Writing Good CSS

I’m always trying to learn new things. However, I also try to learn ways to improve the way I already do things. Both at my full-time gig and for client side-projects, the thing I’ve always wanted to improve on was my CSS. I’ve always felt I’m pretty good when it comes to CSS, but I’ve always found it messy to read, and often hard to maintain.

What I’ve been trying to do, is find out what makes good, readable, maintainable CSS. I think I’ve come up with (and found) some ways to make this all possible.

The Problems

There are several things that bother me about CSS. The most common annoyances I have are:

• repeating common code


• browser prefixes


• lack of comments


• over qualified selectors


• poor class names

When it comes to my personal projects, I take full responsibility for my code. I rarely comment my CSS, and often treat it as an afterthought. That’s just wrong.

For a long time I figured that my class names are “semantic” and it’s just me doing things, so there’s no need to explain the code, or little “hacks”, or anything.

Coming back to code on a long-standing project quickly proves this theory to be very wrong.

When it comes to code at work, I can’t take all the blame. In fact, part of the issue is the number of people who have had their hands in there.

Currently our team has seven of us who at some point have written CSS for our sites, with another 6-8 that have come and gone over the years. Each member of the team has varying levels of knowledge and ability regarding CSS.

As well, as is often the case with long-standing projects, some of the code is old. A lot of it is pre-CSS3, or pre-whatever-trend-was-cool-5-years-ago. In both cases, there were often different ways of doing things at the time it was written, and in some cases, a natural lack of knowledge.

I’ve also learned that some programmers will insist that their code is “self-documenting”. If you’re unfamiliar with that term, it translates to “my code has no comments”.

Solutions

While nothing is perfect, I believe there are things we can do to improve our code. I discovered CSS Guidelines by Harry Roberts a while back. Itt holds true to the promise of “High-level advice and guidelines for writing sane, manageable, scalable CSS”.

Comments

While CSS Guidelines gives specifics on comment styles, I personally just try to put something in to tell future me what I was thinking. I start every component with a comment representing the title, them details on the intent of the component.

When using a preprocessor I style specific comments to either be included with the CSS, or skipped by the preprocessor. I’m still working on this part, and trying to get into the habit of putting something, anything.

Object-orientation

Object-orientation is a programming paradigm that breaks big things into small things. From Wikipedia:

Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm that represents the concept of ‘objects’ […] which are usually instances of classes, [and] are used to interact with one another to design applications and computer programs.

When it comes to CSS, we call this object-oriented CSS, or OOCSS. The basic concept breaks apart the structure of the element, from the skin of the element. This means we can easily reuse any recurring design patterns, without necessarily reusing the specific implementation details at the same time. OOCSS focuses heavily on the reuse of code, which makes us faster, and can keep the size of our codebase down.

I think of structural aspects like skeletons; common frames that give constructs known as object. These objects are simple design patterns that are free from any cosmetics. We abstract the structure from a set of components in order to have a generic object.

We then optionally add the “skin” layer to our structure so we can give the abstractions a specific look and feel. For example (taken from CSS Guidelines):

/**
 * A simple, design-free button object. Extend this object with a `.btn--*` skin
 * class.
 */
.btn 
 display: inline-block;
 padding: 1em 2em;
 vertical-align: middle;


/**
 * Positive buttons" skin. Extends `.btn`.
 */
.btn--positive 
 background-color: green;
 color: white;


/**
 * Negative buttons" skin. Extends `.btn`.
 */
.btn--negative 
 background-color: red;
 color: white;

Here we see how the .btn class simply provides structure to an element, but has nothing concerning cosmetics. We can extend .btn with a second class, like .btn--positve to give that element more specific styling:

<button class="btn btn--positive">OK</button>

I much prefer to use multiple classes in my HTML, over using something like @extend in a preprocessor. This gives me more visibility in my HTML allowing me to quickly see what classes are applied to my element. It also means that my classes are not tightly bound to other styles in my CSS. It sort of helps OOCSS following the concepts of encapsulation.

BEM

BEM (Block, Element, Modifier), is a front-end methodology developed at Yandex. BEM is actually a very complete methodology, and I honestly haven’t dug into all the details, but what I’m concerned with is simply the naming convention.

I’m using BEM-like naming conventions. The concept is the same, but the exact syntax may differ slightly.

BEM places classes into three groups:

1. Block: the root or base of a component


2. Element: a component inside of a Block


3. Modifier: a variation or extension of the Block

A very basic analogy (not an example):

.dog 
.dog__tail 
.dog--small 

Elements are delimited with two underscores (__), and modifiers are delimited with two hyphens (–).

In the above analogy, we see that .dog is the Block, the root of element. Then, .dog__tail is an Element, it is a smaller part of a .dog Block. Lastly, .dog--small is Modifier, a specific variation of the .dog Block. You can also apply Modifiers to Elements. for example, we could have .dog__tail--short to again, specify a variation on the dog__tail Element.

In some cases I may want multiple words for Blocks, Elements or Modifiers. In any case, these are separated with a single hyphen (-), and classes are always written in lowercase.

Preprocessors

I’ve been spending time working CSS Preprocessors into my work flow, and so far, it’s been incredibly valuable. CSS Preprocessors take code that is written in a preprocessed language and convert them to good old CSS. They are not CSS, which means they are not bound be the same rules and limitations of CSS. While CSS is great, it doesn’t always allow us to easily do the things we’d like to do.

For example, one thing that would be really nice in CSS is variables. Maybe you want something to have the left margin of one element the same as the width of another, and suddenly someone decides that those numbers need to change. Since they’re the same number, and your layout might rely on that number, you have to change it more than one place. But with a varibale you could change it in just one place and have it reflect in the whole layout. Of course, there is a lot more to preprocessors than just variables, but that’s a start!

You obviously don’t have to use a preprocessor, but I think you’ll find most people who do, won’t go back. I know I won’t. The gain in flexibility, and increased readability are something I just can’t give up. Simply being able to use variables and mixins is enough to keep me hooked.

There are several preprocessors available, but the only two I’ve really looked at and used at all are LESS and SASS. Please take a look, and consider adding one of these to your workflow, you won’t look back.

Concluding

My real point here, is that CSS can be better. Everything can be better. Someone told me recently in a comment on a post on Reddit that “CSS doesn’t have semantics”. I wholeheartedly disagree. CSS 100%, without a doubt can be semantic.

Using OOCSS and BEM does, in fact, give your CSS a very semantic meaning. This doesn’t mean it’s easy right off the bat, but it’s well worth exploring. Combine that with CSS Preprocessors, and you have the potential for very readable, maintainable, and scalable CSS.

I’d also like to note that this not only makes your CSS (preprocessed or not) more readable, but also makes your HTML more readable, by applying semantic class names to elements.

TL;DR

Ok, maybe that was a lot – to summarize, write better CSS by doing this:

Object Oriented CSS:

• each class does one thing — it does it well, it does it right

Block, Element, Modifier (BEM) style class names:

• Block: .grid


• Element: .grid__item (2 underscores)


• Modifier: .grid--wide (2 hyphens)

Preprocessors are awesome:

• check them out: LESS – SASS
  
• or find others: 8 CSS preprocessors to speed up development time

The post Writing Good CSS appeared first on Speckyboy Web Design Magazine.

No related posts.

Writing Good CSS

Writing Tip: How to Find The Right Topic

It doesn’t take a super-sleuth to figure out that writing isn’t as hard as it’s cracked up to be. Thinking about what to write, though, is an entirely different story. Two factors come into play when choosing the kind of writing you’ll be doing on a regular basis: What you can do, and what do you want to accomplish?

IMAGE: kaboompics.com

Are you great at writing compelling fictional character stories, or are you the sort of person who finds writing non-fiction almost second nature? Do you want to write to educate, to entertain, or to make money?

Regardless of the path you choose to take, writing will certainly involve certain steps; the first step, the backbone of your work, is research. Now, while it is true that research tends to play a more critical role in non-fiction writing that it does when writing fiction, it is still important for fiction writers to understand the value of research, particularly when it comes to looking for references to base the elements of your story.

Preliminary Research

This is the part where you gather as much information as you can. When doing preliminary research, you don’t need to spend too much time reading and analyzing studies, articles, books, and even videos. All you need to do is find them and compile them for later.

IMAGE: olarte.ollie

Step 1: Identifying The Mystery

The first part of research is, of course, figuring out exactly what it is you want to write about. You’ll want to consider a topic that you can talk about for hours to days on end – preferably, something you’re passionate about. Make sure it’s a topic you have a good grasp on, though, otherwise, you’ll be writing fluff-filled pieces, and your readers will certainly notice.

The best way of identifying which topic could work well with you is by jotting down at least 10 of your interests. Then for each interest, write as much sub-topics as you can that are heavily related to their parent topic.

Once you are done doing so, pick the topic that has the most sub-topics – that is your golden topic.

Step 2: Picking up the magnifying glass

Now that you know what you want to write about, it’s time to start the actual research!

Researching doesn’t just mean gathering facts. It also means determining exactly how to write your piece in order to make it both unique and valuable. For example, if you’re interested in writing about money, don’t just stick to money as a general topic; go deeper, finding a sub-category, or a microniche, so that your book can be laser-focused.

If the main niche is Money, then its microniches (or subniches) are personal finance, investments, among others. Why not write about personal finance or investments?

Step 3: Gathering the clues

The next part of researching is spent on gathering lots of related materials. It is crucial that you do proper research, avoid inaccuracies, and make sure to nail all those tiny little details that may build up and eventually ruin a good book or article.

Gathering data may range from facts and information pertaining to your topic of choice to published works discussing topics similar to or tangentially related to yours. Note, however, that this step is akin to making a stew. You simply throw everything into the pot without doing any hard reading or analysing just yet.

All you need to do is skim through your resources and find potential references; read the titles and subheadings, perhaps even the intro and conclusion as well, and just throw them into your makeshift database if the material looks like it would fit.

On deciding what sort of materials "would fit" check out books that are similar to the topic you want to write about. Look through their table of contents to get a general idea of what the book emphasized on. Make notes and identify what all these books have in common when it comes to content, and also determine what makes each of those books unique. If this sounds like a lot of work, here are some tools to help you with this stage:

Google Scholar – if your topic requires academic search results, use Google Scholar. You will see peer-reviewed studies, books, articles, journals, and the like.

Google Search Operators – when using Google, it will do you well to learn the many operators it has so that you can get more specific results. Here’s a post on what you can do with Google Search.

YouTube – Videos are also a great source for helpful materials like how-to’s. You might be able to find a fresh outlook on topics once the way it is presented is changed.

A word on blogs

Do not immediately jump to researching using blogs, because you might catch yourself heavily relying on them. Only start looking for relevant blogs once you already have a specific (but not compulsory) outline in mind. Check out Alltop, Blog Catalog and of course Reddit for leads.

Find the posts that are closely related to your main topic and determine if they are valuable enough to use as research material.

• Does the article or post in question have lots of social media shares?


• What about comments?


• Is it one of their top performing posts?

Generally, these metrics are what you want to see, because it usually means people responded favorably towards them.

Separate good feedback from bad feedback. Check out what the readers had to say in the comments section and learn how to filter the good from the bad. Categorizing these will act as your do’s and don’ts when writing your book or article.

Keep a copy of anything that is relevant to your topic, including the link(s) (it’s research, you will need to revisit your sources a lot), compile them in the same spot and make it semi-organized – basically know where you can find what in the shortest amount of time. Once you have done compiling all there is to read about the topic, then organize your stash according to relevance.

After this stage, it’s basically just reading and reading and more reading, before you begin the process of weaving everything that works well together and discarding whatever doesn’t. Use the outline you’ve created earlier to guide you on what to focus on and what to write.

Afraid that you’ll spend too much (or too little time) researching? Don’t stress over it too much. As a matter of fact, you can complete your research in just one day and start writing the next.

Analyzing, Restructuring, and Writing

Analyze everything. Remove the not-so-relevant parts and the bad stuff. Work with what is left on your table. Then, begin mapping out all the clues like how the private eyes on television shows do it. They grab all their newspaper clippings, photos of suspects, maps, and other forms of evidence and lay it all out on a cool-looking board or wall or table.

After removing the nonessentials, draft your final outline by dividing each section using their own headlines. Be sure to note what "worked" for the readers and try to capture the same "lightning" in your own figurative bottle.

IMAGE: NetMinder IG

Grouping info by relevance will also help when it comes to writing. Once your paragraphs can flow with relevance, and the harmonious flow in your structure is established, writing will be very easy. You already have everything you need based on your preliminary research. You just have to make proper use of them – make them work for you.

Wrap Up

Note that while others prefer to research, read, and then write, then research again, that is just messy. It takes your mind away from your writing. But by researching everything first (read: compiling all the relevant data) then reading everything later (and removing the unwanted parts), you can focus on just your writing.

Lastly, there are a few other important things to keep in mind during the writing process:

1. Cite your sources properly. (Aren’t you glad you kept all those links?)


2. Base your conclusions on data from your research, i.e. things you can defend on your own in the event that questions get raised about your conclusions’ validity.


3. Learn to exercise good judgment and consider both sides of the coin before choosing what to include in your writing. An opinion that is popular is not always right.

Remember: Only write the things you can back up with credible sources. When in doubt, do without. Now, go forth and be the Sherlock Holmes of writers.

Now Read:
Researcher’s Guide To Successful Freelance Content Writing

Writing Tip: How to Find The Right Topic

Writing Tip: How to Find The Right Topic

It doesn’t take a super-sleuth to figure out that writing isn’t as hard as it’s cracked up to be. Thinking about what to write, though, is an entirely different story. Two factors come into play when choosing the kind of writing you’ll be doing on a regular basis: What you can do, and what do you want to accomplish?

IMAGE: kaboompics.com

Are you great at writing compelling fictional character stories, or are you the sort of person who finds writing non-fiction almost second nature? Do you want to write to educate, to entertain, or to make money?

Regardless of the path you choose to take, writing will certainly involve certain steps; the first step, the backbone of your work, is research. Now, while it is true that research tends to play a more critical role in non-fiction writing that it does when writing fiction, it is still important for fiction writers to understand the value of research, particularly when it comes to looking for references to base the elements of your story.

Preliminary Research

This is the part where you gather as much information as you can. When doing preliminary research, you don’t need to spend too much time reading and analyzing studies, articles, books, and even videos. All you need to do is find them and compile them for later.

IMAGE: olarte.ollie

Step 1: Identifying The Mystery

The first part of research is, of course, figuring out exactly what it is you want to write about. You’ll want to consider a topic that you can talk about for hours to days on end – preferably, something you’re passionate about. Make sure it’s a topic you have a good grasp on, though, otherwise, you’ll be writing fluff-filled pieces, and your readers will certainly notice.

The best way of identifying which topic could work well with you is by jotting down at least 10 of your interests. Then for each interest, write as much sub-topics as you can that are heavily related to their parent topic.

Once you are done doing so, pick the topic that has the most sub-topics – that is your golden topic.

Step 2: Picking up the magnifying glass

Now that you know what you want to write about, it’s time to start the actual research!

Researching doesn’t just mean gathering facts. It also means determining exactly how to write your piece in order to make it both unique and valuable. For example, if you’re interested in writing about money, don’t just stick to money as a general topic; go deeper, finding a sub-category, or a microniche, so that your book can be laser-focused.

If the main niche is Money, then its microniches (or subniches) are personal finance, investments, among others. Why not write about personal finance or investments?

Step 3: Gathering the clues

The next part of researching is spent on gathering lots of related materials. It is crucial that you do proper research, avoid inaccuracies, and make sure to nail all those tiny little details that may build up and eventually ruin a good book or article.

Gathering data may range from facts and information pertaining to your topic of choice to published works discussing topics similar to or tangentially related to yours. Note, however, that this step is akin to making a stew. You simply throw everything into the pot without doing any hard reading or analysing just yet.

All you need to do is skim through your resources and find potential references; read the titles and subheadings, perhaps even the intro and conclusion as well, and just throw them into your makeshift database if the material looks like it would fit.

On deciding what sort of materials "would fit" check out books that are similar to the topic you want to write about. Look through their table of contents to get a general idea of what the book emphasized on. Make notes and identify what all these books have in common when it comes to content, and also determine what makes each of those books unique. If this sounds like a lot of work, here are some tools to help you with this stage:

Google Scholar – if your topic requires academic search results, use Google Scholar. You will see peer-reviewed studies, books, articles, journals, and the like.

Google Search Operators – when using Google, it will do you well to learn the many operators it has so that you can get more specific results. Here’s a post on what you can do with Google Search.

YouTube – Videos are also a great source for helpful materials like how-to’s. You might be able to find a fresh outlook on topics once the way it is presented is changed.

A word on blogs

Do not immediately jump to researching using blogs, because you might catch yourself heavily relying on them. Only start looking for relevant blogs once you already have a specific (but not compulsory) outline in mind. Check out Alltop, Blog Catalog and of course Reddit for leads.

Find the posts that are closely related to your main topic and determine if they are valuable enough to use as research material.

• Does the article or post in question have lots of social media shares?


• What about comments?


• Is it one of their top performing posts?

Generally, these metrics are what you want to see, because it usually means people responded favorably towards them.

Separate good feedback from bad feedback. Check out what the readers had to say in the comments section and learn how to filter the good from the bad. Categorizing these will act as your do’s and don’ts when writing your book or article.

Keep a copy of anything that is relevant to your topic, including the link(s) (it’s research, you will need to revisit your sources a lot), compile them in the same spot and make it semi-organized – basically know where you can find what in the shortest amount of time. Once you have done compiling all there is to read about the topic, then organize your stash according to relevance.

After this stage, it’s basically just reading and reading and more reading, before you begin the process of weaving everything that works well together and discarding whatever doesn’t. Use the outline you’ve created earlier to guide you on what to focus on and what to write.

Afraid that you’ll spend too much (or too little time) researching? Don’t stress over it too much. As a matter of fact, you can complete your research in just one day and start writing the next.

Analyzing, Restructuring, and Writing

Analyze everything. Remove the not-so-relevant parts and the bad stuff. Work with what is left on your table. Then, begin mapping out all the clues like how the private eyes on television shows do it. They grab all their newspaper clippings, photos of suspects, maps, and other forms of evidence and lay it all out on a cool-looking board or wall or table.

After removing the nonessentials, draft your final outline by dividing each section using their own headlines. Be sure to note what "worked" for the readers and try to capture the same "lightning" in your own figurative bottle.

IMAGE: NetMinder IG

Grouping info by relevance will also help when it comes to writing. Once your paragraphs can flow with relevance, and the harmonious flow in your structure is established, writing will be very easy. You already have everything you need based on your preliminary research. You just have to make proper use of them – make them work for you.

Wrap Up

Note that while others prefer to research, read, and then write, then research again, that is just messy. It takes your mind away from your writing. But by researching everything first (read: compiling all the relevant data) then reading everything later (and removing the unwanted parts), you can focus on just your writing.

Lastly, there are a few other important things to keep in mind during the writing process:

1. Cite your sources properly. (Aren’t you glad you kept all those links?)


2. Base your conclusions on data from your research, i.e. things you can defend on your own in the event that questions get raised about your conclusions’ validity.


3. Learn to exercise good judgment and consider both sides of the coin before choosing what to include in your writing. An opinion that is popular is not always right.

Remember: Only write the things you can back up with credible sources. When in doubt, do without. Now, go forth and be the Sherlock Holmes of writers.

Now Read:
Researcher’s Guide To Successful Freelance Content Writing

Writing Tip: How to Find The Right Topic

Insider’s Tips for Better Content Writing

It doesn’t matter whether you are a blogger, freelance writer, professional writer, or a student; you can always benefit by elevating your content writing skills.

The quality of your content usually suffers when you produce great quantity. Professional writers have discovered a few strategies that enable them to avoid that trap. The following tips and tools will help you produce a steady stream of great content.

Image Source: Retro Typewriter via Shutterstock.

The Research Doesn’t End When the Writing Starts

The first thing we should learn from professional writers is to preserve the research mode throughout the entire writing and editing process. Many content writers make the same mistake: they conduct a basic research and use those sources without bothering to get new ideas along the way. Creativity is an ongoing journey; you cannot limit it to a certain stage.

These tools will help you conduct an effective research:

• Pocket – When you find an interesting online source you could use, but don’t have the time to read it, you can put it in Pocket – an app that enables you to save and organize articles, videos, and other types of online content directly from your browser. The best part is that you don’t even need an Internet connection to read these materials when you’re ready for them.


• Google Trends – Throughout the research and writing stage, you need to keep track of the popular keywords that are trending in Google search. This is a simple, but powerful tool that will help you create search-friendly content.


• Google+ – If you don’t want to be distracted by fancy tools and apps when conducting a research, Google+ can serve just as well. All you need to do is create an empty circle named “research”, “sources”, “ideas”, or anything else that will help you identify it. Then, use it to keep track of the online sources you would like to use in your content.

Focus

Rambling won’t get you anywhere. You need to clarify what you’re going to talk about right from the start, and stay away from digressions. Every piece of content you create should have only one point. Otherwise, it will be confusing for the readers. These tools will help you create focused content:

• WordCounter – When you plan the development of your article, you should include a word count goal. Then, use this tool to see if you went overboard with unnecessary arguments. WordCounter is much more than a word and character counter; it also identifies repetitive words and phrases that are diluting your message.


• Piktochart – The best way to present focused content with clear facts is to create an infographic. You don’t need advanced skills to do that; Piktochart is an awesome tool that helps you create data-driven content from scratch. All you need to do is pick a template and customize it with unique images and content.

Image Source: Writing Notes via Shutterstock.

Organization Is the Key to Success

The creative process of writing can become messy sometimes. You get more ideas than you could possibly include in the piece you’re creating. In addition, you have to think about time management if you want to get the work done on time.

There are two types of professional writers: those that find the mess inspiring; and those that find effective ways to make the writing process more productive. Experiment with the following tools to find out if you can improve your writing skills with proper organization:

• Evernote – This app enables you to save any ideas, documents, or online sources into organized folders and tags. You can create a separate folder for each writing project and find the memos whenever you decide to go back to it.


• IFTTT – If you use different apps and websites during the writing process, you can keep them under control with a single tool – IFTTT. The name of this tool is an abbreviation of “If This Then That”, which correctly explains how it functions. For example, if you save an article in Pocket, you can program the app to automatically save in Dropbox or Evernote as well.

Preserve Your Unique Voice

Although you have to keep track on the trends your target audience is interested in, no one would like to read the same information over and over again. Do not copy other bloggers and writers. You should make your content recognizable with your unique style and personality.

If you think you’ve already developed your voice, that doesn’t mean you should stop developing your writing skills. These tips will help you find, preserve, and develop your voice:

• Explore the style of your favorite writers. That doesn’t mean you should copy it; only take it as an inspiration and example of how great content should look like.


• Be studious about your own work. Are you presenting something new to your readers? Are you conveying a clear message that triggers a discussion? Is your article structured properly? Make sure to give affirmative answers to these questions.

Image Source: Writing In the Park via Shutterstock.

Have a Unique Point of View

Sure, you can write about something your readers are already familiar with, but you need to elaborate the topic from a specific point of view. If you follow someone else’s lead, your readers can easily find the content contradictory to another article you’ve published.

If you cannot find a creative angle, then it would be wise to leave that topic for later and find something more inspiring to write about.

Make the Content Believable

If you’re not writing a personal story, then you have to rely on verifiable facts! Your readers don’t like wasting time on content on broad, inaccurate claims. Don’t stretch the truth; make sure to find enough supportive facts and opinions from influential people. Do not try to manipulate your readers by creating unnecessary hype. This is the tool that will help you stay grounded:

• Digg – This website is much more than a source of quick, fun reads; it’s also a well-curated feed of the stories and news that are gaining attention on the Internet. The daily email newsletter will help you get fresh information you can include in your articles.

Keep it Simple!

Make the sentences, words, and paragraphs short and readable. Complex style won’t get you with a large base of loyal readers. If you get carried away, make sure to cut the clutter during the editing stage. Yes, editing is necessary! The first draft is never a masterpiece!

Finished!

Now that you have a selection of effective ways that can turn you into a better content writer, you only need to stay committed to your practice!

The post Insider’s Tips for Better Content Writing appeared first on Speckyboy Web Design Magazine.

No related posts.

Insider’s Tips for Better Content Writing

10 Tumblr Blogs To Follow For Great Writing Tips

Few websites are friendlier to creatives than Tumblr, a place to scroll through, like, and reblog posts like there’s no tomorrow. It’s not surprising, then, that hundreds of writing blogs have popped up all over that site faster than you can say “dashboard”.

With so many to choose from, it can get a bit daunting when trying to figure out which you should pay attention to. Therefore, I’ve gathered here 10 of the best must-follow Tumblr blogs for writers. Whether it’s helpful feedback or just some inspiration that you need, these sites can help you keep on writing.

Recommended Reading: 10 Helpful Writing Sites For Fiction Writers

1. The Right Writing

“A tip a day keeps writer’s block away.” This, in a nutshell, is The Right Writing‘s tagline (if it had one). Unlike most writing blogs, TRW does its best to give more than generic writing advice such as “Set a daily writing quota” or “Just keep hammering away at your keyboard”. Instead, it gives specific, actionable tips on how to craft a first line, how to describe a character, how to craft an eye-catching title, etc. The blog also occasionally posts interesting, writing-related links.

2. Quotes From Books

Whether you need life advice from the world’s greatest writers, or inspiration for writing awesome lines, Quotes from Books is the blog to follow. The site also provides book recommendations, in case you’re looking for something new to read. After all, writers need to read as much – if not more than – they write, right?

3. Writing Quotes

If “writer’s block” is bugging you (again), check out this site. Writing Quotes dishes out tips straight from the greats themselves on how to write, how not to write, how to read, and “all sorts of wordy things”, as the blogger put it. Pro-Tip: You can reblog the quotes that resonate the most with you, and tag them “writing quotes”, so you can refer back to them later when you need them. More Tumblr tips here.

4. WordStuck

One of a writer’s greatest weapons is an expansive vocabulary, and WordStuck does a wonderful job of filling that need. The site regularly posts about words from around the world and their respective meanings, framed in beautiful graphics created by the blogger. It’s especially fun when the site posts words that have no direct English translation – and you’re a native speaker of the language that uses that word!

5. Yeah Write

Yeah Write doesn’t just dish out writing advice, post daily prompts, and write about industry news, it also encourages writers to come together as a community through their “workshopper” program, where people can publicly offer their editing / proofreading / workshopping services. Whether you need any of these services or not, Yeah Write is a must-follow site.

6. Writing Problems

Ever felt that you’re the only one who suffers from (insert writing problem here)? Don’t worry; Writing Problems is here to let you know that, yes, you’re not the only one who types a word, presses “Backspace”, types that word again, and presses “Backspace” again. Scroll through their posts for a dose of side-splitting, “Hey, I can relate to this!” humor, and feel your writing-related stress melt away.

7. Fix Your Writing Habits

Writers have a nasty habit of doing everything except – irony of ironies – writing. Douglas Adams, for instance, was notorious for missing deadlines, and had to be locked up in hotel rooms to have any of his work done. (In case his name doesn’t ring a bell, he’s the man behind The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.)

As the blog’s title implies, Fix Your Writing Habits tries to give you the best advice possible for getting you back on track, as well as vanquishing the Procrasti-Monster forever. The site is run by multiple authors, who put their money where their mouth is by posting on the blog regularly.

8. Reference For Writers

If you’re a writer who constantly works under tight deadlines, Reference For Writers is for you. The site posts comprehensive lists and links to research materials that would have taken you hours to find on your own. Occasionally, it posts the usual writing-blog material: tips, ideas, and inspiration for wordsmiths.

9. The Writing Café

Don’t want to clutter your dashboard with too many writing blogs? Just follow this one, then. The Writing Café is your all-in-one resource for writing advice, writing resources, links to research materials, etc. The blogger is friendly enough to answer questions, and patient enough to direct you to existing links if you ask a question that’s already been answered.

10. Your Favorite Author’s Tumblr Blogs

It’s difficult to link to just one author, since there are so many of them, and each of them caters to a specific taste. Personally, I follow Neil Gaiman for updates on his work, as well as Joe Hill, the eldest son of Stephen King and a formidable horror author in his own right. You can find more author blogs when you click “Find Blogs” on your dashboard, and click “Writers” in the Spotlight tab.

Conclusion

These blogs are just the tip of the iceberg. As writing keeps evolving as a craft, it’s inevitable for new writing blogs to mushroom all over the web (not just on Tumblr). If you know other writing blogs that haven’t been listed here, please do share them in the comments section.

Related posts:

1. 7 Insane Habits That Destroy Your Freelance Writing Career


2. How To Find The Writing Zone And Stay There


3. 4 Signs You Are Losing Your Writing Passion (& How To Get It Back)


4. 6 Steps To Staying On Course As A Freelance Writer

10 Tumblr Blogs To Follow For Great Writing Tips

10 Tumblr Blogs To Follow For Great Writing Tips

Few websites are friendlier to creatives than Tumblr, a place to scroll through, like, and reblog posts like there’s no tomorrow. It’s not surprising, then, that hundreds of writing blogs have popped up all over that site faster than you can say “dashboard”.

With so many to choose from, it can get a bit daunting when trying to figure out which you should pay attention to. Therefore, I’ve gathered here 10 of the best must-follow Tumblr blogs for writers. Whether it’s helpful feedback or just some inspiration that you need, these sites can help you keep on writing.

Recommended Reading: 10 Helpful Writing Sites For Fiction Writers

1. The Right Writing

“A tip a day keeps writer’s block away.” This, in a nutshell, is The Right Writing‘s tagline (if it had one). Unlike most writing blogs, TRW does its best to give more than generic writing advice such as “Set a daily writing quota” or “Just keep hammering away at your keyboard”. Instead, it gives specific, actionable tips on how to craft a first line, how to describe a character, how to craft an eye-catching title, etc. The blog also occasionally posts interesting, writing-related links.

2. Quotes From Books

Whether you need life advice from the world’s greatest writers, or inspiration for writing awesome lines, Quotes from Books is the blog to follow. The site also provides book recommendations, in case you’re looking for something new to read. After all, writers need to read as much – if not more than – they write, right?

3. Writing Quotes

If “writer’s block” is bugging you (again), check out this site. Writing Quotes dishes out tips straight from the greats themselves on how to write, how not to write, how to read, and “all sorts of wordy things”, as the blogger put it. Pro-Tip: You can reblog the quotes that resonate the most with you, and tag them “writing quotes”, so you can refer back to them later when you need them. More Tumblr tips here.

4. WordStuck

One of a writer’s greatest weapons is an expansive vocabulary, and WordStuck does a wonderful job of filling that need. The site regularly posts about words from around the world and their respective meanings, framed in beautiful graphics created by the blogger. It’s especially fun when the site posts words that have no direct English translation – and you’re a native speaker of the language that uses that word!

5. Yeah Write

Yeah Write doesn’t just dish out writing advice, post daily prompts, and write about industry news, it also encourages writers to come together as a community through their “workshopper” program, where people can publicly offer their editing / proofreading / workshopping services. Whether you need any of these services or not, Yeah Write is a must-follow site.

6. Writing Problems

Ever felt that you’re the only one who suffers from (insert writing problem here)? Don’t worry; Writing Problems is here to let you know that, yes, you’re not the only one who types a word, presses “Backspace”, types that word again, and presses “Backspace” again. Scroll through their posts for a dose of side-splitting, “Hey, I can relate to this!” humor, and feel your writing-related stress melt away.

7. Fix Your Writing Habits

Writers have a nasty habit of doing everything except – irony of ironies – writing. Douglas Adams, for instance, was notorious for missing deadlines, and had to be locked up in hotel rooms to have any of his work done. (In case his name doesn’t ring a bell, he’s the man behind The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.)

As the blog’s title implies, Fix Your Writing Habits tries to give you the best advice possible for getting you back on track, as well as vanquishing the Procrasti-Monster forever. The site is run by multiple authors, who put their money where their mouth is by posting on the blog regularly.

8. Reference For Writers

If you’re a writer who constantly works under tight deadlines, Reference For Writers is for you. The site posts comprehensive lists and links to research materials that would have taken you hours to find on your own. Occasionally, it posts the usual writing-blog material: tips, ideas, and inspiration for wordsmiths.

9. The Writing Café

Don’t want to clutter your dashboard with too many writing blogs? Just follow this one, then. The Writing Café is your all-in-one resource for writing advice, writing resources, links to research materials, etc. The blogger is friendly enough to answer questions, and patient enough to direct you to existing links if you ask a question that’s already been answered.

10. Your Favorite Author’s Tumblr Blogs

It’s difficult to link to just one author, since there are so many of them, and each of them caters to a specific taste. Personally, I follow Neil Gaiman for updates on his work, as well as Joe Hill, the eldest son of Stephen King and a formidable horror author in his own right. You can find more author blogs when you click “Find Blogs” on your dashboard, and click “Writers” in the Spotlight tab.

Conclusion

These blogs are just the tip of the iceberg. As writing keeps evolving as a craft, it’s inevitable for new writing blogs to mushroom all over the web (not just on Tumblr). If you know other writing blogs that haven’t been listed here, please do share them in the comments section.

Related posts:

1. 7 Insane Habits That Destroy Your Freelance Writing Career


2. How To Find The Writing Zone And Stay There


3. 4 Signs You Are Losing Your Writing Passion (& How To Get It Back)


4. 6 Steps To Staying On Course As A Freelance Writer

10 Tumblr Blogs To Follow For Great Writing Tips