About me

have the external link open in a new window so you can easily return to the page on your site

Like the format and the aggregator

Thanks for your compliments and suggestion. I hope you enjoy the site.
Regarding the links issue, I understand that is a rather sticky issue for a site that has as many links as this one. Generally in a case like this where I am somewhat unclear as to what action to take, I defer to those who have spent their lives studying these things.
In this case, a web usability expert whose writings I have found very useful, Jakob Nielsen, has strongly preferred for many years to have links open on the same page. Also, I can't find it, but I seem to recall reading some time ago that the same method is a W3C recommendation.
My suggestion, first of all, is to use a good browser like Firefox or Opera that has tabbed browsing and then right click on the link and open it in a new tab. I guess IE7 also has this feature, but I don't consider it to be a good browser since it is still missing some basic functionality and has some pretty nasty bugs that web designers have to work around.
If you were to look over my shoulder when I am surfing, you would see that I often have ten or more tabs open in Firefox, my browser of choice.
Actually, I just looked, and I have exactly ten open right now!

Hi Luke:

Your doing a great job and providing a wonderful service to woodworkers. Thanks for all your efforts. Keith (woodtreks.com)

Hello Luke,
Enjoy looking at all the links on your site. We're on the same page so to speak. A Blog you might want to add is http://wisdomofhands.blogspot.com/ . Thanks

Joe

Joe,

Wisdom of the Hands is indeed a unique and interesting blog. I used to have it on my aggregator, but most of the posts don't relate directly to hand tool woodworking. I struggled for a while with how to classify it, and finally took it off.

My rule of thumb is that at least 50% of a site's content should relate directly to hand tool woodworking to be featured here. In the case of a site that offers very unique information I might be open to bending that rule.

If someone can make a good enough case that it should be included or if there is enough general interest, I am open to putting Wisdom of the Hands back in the aggregator.

Luke

Hi Luke - good site. I've been doing this game for nearly 40 years now and am still learning. I haven't got a website as such but maintain a regular input in my blog on most matters woodwork related...if you Google the 'Blokeblog' you'll see what I mean. My 'shop has a combination of hand and machine tools with the big stuf to take out the sheer hard graft of preparing material...finer stuff comes later at the bench with hand tools. The blog is a fairly light hearted attempt to look at most of the things I'm interested in with a smattering of other non-woody stuff included.
If you like it, I hope you'll include it as one of the entries on your site for other people to have a look at - Rob

Rob,

Your site looks interesting, and I think a lot of my readers would enjoy it. I just got you added to the aggregator. I also added you to the directory. You should show up under "Websites". You can see it here: http://www.unpluggedshop.com/directory/the-blokeblog

If you ever have any questions or comments, just drop me an email or leave a comment on the site.

Regards,
Luke Townsley