Categories–A Blogger’s Bridge

I keep publishing posts without categories. I don’t suppose it matters, really, but it’s so annoying when I realise and have to go and update. OK. It’s not that big a crisis, really. Still, if you’re as impetuous as I am, you’ll know the frustration of getting it wrong!

So why do we need categories, anyway? First, I think it’s a mark of respect for our readers. After all, who wants to trawl through dozens (hundreds?) of posts with the latest recipes until they find their article on car mechanics? Who wants to read all that poetry when there is more exciting information available about the local music scene?

So how do we go about remembering to file our articles in the correct categories? I guess it’s a matter of discipline; the discipline of proof-reading. The thing is, if I am already in the habit of proof-reading my article, surely I should include the title area, which should include the categories and tags. This takes practice, of course. After all, I would venture to suggest that the majority of bloggers are not professional journalists. Most of us have other things to do with our time. Blogging is our way of relaxing and sharing with the wider community. Therefore, spending time on proof-reading seems to be a pointless exercise.

Yet it makes sense to use categories. Think about it. How many of us keep the tea and spanners together? How many of us keep our paperwork in the freezer? Not deliberately, anyway. Surely, we want to make sure that we can find our articles, even if no one else reads them!

Categories bridge the gap between our keyboards and our memories. We work hard to bring our articles to publication. The least we can do is make it easy for people to find them.

So, from now on, I am going to try to get into the habit of assigning at least one category and one tag before I start typing. That way, I should at least have some idea where to look.