Some good ideas for bloggers

I hadn't been to Victor Davis Hanson's website for a while. When I visited again, I found some interesting innovations. His site isn't a typical blog. It's a collection of his various columns and essays, and a place to promote his books. But he has introduced some blog-like elements without losing control of his content or letting his website take control of him.

His page is broken into sections for New Commentary; featuring the opening of several of his recent columns and links to the whole columns; Books & Things, in which he features reviews and links to the work of others he finds significant; Lest We Forget, featuring a short comment on current events and a link to an earlier column or selection of VDH's writing which relates to it; Reader Response, in which selected questions and requests from readers are featured with VDH's responses, one per day; Across the Web, a collection of links to articles and columns he finds worth mentioning, a sort of blog of items selected by the editor, who is presumably VDH's employee, and lastly, Angry Reader featuring selected criticisms, objections and complaints accompanied by VDH's short responses.

These are sensible and useful items for readers and they make the site worth visiting often without consuming too much of Professor Hanson's time and attention. They also allow him to fit his website into his schedule. It's evidence of an orderly mind at work. I wish I could work that way.