just to avoid the ranting by some readers! :o)
organizing stuff? what’s this nonsense? [/sarcasm]
Works for me! Not sure why everyone gets so grumpy about stuff like this…means less links that I skip over on the main site, and hopefully more content in total.
exactly the goal
Where is my LEARN.hackaday?
sounds good to me. a site where all of the cool things are seperated from the how tos… (sp?)
+2
Seems silly if I’m honest. What’s wrong with the categories? —->
that will be fixed soon.
No no, my point is, why can’t these subdomains just be in categories? :P
There’s…categories?!
I’ll mention it before anyone else does: arduino.hackaday
that is still staying under tech. Even if you don’t like arduino, others do and it is tech.
as long as it doesn’t turn into arduino.tech.hackaday, rpi.tech.hackaday, fpga.tech.hackaday, xbox.tech.hackaday…
nope, all tech is staying as one site. We have categories you can choose from within tech.
It’s great if you want to separate out things into categorical sub-domains. I’m all for it. Change is annoying to some, but if it’s needed, it’s needed.
My only problem is that there’s an existing void to fill in terms of rapidity of content. I know many, many out there are looking for reliable, fast-updating sources of tinkering/hacking news. Hackaday is obviously the go-to in this sector, but it’s still very slow compared to other news sources. This is understandable, of course, but my only reservation is that it’s only going to get slower. I’m all for these new sub-HADs, though, I think they’ll be interesting.
this shouldn’t slow us down at all.
I suppose user accounts would be a whole different beast to implement, otherwise, I would suggest story classification, and then let people view feeds by classification, as well as make their default view whatever specific set of feeds they like to read (as well as maybe putting in an option of full summary vs. truncated summary)
I like the idea a lot, I think it’ll work well. As the “hacking” community expands and evolves it makes sense for a hacking blog to expand and evolve with it. Looking forward to it!
Will all notices keep comming in the same rss chanel?
Or will I have to add another 2 subscriptions in my reader?
rss is seperate. twitter and facebook all go out the same.
I like the idea of throwing everything under the main domain, then breaking out things under different subdomain categories. There’s just going to be some growing pains in the changeover process, and other readers just need to learn to adapt.
I don’t know. It seems OK to do it this way, as long as the main site doesn’t change. But you have to watch out for diluting your brand. Maybe this will make things even better, but your current success has been due to your past focus on technology hacks. I worry that, unless you guys are already sitting around with nothing to do, curating two other feeds and creating new content for all three will spread you really thin. You’ll become just another copy-paste blog out of necessity. I’m glad that you’ve made changes like this before, and been smart enough to reverse the ones that you recognized didn’t work. This might not be one of those problematic changes, and I like the idea…best of luck!
think of it this way. This content was coming to hackaday no matter what. By making the two other feeds, we’ve allowed for the main site to remain more true to its roots.
translation:
As much fun as it’s been to post really cool stuff where people make sharks with fricken laser attached etc.
that only attracts a certain type of reader.
ad revenue pays the bills, so hackaday needs to attract more readers, however, unlike most business they do actually understand their core reader base or at least the vocal ones (elitist tech geek) and know that if they post a how to make dried herbs by hanging them over a coat hanger in a cool dry place thing to hackaday, that the comments will only consist of What-no-arduino, or, I could have done it better with a micro a heating element, a high current swittching FET, a heating coil and a fan…
It might be that the elitist tech geek thinks that herb drying is for ten year old girls, but their added page views and click throughs will increase the revenue.
sorry i’m not on this bandwagon. going from one subtomain to another to another is just annoying and will probably cause me to look elsewhere for fun hacks. I’ve submitted here and been around for quite some time but again this is just annoying.
I can assure you that your whining will not be missed.
Maybe you’re misunderstanding… the tech hacks go here, just like always. Now, if you want some new stuff that we didn’t want to dilute our tech hacks with, you can find it in these other places. You should be happy. The alternative was that all the new stuff just goes on hackaday.com and you have to dig for tech hacks.
I submit the idea of bandwagon.hackaday.com
As a place to put all the me too, I could have done it better, look at my flashing lights, etc type projects.
I’m sure that whenever you post one project you will get a handfull of emails saying, I did that too, out hackaspace did this, my mate did it like that etc…
more seriously.
Personally I’d prefer 1 more sub domain.
Tech .hackaday.com
post tech stuff to tech, life hacks to life hacks and handmade to handmade.
aggregate all content to http://www.hackaday.com
then specialists/elitists can go and look at what they want, whilst I only need to look at one site.
I like the idea but I hope you guys don’t over extend yourself sifting threw all this stuff. I think each site should have its own dedicated mod so that the HAD main mods can feature content over here. the death of good blog sites is under staffing. that doesn’t mean that you can’t cross post between sites but at least one person should specialize in something unless they are so excited about a tip they will burst if they don’t post it on the main site =P its an administration thing though, and what do i know. I love the site and the new subs so I hope you guys keep the cool stuff coming! good luck and have fun!
I don’t know… I’ll reserve judgement until the subdomains have been established for a while. I’m kind of skeptical though. I think that one of the great things about the whole ‘maker movement’ has been how people from different disciplines have come together, found that they are not so different and work on projects together. The best projects in my opinion contain both mechanical and electronic hardware, software and arts ‘n crafts all in one.
I guess such a project would still show up on the main site so it’s not so much that I think the content might suffer as it’s effect. I think maybe it is a good thing if people are ‘forced’ to at least get a glance at what other kinds of hackers are doing. I know some people like to whine but it’s not that hard to glance through a list and click the ones you want to read more about. I just hope this doesn’t help enable people to stay inside their little boxes.
just had an idea… if you ran advertisements all the way down the comments section, you’d make more money, which means more people, which means faster input because each subdomain would have a team. i always read through the comments because a lot of times there’s better input there than on the actual article. so even if we don’t look at all the ads, the page is getting hits, and advertising, while it’s kinda evil being that it’s trying to make us buy things we don’t need and all… it’s an effective way of makin moneys…
Personally I’ve always liked hackaday (my everyday site that is apart of my routine) the way it is, and to me seeing content that I didn’t want to see was a mere 2 seconds to flip through but I always wanted more content. Now with the different sub domains you can get more content about stuff that is interesting with like minded individuals with less trolls in the comments. I look at this as, I’m interested in DIY content and that goes from making to hacking with a thin line and now more content can be posted by people who will organize it for you. The only thing I see as a annoyance is changing habits but we are all used to doing that…Windows x.
Note: I don’t use rss readers because I like visiting the sites themselves, it’s less efficient but it’s what I like.
I like the new subdomains! I’ve already posted some comments on the LIFE site.
Keep them coming!
That logo graphic makes me wonder if it’s possible to create an equation to create a fractal image of the Hackaday logo that when zoomed in has the logo repeated around all its edges.
http://handmade.hackaday.com/ is awesome! I love watching master craftpeople do their thing.
Hmm. Could we have weekly one-line summaries of the subdomain categories posted to the main site? Out-of-phase, perhaps.
that’s the plan! Maybe like the top 5 from each, not all of them.
I’m a toolmaker by trade. So I have been a “Maker” my whole life, before these young newcomers decided they were special because they pronounce themselves makers.
I need some of what they have, electronic knowledge, circuit design, etc.
And they need some of what I have, materials knowledge, manufacturing ability, engineering skills, etc.
To make us all better.
Despite your observations, having “handmade” and “life” sections was (and is) good for all who visit hackaday–from electronic hackers, to toolmakers, to housewives who want to make things and others who follow projects, observing and learning from others.
Balance is needed, but I think you do a disservice to the young “electronic” hackers who come here to learn, if they cannot see new handmade items anymore. They need balance as well as you.
If “electronic-type” hackers are in charge here, and only place value on the newest, latest “electronic” device hack, then by all means, remove anything but electronic hacks and narrow your focus as tight as you wish. It is your site, made to please you.
Can there not be a confluence of mechanical and electronic?
By removing handmade, I am afraid you are saying no.