About SummaryMaster51v Dark Edition | When I retried blogging in year 2020

I wanted to have a Dark Mode blog. And in the year 2020, I had enough reasons to retry blogging. Yes, I used the word 'retry' with intention. See, I had tried creating two blogs with WordPress.com back in the college. But as the life went on, I stopped working on them.

Since my high-school days, I was fascinated by the internet and its online services. Also, I did some ICT courses. Thus, I was somewhat familiar with basic HTML and CSS.

In the degree course, we learned about C++ and Database. Although we were learning Civil Engineering, the computing languages were present in the course. You see, SummaryMaster51v D.E. had three short posts in the beginning. And I had planned to use them as my 'work samples' for the Content Writing internships.

Yet, I attempted a few internship applications and noticed some 'unfavourable' patterns. Let's jump to my conclusion:

"For the same word count, you can earn more by using the freelancing route."

Also, the number of Applicants skyrocketed in the year 2020. If I had to go through a 'selection' process anyway, then freelancing was the better option. But to become a Freelance Content Writer, you need more skills than a good understanding of English language. Also, you should know that Non-English Writing Works exist as well.

Content-First Approach and Colour Contrast

If you read white text on Pure Dark background, you may notice a blurriness when reading. Astigmatism is said to be a reality for almost half of the Earth population. So, I had to determine a shade of grey which would work well on a pure dark background. Also, the more you read about fonts, legibility and calligraphy, the more difficult it becomes, to decide your fonts.

On a personal note, I used Serif fonts with large font size of 18 pixels. Why? Because I am more of an eBook Person.

But the Sans Serif fonts can make reading, skimming and scanning faster. You can observe the Non-Content HTML elements such as buttons, banners or additional features on many websites. If your font is too large, you create a crowd of 'confusing' elements. Users have to scroll a lot just to read the second paragraph.

Too tiny, too narrow, too thick, too fancy, too formal... fonts can ruin the reading experience for your users.

Familiar fonts are easier to read. But Calibri and Times New Roman are over-used. Because most people use smartphones these days, Roboto and Open Sans are better options. And I did not use them for the first six months.

Theme and Layout

Originally, I was happy with the default theme and layout. But the more I thought about the designs of other websites, the more I wanted to experiment. By combining my skills of basic HTML and inline CSS, I created some custom HTML objects to improve the Site Navigation.

I am especially grateful to the basic CSS ideas, like z-index and position: fixed.

I have been modifying the site design by rearranging HTML objects, experimenting with sizes and adding new features. Sometimes, you have to remove some feature to increase your Loading Speed. Also, not every feature will work same on a laptop and a smartphone.

On Blogger.com, you have the 'Responsive' themes, like Contempo, Essential, Empirio and such. Thus, your site appears the same on a laptop and a phone for most of the part. But in a Simple Theme and its derivative themes, the website changes a lot when viewed on a phone. It's good in a way. Because you can show two sidebars on a laptop. A phone has vertical display; thus, a different layout helps a lot.

Still, it's best to have both sites appear the same on any device from SEO point of view. And just like everything else, these ideas are always under debate.

Whenever the Search Engines upgrade the algorithms, a lot of SEO techniques increase or decrease in their importance. So, nothing is 'constant' in this industry of Content Creation and Content Marketing. The same is valid for the Designing Trends. Be it the website designs or graphic designs.

Thus, there is no such thing as a Perfect or Best theme. Every design style has its fans and critics. And at the end of the day, if the readers find your website difficult to use, navigate and read; all the Design Philosophy is as good as nonsense.

Ideally, I like the 50 to 90% variation for the colours and shades. If the shade of font colours varies from 30 to 60% from the background colour, I go for normal to thick fonts. For high contrast combination, I like the thin fonts with a modern feel. Again, this is best on my own experience. Also, if the users use the full screen brightness (100%) or zero screen brightness, no amount of Colour-pairing can help your users.

You might already know that the same settings can 'feel' different, depending on your surroundings. If you stand in the window at afternoon with a clear sky, the high brightness of your device can help you. But, this depends on whether you face the window or the walls.

And if the sky is full of clouds, and it's raining, your will 'feel' the need to use medium or low brightness. Similar experience is true for the shadows and less-bright rooms.

Today's SummaryMaster51v Dark Edition

At the time of writing this, I have replaced the Feedburner subscribe widget. You can start using follow.it for email collection. Telegram and Feed Subscription tools. The original blog had an additional background color. I removed it for a better sense of space around my current layout.

Yes, I use Roboto and Open Sans for the main content. But I did not change some theme aspects. Over-customization can distract you from your major task... of writing.

I can describe it a lot more. But it would be better if you visit and explore my first "involved" Blogspot site yourself.

Akp51v Blogspot Central