I don't know that I have a formula. I just try to find a short, memorable title.
I especially try to find a title that feels like it could be a Thing in and of itself; that is, a title that lends itself to being cited in conversation:
The Cranky Developer's Manifesto
You're Doing It Wrong™
Your Project Isn't Done Yet
Anatomy of a Bad Idea
Clean, DRY, SOLID Spaghetti
There's also the titles that suggest an action or challenge:
Please Reinvent the Wheel
To Comment Or Not To Comment?
Please Don't Answer This Question
That said, I try to avoid cliches and clickbait when possible. There are rare exceptions wherein I'll write a list:
10 Principles of a Good Code Review
4 Communities Every Coder Should Join
I also like when I come up with a title that feels like a book title:
The Curse of the IDE
The Dark Side of the Magic
Retraction of an Obituary
I don't have any way of tracking click-throughs here on DEV, but if the view counts on my articles are any indicator, these titles are working pretty well.
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I don't know that I have a formula. I just try to find a short, memorable title.
I especially try to find a title that feels like it could be a Thing in and of itself; that is, a title that lends itself to being cited in conversation:
There's also the titles that suggest an action or challenge:
That said, I try to avoid cliches and clickbait when possible. There are rare exceptions wherein I'll write a list:
I also like when I come up with a title that feels like a book title:
I don't have any way of tracking click-throughs here on DEV, but if the view counts on my articles are any indicator, these titles are working pretty well.