Welcome to the New Look!

Last Updated on December 23, 2009

I promise that I’m not trying to ask for trouble by introducing a brand new design for this blog on, of all days, Friday the 13th!

I’ve been particularly happy with the previous design, based on the Carrington Theme for WordPress.&nbsp  But as much as I liked that design — and I liked it a lot — there were two things that bothered me.

First, I really wanted an area where I could really showcase a recent post that I felt was worthy of attention.&nbsp  The new “Headline” section allows me to do just that.&nbsp  I’m not crazy about that “Headline” title.&nbsp  I’ve thought about replacing it with “Top Story,” but that feels a little more “newsy” than I want.&nbsp  So it may remain as “Headline” for a while, at least until I either come up with something better or decide to love and accept “Top Story” for what it is.

The second thing I really wanted to change was to add an ability to showcase the weekly memes I do like the Saturday Six, Sunday Seven and Monday’s Morals.&nbsp  Lately, I’ve been posting a few more stories per week than I have in the past.&nbsp  I don’t do that to satisfy any specific “quota” that I’ve come up with.&nbsp  In fact, I’m more than satisfied to post absolutely nothing on days when I just can’t find even a little nugget worth mentioning.&nbsp  But on days when I can find plenty to say, it’s easy for the memes to get lost in the shuffling posts down the front page.&nbsp  So with the “Featured Stories” section on the front page, the most recent editions are always there right at the top.

This new design is based on the Arthemia Theme for WordPress, and I’ve already gone in and done some color and font size adjustments.&nbsp  And there are still a few left to be made on the current “punch list.”&nbsp  One of my readers, Mika, sent me some very nice feedback about what he liked and what he”d recommend changing, and oddly enough, the things he liked were things I liked, and the things he very kindly suggested could be better were things that were driving me crazy.&nbsp  It’s always nice to be on the same page!

One of his suggestions was to bring back the “About Me” window at the top of the sidebar.&nbsp  I think I have found an easy way to get that back, so that will be one of my projects for this evening.&nbsp  He also mentioned the font size on the individual post pages, which looked to me as if I’d accidentally tried to create a blog for the most tragic of visual impairment cases.&nbsp  I think I’ve fixed that at the moment.

But then there’s only so much one can do during a lunch hour.&nbsp  You didn’t think I’d skip the meal, did you?

So I’d love to read your feedback about the new look.&nbsp  What do you like and what don’t you like?&nbsp  I can’t promise I can change everything you’d like to see changed, but I’ll at least see what I can do to make it work!

Thanks, as always, for reading!