Aww Fiona laid it out so well.
I had never thought about the "shift" to fewer site pages this way, but it does make sense - layouts and their content areas as well as resolutions becoming larger!
Of the multi-page shrines I have, five have multiple pages in the site section, whereas three have all the content on a single page. At the moment, that does correlate with fandom size and source material size, but, knowing future projects I'd like to make and that I have somewhat mapped out, I don't think those are the primary factors. Aside from "technicals" (credits, links, buttons, etc.), I usually treat site sections as a full-fledged part of the shrine, a kind of personal epilogue and retrospect as I reflect not just on the subject, but also what it means to me, and perhaps my feelings and thoughts on it over the years.
Things that I generally mention in one way or another are:
- the subject in relation to myself
- meaning of the shrine title
- what thoughts went into making the layout
It's mostly that first point on the list that varies in length, so most of the time, that decides whether or not the site section becomes multi-page or not.
Usually, for smaller projects, or projects that don't have as much "substance" based on source material size, I make site sections shorter because chances are I've already expressed all I've wanted to say over the course of the shrine, which includes my personal view on things.
For bigger projects, I try not to write the site section (even though I know what I want to talk about) until I'm further into the project so as to prevent suboptimal repeating: If something that I want to address in the site section is better off being discussed in the main parts of the shrine, I prefer to have it there so that it gets more focus and is better embedded into the overall impression. I would then reserve pages in the site section for further examination or summarization of the subject from an angle that hasn't been covered elsewhere on the shrine.
Sooo most of this is planned - but, as with everything else, it's good not to fixate too much on that plan and leave space for other options as you figure out your shrine while working on it. As a visitor, I have no definite preference: I do greatly enjoy reading what a subject means to a person, or their history with it, but not everyone necessarily wants to talk about that, and it's by no means a must have. If there isn't much to add, leave it as is. As Fiona said, a bunch of older shrines have a looooot of links in the site sections for one reason or another... Nowadays, I prefer scrolling over clicking/loading, so if the links, buttons and credits parts aren't overly long, I like it more when they're grouped together in some way.
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Slightly off-topic, but fun to talk about, and fun to discover on other people's shrines?
One of my favourite site sections I've done is
Strength of Heart's because, despite not commenting on the layout and the shrine title (I don't write about the title if it's self-explanatory when reading the shrine), there was a lot of fun stuff to talk about.
On future shrines, I think I'd like to try connecting my own creations more by putting other shrines I've made in relation to the respective subject, such as on
Sway. It's fun to think about what draws you to certain subjects and what things they have in common. Also slightly makes up for the lack of links due to lack of affiliates for the same subject.
I really enjoy reading
translation commentary (usually in the form of FAQs) on other people's site section, whether it's about their own translation process or what they've learned about different translations. And
hilarious FAQs in general BECAUSE OLD SCHOOL. Or any kind of trivia, and links to recommended sites and articles for further info, including compilations of official sites.
Full site histories with numbers and names make me nostalgic because they remind me of big fansites back in the day, which really prized their own history.
Aaaand a page on
planned content is always interesting to see, and makes the site look active to me...
tl;dr I REALLY LOVE IT WHEN THERE'S A SURPRISING AMOUNT OF CONTENT POPPING UP IN THE SITE SECTION.