Just a quick note to reference a few changes I’ve made to the site.
First: you’ll notice that I’ve changed the comment submit layout. When I initially designed the look of this site, I was eager to try some new things, and so had the comment submission form stuck at the top of the comments.
This was stupid – I realize this now. It just never fit with the flow of how people read I don’t think. Rare is the occasion that I read a blog and wish to comment without first checking out what others have said. Additionally, I never liked how small the box was.
So, it’s back at the end of the comments – and has some nice new graphics to accompany it.
Next: I’ve FINALLY updated the site’s front page. Bet you didn’t even know the site HAD a front page! When I initially set up this site back in late 2004, I did so with the idea of blogging about my impending trip to China, as well as moving all my old LiveJournal travel blogging onto its own home, and doing some other stuff – though I was never clear about what that other stuff was… maybe a photo gallery, or a home for some of my music…
Blogging, and specifically blogging platforms, has come a long way in the past four years and I can do most if not all that I wish internally in WordPress. And as it turns out, I never really had time or clarity for that “other stuff” anyway. So – homepage updated – basically just works as navigation for the blog and shows off (a) my other sites, and (b) my FriendFeed – a cool service that keeps track of what you’re doing on various social sites (flickr, youtube, del.icio.us, twitter, blogs, etc.).
Next Next: The top menu text has been replaced by their equivalent iconic representations. I think we can all figure out what they mean, and the mouseover text should help the stragglers. The text was always overlapping the image’s shadow, and it has been pissing me off for months. Having the hood popped on things finally gave me the opportunity to correct it.
Last: I’m not sure when it happened, but I killed my vBlog. It would appear that when I transferred my site to a new server a few months back I neglected to copy the database that powered the second install of WordPress I had running to manage my vBlog entries. Meh, there’s not been a new vBlog since 2006, so it wasn’t as if anyone was missing anything really.
However, and this isn’t an announcement (and I’ll deny it if asked directly), I’ve been considering starting to vlog again. It might give me an excuse to get my ass out of the house a bit more.
Regardless if I do or don’t find the time to, I did want to bring the old vlog entries into the fold. Doing so gave me a chance to mess around with some design ideas and WordPress trickery that I’ve had for a while now. You can see the results (and the old vlog entries) here:
So, that’s it – largely just some cleaning up on things I’ve been meaning to sort out for some time, but haven’t had the time. I still don’t have the time, but I’m realizing more and more, I never will. Meh, it’s over-rated anyway.
