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@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
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---
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title: Subtractive Process
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-description: Today I noticed that my 'now' page was missing a place to note something I do regularly which got me to thinking about publishing workflows and making it really easy to keep updated
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+description: Today I edited an old page on my site because it's references had disappeared. I also noticed that my 'now' page was missing a place to note that I make edits somewhat regularly which got me to thinking about publishing workflows.
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slug: subtractive-process
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<!--- authors:
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- name: David Windham
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@@ -12,68 +12,170 @@ image: https://davidawindham.com/wp-content/themes/daw/img/opengraph_image.jpg
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hide_table_of_contents: true
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---
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-Today I noticed that my 'now' page<sub>1</sub> was missing a place to note something I do regularly which got me to thinking about publishing workflows and making it really easy to keep updated. I regularly edit old content and in the case of my docs and notes, I purposefully have the content organized to be continually edited.
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+Today I edited an old page on my site because it's references had disappeared<sub>1</sub>. I also noticed that my 'now' page<sub>2</sub> was missing a place to note that I make edits somewhat regularly which got me to thinking about publishing workflows.
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<!--truncate-->
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-Over the years, I've noticed that people's tendency is to just stack more and more. I'm certainly guilty in that I've got half a closet of clothes that I don't wear and I've got a junk drawer in the mud room that's well... full of junk. It's especially true with computers because your storage isn't exactly noticeable. Although I've ever worked in a 'desktop support' sorta capacity, I've had enough support experience to know that folks just stack files everywhere.
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+I regularly edit old content and in the case of my docs and notes so I purposefully have the content organized to be continually edited. Over the years, I've noticed that people's tendency is to just stack more and more. I'm certainly guilty in that I've got half a closet of clothes that I don't wear and I've got a junk drawer in the mud room that's well... full of junk. It's especially true with computers because your storage isn't exactly noticeable. I've noticed that some folks like to stack files everywhere.
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-I've also noticed that any website I publish with a content management system will generally get 'away' from the editors over time. I've got a couple that have thousands of pages of content and what happens is that the publishers and/or editors will continue to focus on whatever is new is happening and fail to recognize the importance of trimming or editing the old content. This can be really problematic when your staff, customers, or clients are citing pages published that haven't been updated or removed. It's especially important given that visitors are not usually navigating from the front page and instead from a search leading them directly to something outdated. I've seen it over and over again where a site architecture changes and leaves behind a couple hundred third-tier pages of outdated information.
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+Over time, a file system just kinda worked itself out for me which is mostly based around having a really small number of directories and prefixing them with dates. In August 2012, I tweeted<sub>3</sub>
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-I equate it to art where you have an additive **and** subtractive process. And just like with painting, folks just tend to blob paint on until the colors are muddy. And just like painting, the key is having a really simple pallette that can be wiped clean, restarted, and managed easily. In web publishing this means to having an easy way to review of all of your content and trying to keep your information architecture very simple. I think part of this is thinking about publishing linearly like the print days and I try to refer to the web as a 'living document' anytime I'm in a meeting. Organizing information well is actually pretty tough<sub>2</sub>.
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+>#### "my evolving naming convention knows no bounds"
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-I've learned to try an match my local workflow with my publishing and I've started using the same techniques I use for software documentation on things like our house, finances, groceries or pets because a digital version is exactly the same as the old file cabinet. I've noticed that as I keep a documents for a length of time, items like a Table of Contents and Log become important in being able to quickly understand them. The folder structure on my computers have started to mirror the publishing structure.
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+Anytime I move to a new computer, start up a new server, or create a backup disc I always seem to use the same file system because I've likely simplified it as much as I'm able.
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-I should note that I did edit two old posts this morning, but I could have had half my closet cleaned out in the the time I spend publishing this.
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+import Tabs from '@theme/Tabs';
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+import TabItem from '@theme/TabItem';
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+<Tabs>
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+<TabItem value="computer" label="computer">
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-##### 👇🏼 This is my folder structure on my machines ( sans system directories )
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+```sh title="// computer"
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+│./
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+├── User/
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+│ ├── Desktop/
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+│ │ ├── empty or working files
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+│ │ └── _desktop.md - list date y.m.d - Entry
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+│ ├── Documents/
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+│ │ └── categories/ *family/finance/travel/work/etc
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+│ │ │ └── type/
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+│ ├── Media/
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+│ │ ├── audio/graphics/img/video
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+│ │ │ ├── y.m_project_name/
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+│ │ │ │ ├── vendor
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+│ │ │ │ └── assets/
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+│ ├── Projects/
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+│ │ ├── y.m_project_name/ (change date as updated)
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+│ │ │ ├── _notes_project_name.md - list date y.m.d - Entry
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+│ │ │ ├── _log/
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+│ │ │ ├── assets/
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+│ │ │ │ └── type/
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+│ │ │ ├── docs/
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+│ │ │ └── y.m.d/(achived)
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+│ ├── Production/
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+│ │ ├── project acronym
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+│ │ │ ├── _notes_project_name.md - list date y.m.d - Entry
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+│ │ │ ├── assets
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+│ │ │ │ └── type/
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+│ │ │ ├── www
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+│ │ │ │ ├── _log/
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+│ │ │ │ ├── assets/
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+└── _notes_computer-name.md - list date y.m.d - Entry
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+```
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+
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+</TabItem>
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+<TabItem value="disc" label="disc">
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+
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+```bash title="// disc"
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+│./
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+├── Computer/Server_Name/
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+│ ├── date y.m.d
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+│ │ ├── _notes_computer_name.md - list date y.m.d - Entry
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+│ │ ├── Documents/
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+│ │ │ └── categories/ *family/finance/travel/work/etc
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+│ │ ├── Media/
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+│ │ │ ├── audio/graphics/music/photos/video
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+│ │ │ │ ├── y.m_project_name/
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+│ │ │ │ │ └── assets/
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+│ │ │ ├── date y.m.d/
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+│ │ ├── Projects/
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+│ │ │ ├── y.m_project_name/
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+│ │ │ │ ├── _notes_project_name.md - date list y.m.d - Entry
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+│ │ │ │ ├── _log/
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+│ │ │ │ ├── assets/
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+│ │ │ │ ├── docs/
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+│ │ │ │ │ └── type/
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+│ │ │ │ └── date y.m.d/
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+│ │ ├── Sites/
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+│ │ │ ├── project acronym
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+│ │ │ │ ├── _notes_project_name.md - date list y.m.d - Entry
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+│ │ │ │ ├── assets
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+│ │ │ │ │ └── type/
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+│ │ │ │ ├── www
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+│ │ │ │ │ ├── _log/
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+│ │ │ │ │ └── assets/
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+│ │ ├── Desktop/
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+│ │ │ ├── empty or working files
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+│ │ │ └── _desktop.md - list format y.m.d - Entry
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+└── _notes_disc-name.md - list format y.m.d - Entry
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+```
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+
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+</TabItem>
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+<TabItem value="server" label="server">
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-```zsh
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-├── Desktop/
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-│ ├── (emptied daily)
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-├── Documents/
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-│ ├── _dw/
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-│ └── car/family/finance/travel/work/etc
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-├── Media/
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-│ ├── graphics/
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-│ │ └── by vendor/
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-│ ├── movies/
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-│ │ └── by vendor/
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-│ ├── music/
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-│ ├── photos/
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-│ │ └── by date/
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-├── Projects/
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-│ ├── project_name/
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+```sh title="// server"
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+│./
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+├── ~ home/user
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+│ ├── .configs/
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+│ ├── _backup/
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+│ ├── └── date y.m.d:h:m_files/
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+│ ├── _logs
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+│ ├── _monitor
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+├── var/www/
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+│ ├── domain
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+│ │ ├── _log/
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+│ │ ├── _backup/
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+│ │ │ ├── date y.m.d:h:m_files/
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+│ │ │ └── date y.m.d:h:m_db.sql/
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│ │ ├── _notes_project_name.md
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-│ │ ├── _notes_project_name_(date).md
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-│ │ ├── 22.10(month_folders)/
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-│ │ ├── 19.04/
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-│ │ ├── assets/
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-│ │ │ └── type/
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-│ │ └── docs/
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-├── Sites/
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-│ ├── project acronym
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-│ ├── daw
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-│ ├── daw_til
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-│ │ ├── docs/
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-│ │ ├── lists/
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-│ │ ├── posts/
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-└── _desktop.md
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+│ │ ├── html/ *nginx/apache
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+│ │ └── app/ *proxy/port
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+└── _notes_server-name.md - configuration
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+```
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+
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+</TabItem>
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+</Tabs>
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+
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+Part of the reason I can knock these posts out on a whim is that I've learned to try an match my local workflow with my publishing. I've started using the same techniques I use for software documentation on things like our house, finances, groceries or pets because a digital version is exactly the same as the old file cabinet. I've noticed that as I keep a documents for a good length of time, I inevitably add items like a `Table of Contents` and `Log` because they become more important in being able to **quickly** understand large documents. I like the 'Log' up top so I don't have to scroll and the markup starts to look like this 👇🏼 for almost every document.
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+
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+
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+```md title="// docs/notes/lists"
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+# Title
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+(y.m.d) - quick summary and reason created
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+
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+## Log
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+(y.m.d) - what changed
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+
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+### Source
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+ - if subject has major reference
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+
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+## Content
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+
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+#### Intro
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+
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+#### Body
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+ - concise in docs and notes
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+ - colorful in an essay
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+ - outlines and lists
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+ - meaningful searchable heading titles
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+ - name embedded assets `title_type.ext`
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+
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+#### Conclusion
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+
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+---
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+## References
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+ - titles and full URLs for external links
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+ - relative URL for sub-domain/directory
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+ - citation style is inconsistent
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+---
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+
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+### Notes
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+ - recent related
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+ - additional resources
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```
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-##### 👇🏼 Notes/Docs structure
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+##### Notes/Docs structure
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```mermaid
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%%{init: {'theme':'forest'}}%%
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mindmap
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root((DAW/TIL))
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_Desk.md
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- ( Document I always keep open to make notes )
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- / Search
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- ( Lunr/AI VectorDB/OpenAI ReIndex every so often )
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+ ( Always keep open to make notes )
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+ / Search / AI
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+ ( Lunr/VectorDB/OpenAI ReIndex every so often )
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/ Code
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- ( Everything in version control )
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+ ( version control all things)
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/ Desk
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( Essays on things I've put considerable thought into )
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/ Docs
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@@ -83,14 +185,16 @@ mindmap
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/ Lists
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( ongoing edits )
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/ Posts
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- ( Longer formatted TIL )
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+ ( Longer formatted essays )
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Help
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( Log of Repo changes )
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```
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+I've noticed that any website I publish with a content management system will generally get 'away' from the editors over time. Editors like to to focus on whatever is new and sometimes fail to recognize the importance of trimming or editing the old content<sub>4</sub>. This can be really problematic when your have outdated pages published that haven't been updated or removed. It's especially important given that visitors are not usually navigating from the front page and are coming in from a search leading them directly to the outdated content. I've seen it over and over again where a site architecture changes and leaves behind a couple hundred third-tier pages of outdated information. I've had plenty of projects were they just wipe it clean and start fresh. The whole of the web really suffers from this and I'm just trying to keep my little section of it tidy.
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+
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-##### Site structure 👇🏼
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+##### Website structure
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```mermaid
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%%{init: {'theme':'forest'}}%%
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@@ -144,8 +248,13 @@ mindmap
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Posts
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```
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+I always find myself on in `delete` mode before the new year. I equate it to the **subtractive process** in art or engineering. When someone new to painting they tend to overload the pallette and blob paint on until the colors are muddy. The key is having a really simple pallette that can be wiped clean, restarted, and managed easily. It's no different in web publishing or software engineering. You just need an easy way of reviewing of all of your code or content and keeping your architecture simple. Organizing information or code is pretty tough<sub>5</sub> and even though it's really all preference, having organizing principles kinda helps as guide<sub>6</sub>.
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+
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---
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-1. **NOW** - [https://davidawindham.com/now](https://davidawindham.com/now)
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-2. **TIL**/notes/references - [/notes/#references](/notes/#references)
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-3. _Non_linear Publishing_ - https://davidawindham.com/non-linear-publishing/
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+1. _Sam Doyle_ - https://davidawindham.com/sam-doyle/
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+2. NOW - [https://davidawindham.com/now](https://davidawindham.com/now)
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+3. TIL/lists/Tweets - [/lists/Tweets](/lists/Tweets)
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+4. _Non_linear Publishing_ - https://davidawindham.com/non-linear-publishing/
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+5. TIL/notes/references - [/notes/#references](/notes/#references)
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+6. Organizing Principle - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organizing_principle
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