Dear Blogger

I was going to sent this to Blogger.com when it dawned on me that I might be able to do something with it myself after all...

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It would be nice if I could have separate self-created catagories for my articles (like checkboxes added to the Title section of the Manage Posts page). Also, if there were a JavaScript menu in my template that uses those catagories (and sub-catagories would be nice) to help people link over to archived blog entries. And it would be nice of the text formatting for the catagories, sub-catagories, and links to archived blog entries would change from bold to not bold, depending on if a blog reader has viewed or not viewed articles in a particular catagory or sub-catagory.

In other words, I'd like to see the following archive menue:

Catagory 1
...Sub-catagory 1
.......Entry 1
..........Entry 2
..........Entry 3
.......Entry 4
..........Entry 5
......Sub-catagory 2
..........Entry 1
..........Entry 2
..........Entry 3
Catagory 2
......Sub-catagory 1
..........Entry 1
..........Entry 2
..........Entry 3
......Sub-catagory 2
..........Entry 1
..........Entry 2
..........Entry 3

Etc.

This would mean that entries 1 and 4 of Catagory 1 have not yet been read by a blog visiter, and that they have read all other entries (and that none of those entries have been updated since their last visit). Perhaps Article 1 of Catagory 1 has been read by that blog visitor before, but it has since been updated. It would still be bolded.

Another way of notifying people of new or updated articles within various catagories and sub-catagories would be to have an add-on inserted into the template that specifically lists just those articles. This wouldn't replace the catagorized archive JavaScript, but could be placed below that script.

Essentially, I'd like to be able to have catagories and sub-catagories that I made up myself for my articles and then have those in a JavaScript menu that notifies my blog visitors of articles that they haven't read yet, or that have been updated. It's just smoother and makes more sense than having the ten most recent articles (regardless of their topic) lined up by the date they were created. It's less messy and more efficient. It enables people to find what they're really looking for, when they want to find it.
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We'll have to see what I come up with.