New, Reader-Friendly Footers

It is a very rainy weekend, and I am here at Strobist International Headquarters screwing around with the HTML for the site.

At the end of this (and every other) post, you'll find some new features. This spot is called the post "footer" and I have tweaked it to benefit the site's readers.

The first line still points to the Strobist Flickr threads, which have grown into a huge resource for all things small-flash lighting. Why in the world would you want to ask a lighting question in the comments when there is a community of about 7,500 fellow enthusiasts with brains ready to be picked?

That said, if you have a comment, fire away.

Line two is a link to fave Strobist on Technorati. Oh, wait. That's more of a Strobist thing than a reader thing. But some of you had already been doing it and I wanted to make it easier for others to do the same. Much obliged, too.

Line three is my favorite, as it points back to the blogs that have most recently mentioned Strobist. (And yes, I do read what you guys are saying about me.) This link is way cool because it points the viral thing right back at you.

It is last-in, first-out, and blurbs the text around where you mentioned the site. If you are mentioning Strobist in your main copy, it will grab a couple of paragraphs and pull those up. If Strobist is on your blogroll, you'll pop up here every time you post, even if you do not mention us. (But the contextual blurb will just list your blogroll.)

I highly recommend checking these links regularly. I do several times a day and find all kinds of neat stuff.

For you bloggers, I always appreciate it when you tell your readers about the site. And hopefully this will start pointing the new reader garden hose right back at you in a cool, automatic way.

Lastly, the "Reader Hot Shot" link points to my ever-evolving list of favorites from the Strobist Flickr pool. You guys do some kick-butt stuff, and this gallery is updated literally several times a day. Again, the idea is for more more people to see what you are doing.

Here's a thought: Flickr is becoming a hotbed for discovering new photographers, and you guys are among the best on the whole site. Have you noticed how often your pictures are ending up on the Explore: Interesting pages? Our Flickr pool - your photos - are being watched.

So, I hope you will both use and benefit from the new changes.

Oh, and the cute tootsies pic is by reader PackGrad2000, who is hopefully getting an occasional full-night's sleep by now.