I want to thank you all so much for your help in “Beta testing” the new site for me and offering me your feedback and constructive criticism. I would also like to briefly go over a few of the most brought up things:
1.) Broken Links. It appears that Blogspot and WordPress have different link-naming conventions so I have a lot of broken links now that lead to 404s. Yes, in my haste to get the site up and running, I failed to realize that. I think I have fixed all the ones at least on the front page– if you find any more, let me know– but there are likely still many broken links within the blog itself on various posts and the like. If you find one on a frequently-referenced post, let me know.
2.) Blog Layout and Design. I have a confession to make, guys. I… know absolutely nothing about web design and CSS. I can get things running on Linux but web page design is a completely different ballgame and one I am literally clueless about. I had– and still have– this dream of having a 100% original and customized site but it got to the point where I had to choose between figuring out how to get one and postponing switching to the new site, or picking something plug-and-play for now and playing around with site design later. I chose the latter option because honestly, it was getting harder and harder to write posts on the other site knowing I was sitting on this one, and I figured it wasn’t fair to my readers.
I am using the Mandigo theme which approximately 98.7% of WordPress blogs use (Note: 79.4% of statistics in this post are made up on the spot), precisely because it is easy to use and looks nice enough. I really want to have something much more unique and special someday but I can’t tell you when that will be. Someday, though. In the meantime I know I still have a lot of tweaking to do in terms of the site design.
3.) Banner. I received a lot of good feedback on my new banner picture, ranging from people who really liked its minimalism and design, to others who felt it lacked color. Most everybody liked the art though. Here is the deal with the banner: it was designed to be temporary. The original plan was to take the art, ink it up and color it in, and make a colorful banner similar to the one on my old Blogspot blog. However, the process was taking a very long time and I was getting closer to the personal deadline I’d set for myself, so I opted instead to make a much simpler banner to use for now.
I like the way the current “temporary” banner looks and I think it is cute and kind of unique, but I do think in the end I want something more colorful, so this will probably be one of the things that I change first.
Alright, that’ll do it. I want to extend a thank-you to all of you who have already updated your blogroll and links to me, and an extra BIG thank-you to Mania’s Arcania, World of Matticus, and Musings of a Raider for linking to my new blog in posts (if you have, as well, and I failed to catch it– my deepest apologies!). One of my biggest concerns in making this switch was the domain name change, but thanks to you guys it’s going a lot smoother than I thought. <3 Okay, enough of the blogspam. Tell ya what. I am going to log into WoW, which I haven't done in a few days (been working on this site, you know), and I will try to come up with something fun to blog about. There is actually talk of a potential Karazhan run with some old friends tonight. The thought makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. Mmmyes.
Woohoo, new blog link love!
I love the look of the banner, but I agree. Color = good.
Have fun in Kara!
I… know absolutely nothing about web design and CSS.
Yeah, join the club. That’s why Stabilized Effort Scope is minimalistic and black.
I… actually really like the uncolored banner…. >.> It’s different and nifty.
If you take a gander at http://www.smashingmagazine.com/ they have a section devoted to to wordpress themes. Some very customizable; others not so much. You may find something you like there.
I know enough css and stuff to get me by; so if you have any questions, just shoot them my way. 🙂
😀 Gratz on the move
hey if you’re hosting this blog on your own and have access to the files, I can gladly help you with a new design! I know xhtml/css and photoshop, and a bit of php/mysql… and a few others. 🙂 Write if you’re interested!
Why?
Cuz I dig the blog and it’s totally worth of a contribution for a fellow wow-hunter-linux player. ^.^