In gopher space I've seen a variety of phlog post headers, text file headers, or whatever you want to call them. I'd like to look at a few of the styles people have come up with. Many people have no header, and several folks use a very basic header or one similar to those below; the one's I've pasted are by no means comprehensive. Here are a few, with some slashes to break things up before each username. At the end, I have a few more things to say as well. //////////////////////// headers ////////////////////////// //// dubst3pp4's header: BACK AT WORK 2018-04-10 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- //// ja's header: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- core 21 Apr 2018 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- //// rpod's header: On world creation -=20180423=- //// tomasino's header: ---------------------------------------- Poison Sumac April 27th, 2018 ---------------------------------------- //// logout's header: Notice: You can send me comments to my e-mail: logout128@gmail.com or leave a message in guestbook accessible from top-level menu. -------------------------------- :: 2017/11/28 :: Why does this gopher hole look different? 2018-04-27 ___H_o_l_y_m_o_l_y__f_i_x_e_s________________________________________ //// kvothe's header: [kvothe // phlog // 2018.04.28: a fun night out.] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ //// nydel's header: --------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- 2018.02.22 ----------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- //// ckeen's header: 2018-04-27 ___H_o_l_y_m_o_l_y__f_i_x_e_s________________________________________ //// solderpunk's header: Chiptune musings ---------------- //// rach's header: ======================================================================== 2018-Apr-15 Blowing the Cloud Away ======================================================================== //// strixy's header: ---------------------------------------- Gone Meta October 05th, 2017 ---------------------------------------- //// sysdharma's header: -------------------------------------------- Being prepared 2018.04.27 22:17:22 CEST -------------------------------------------- //// yargo's header: gopherlog mirror // 18-3-18 //// zelbrium's header: IMAP and the Details of Receiving Email Aidan Shafran October 15th, 2017 //// ricos header: 14.02.2017 This post is about an interactive fiction game. Zigamus ======== //// chals header: The singularity of cron jobs Wednesday Jan 17 9:50:27 2018 ------------------------------ //// dbucklin's header: From: dbucklin@sdf.org Date: 2018-04-23 Subject: Evernote Extraction Part II - Vimwiki Inception //// jirka's header: New watches =========== //// jzp's header: Leggo my ego Published on Friday, March 2nd, 2018 //// cat has the date in YYYY-MM-DD, and some ascii art. //// wlsn's header is simply the date in YYYYMMDD format. //// crc uses a date and a row of 64 dashes //// papa uses a footer, YYYY/M/DD and username. //// bradmac has a footer instead, YYYY-MM-DD and email. //////////////////////// thoughts ///////////////////////// If I wanted to spend more time on this text file, I would take these and organize them by visual type. For myself, at least, I can see three main styles: 1. Lines- reguardless of the characters used, and the spacing, these headers are using the idea of lines to break things up and make their headers more distinct. 2. Centering - these users are centering text to make it stand out as a header. 3. Art - a few users are including ascii art as a part of every phlog post, to have a clear visual indicator reminding the reader where they are in gopher space. People are also tending to include dates frequently, titles a little less frequently, and contact info even less often. Justification also looks somewhat common. I started this file and exercise because I'm used to seeing these headers, and I was reflecting on whether or not I ought to mimic one or create one or not use one. Quite specifically, I was thinking that I might be able to make my circumlunar.space phlog more focused if I started to use a header in each post indicating which of my main subjects the post was about. This phlog is, as listed, about: ART, WRITING, MUSIC, LANGUAGE, AND MORE My original thought was to use a header similar to ckeen's, which might look like: 2018-05-01 ___W_R_I_T_I_N_G___________________________________________ Mine would be 60 characters wide, because I'm stubborn and lazy. The header line wouldn't have an actual title, but rather an indication of the subject matter in general. I also really like ja's header. If I were to use that style my headers might look like: ----------------------------------------------------------- Writing 01 May 2018 ----------------------------------------------------------- Again, 60 columns. I think I prefer uppercase for the first letter of the subject word. Finally, the last option I was considering was kvothe's setup, which for me might look something like: [ tfurrows@circumlunar.space // 2018.05.01 // Writing ] ----------------------------------------------------------- This, obviously, has the benefit of showing quite a bit of information about the post, with a width that is mostly predictable (it would vary only based on the subject. Now that I think about it, the other benefit of this style, for me at least, would be that I could use it across all of my gopher holes, and the reader would be able to quickly see which hole they were reading on. A variation on kvothe and ja's headers could include another line, and maybe some centering: ----------------------------------------------------------- [ tfurrows@circumlunar.space // 2018.05.01 // Writing ] ----------------------------------------------------------- I'm not sure if the two lines are necessary; I could see it as valuable if the reader is using a client that doesn't clear the screen between files/pages, such as VF-1 or sacc, but for users of lynx or UMN's client, it might not matter as much. My last consideration is screen readers. I don't use one myself, but I have played with them a little. I'm not sure how they deal with lots of dashes and other characters, but I would be a bit concerned with a messy header such as the one above. The kvothe/ckeen mixed header really is suited to people with sight. One of the really, really cool things about gopher is that it's well suited to those with visual impairement. I kind of hate to damage that, and so I'll try one more style: ----------------------------------------------------------- Writing, tfurrows (circumlunar.space), 5/1/2018 ----------------------------------------------------------- You'll note that I removed the @ symbol, to avoid confusion with my phlog host and any email addresses I may use. The host is just the gopher server, not an email or contact info. I also rearranged things a bit, at an attempt to gain more clarity. I know I can't make "the perfect header," and that many headers are just fine. I also know that having no header is a great option, and I could just leave things as-is. But as I'm in the mood, I'm going to go for the above and see how I like it.