One pager or multiple pages?

[Larissa]

Haha, I love that one pagers have become a standard type of site now. I remember back when I was discussing one pagers with Masao and Larissa, and we ended up having our first one page shrine marathon years ago...

Wasn't that in, like, 2009? Where has the time gone... Somewhat hilariously, my first one-page site was 20 years old, and half the reason I named it after that song was because I turned 20 right after opening it. Now I just feel old every time I look at it.....................

Anyway, I wanted to +1 most everything dubiousdisc said and also provide a couple of examples, since those are usually helpful. Right now I've got two one-page sites.

The first one's for Lenneth, the main character from Valkyrie Profile. This site is really just a high-level overview; it introduces the subject and touches on the most important moments from the story. It goes into detail about Lenneth's character and motivations, and her relationships with key characters, but everything else is omitted. I went with the one-page route for Lenneth despite her being the main character in the game she's from because of the sheer scope of the material -- at the time, it was way easier to just focus on the highlights and pull out the most important points from the entire game. And, uh, given that I made this site in 2010 and I still haven't expanded it... (One day, one day.)

In contrast, my other one-pager is about Laguna from Final Fantasy VIII. The thing about Laguna is that there really isn't that much to say about him in the first place. Everything I had to say about the character made it onto that page, and that's why I chose the one-page format. If I end up changing it, it'll only be to make the site easier to read and less wall-of-text.

The point I'm getting at, really, is that any subject can work for a one-page site; it's just a matter of deciding what you want to cover in that space. And then if you figure out that you have WAY too much information to be conveyed on a single page, then it's generally a good idea to split it up, as others have mentioned.

Personally I see a one-page site as analogous to an essay; you've only got the one page to present your take on the subject and you can choose what examples you want to use to back up your point, but realistically you're probably not going to write a single 50,000-word essay. A multi-page site, on the other hand, lets you tackle the material from lots of different angles. (Not that you can't do that on a one-pager, but it's a lot harder, to be sure.)

[Mikari]

The amount of things I have to say, marathons, events and group sites are also an influence but mostly the amount of things I have to say.

[Laura]

I always plan my shrines to be multiple pages because I try to provide as much information as possible on a character, which usually ends up being too much writing for one page. xD I think if I was to make a one-page shrine, I'd probably do it for a character that had minimal appearance in their respective series. Like Ritsu from Fruits Basket; he only appears 5 times total in the entire manga so the amount of content you could create is pretty minimal.

That being said, I love the idea of one-page shrines and how they offer us a chance to create something that may not require as much work as a multiple page shrine. IMO, any shrine is a good shrine and if it encourages people to create them because they potentially involve less effort, I'm happy. xD lol

[Lethe]

Everything that dubiouscdisc and Larissa said including Larissa's two examples: intentionally limiting the amount you cover, or writing about a minor subject.

Like dubiousdisc, I make an outline of my shrine before I start writing, so I go into shrine-making with a clear idea of what I want. While my shrines focus on analysis, a side goal of theirs is always to introduce people to a given subject (especially if I shrine obscure stuff). However, some of my shrines are specifically meant to be an introduction, so those are one page shrines.

There's a lot more I could write and analyze about Claymore (scope), and I could break down the characters and talk about great scenes and amazing game rounds in Liar Game (depth), but I chose not to so as to leave the shrines as relatively spoiler-free introductions while having them feel "complete" in their own way - without stripping them of the themes and analysis parts. (With other shrines, visitors have to stop reading at some point once the introduction part is over, which means they do not get to experience the whole shrine. That's not a big deal, but I write my pages to form a cohesive whole with lead-up and conclusion, so...)

On the other hand, I thought I'd go with a one page shrine for Idike, a minor character who pretty much only appears in one chapter. However, it's precisely because she's so minor that I wanted to say more about her than just what you get to see in the chapter, so the shrine contains a lot more analysis than it does superficial descriptions. To me, it wouldn't have made sense to write an introduction to her character and leave it at that, since her story is over soon after it starts.

Really, depending on your shrining style, I'd put more emphasis on "how much do I want to say about this character?" rather than "how much factual info is there on this character and how minor is their role?".

[Destinie]

This is an interesting topic!

I think, for me, it depends on how much I have to say or how much information is available - pretty much what DubiousDisc mentioned above. For my one-pagers that I still have online, I found it somewhat difficult to talk a lot about the topic without sounding repetitive so I made them into one-page shrines.

I think my resulting shrine decisions come out of my outlines when I first have an idea. If I am doing a rather large outline then the shrine will definitely need multiple pages. They rely heavily on my information architecture.

[FandomSavant]

I'm just getting started, but as others have said, it would depend upon how much I have to say. I'm thinking if I made a shrine, it would be like a main topic (like, say, Michael Jackson), then some one-pagers for each of his albums or short films/videos. But tied together (kind of like Todd has his Drew Barrymore, then off-shoots for favorite characters - I love that!!).