Support — Blog — Healy Chen

Not acceptable, Squarespace

The “archive” page of this website, nested under the “Words” category is where I show a list of everything I’ve ever written thus far. A easily readable index for my entire back catalog of writing. Mainly for my own personal satisfaction, because let’s face it: who would be interested in reading something I wrote five years ago? Not even my mother, because she doesn’t understand English.

Anyways, I’ve noticed from time to time that the index block for this blog would disappear completely. For no reason at all. In the CMS it still shows the correct link to the page, but outwardly on the site it’s a whole blank of nothing. To get the content back, I would have to unlink the blog page to that index block and relink it again. A slight pain in the butt to do every few days.

So I finally got off my butt and wrote to Squarespace support. The response:

This issue shows up specifically on archive blocks using the "index" layout - essentially, if there's too much content for the block to render, it'll "crash" and not show up on the live site. To fix this, you could either change the layout by editing the archive block to be something other than "index", or you could break the content up into multiple archive blocks.

Basically, it’s a known bug, and there’s really no fix for it currently. Only workarounds. It’s rather disappointing that the index block can be defeated by a page with “too much content”. Keep in mind that Squarespace site hosting is something I pay for every year to the tune of over $200 dollars. This is an incredibly bad look for what is suppose to be a professional product. Many out there make their living from their Squarespace websites. I don’t, but I pay just like everybody else, and I expect a working product.

I wonder if there is a different host that has a working indexing function, and would allow me to transfer this site over easily…

Support physical books and art

Despite the amount of trees felled every year in order to produce them, I still can’t peel myself away from physical books. An Amazon Kindle would be so much easier and a more environmentally friendly way to consume books (digital copies are cheaper as well), but it lacks character and soul. The tactility I get from touching a book’s pages and the smell it gives out is a significant part to the overall joy of reading. Besides, I am a serial highlighter, and making markings on an actual book helps me retain information far better than sliding my finger over a Kindle screen.

There’s also something very zen about shelves full of properly lined books, giving off a suitable facsimile of being in a library right in my room. Libraries are awesome places that gives off endless vibes of learning and discovery; coupled with the inclination towards quiet and silence, it’s no wonder the library was one of my favorite places to hang out as a kid (our family was also quite poor, so there’s that, too.) These days as an adult I can afford my own books, and have created a small library of my own.

Physical books are cool, and I especially like it when the creators I follow comes out with these tangible works of art. The bulk of creative content - this website included - reside in the digital realm on the web, where cost of entry is superbly low. Compared to producing an actual book, and the material costs alone almost makes it not worth the effort; a problem particularly acute for photographers, where printing costs are exponentially more than simple words and paragraphs. I’ve printed a few photo books for personal use, and they are easily in the hundreds of dollar.

So I make a point to support creators who come out with physical books by actually buying them, because I understand how much effort and money goes into making it possible. In doing my little part, I hope to spur on the incentive for these creatives to keep making prints and books, that there is a sizable contingent who still love the unique experience of interacting with actual materials. Plus, it’s important to monetarily support your favorite authors and content makers anyways, most of whom are simple freelancers just looking to get by.

Due apologies to the environmentalists out there. I also keep the air-con at 68 degrees.