2025-04-05 · 2 min · Jasper Dijt
Today I simplified the template of the site a bit. Originally on the index there were preview images visible, these are now removed.
The reason for that is simple: creating these images added friction to the publishing for me. As blogging and writing is a habit I am trying to build, reducing friction is important at the moment. In the end the preview image is something that is not part of the main content of the posts & that is hidden for users on smaller screens!
So to keep things simple and to keep my focus on the main content I removed the preview images completely from the templates. This is not entirely free because under the hood Roq does use them for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) & tells social media apps to use them to generate previews. But I think I can do without that for now.
If the blogging habit becomes more ingrained and I can deal with a little more friction, I may add them back. But by then I may have to contend with the steadily growing task of "generating preview images for past posts". So the longer I do without them the less likely this option becomes.
Below is a before and after (in dark mode):
