Site Changes

I’ve been working on redoing the site, mainly because the current theme makes the text hard to read. Something I want to avoid, of course. I know if my eyes are having a hard time focusing on the text, then everybody else’s are too. Oh, and I want the site to give off a slightly more professional appearance–the site of a semi-sucessful fiction writer. Anyway. I’ve already gone through a few different designs, and here’s the latest–basically just a new take on what’s already here.

WordPress 2.7, Definitely a Change?

Wow! It’s amazingly cold outside at the moment with the wind…I’d say almost forty-something degrees. Not exactly sure, though, as I never usually investigate the weather Anyway. To the point of this post. I actually spent the time today to upgrade the Lair to version 2.7 (which, I assume, will be closely followed up by 2.8 as things seem to go with WP), and I’ve got to say it’s completely different in some ways–mainly that being in the Dashboard area. Now, having been in the new 2.7 Dashboard on TV-Reviewed.com, I can say I’m a little familiar with it, but accessing some of the higher level fuctions is the new part for me.

The new Dashboard looks nice–nice and grey that is; everything is some shade or another of grey, with blue mixed in here and there–and clean. The menus are now completely on the sides, with the main one being on the left, and the submenus being on the right. And the user bar is at the top, right-hand side of the screen. All of that works for me just fine. I think it makes things a little bit easier–once you get used to it, that is. Because, like I said, the new layout IS something you have to get used to. It’s not an instant “Oh, I like that.” In fact, I felt more indifferent about it all when I first saw it.

Anyhow. It’s grown on me since then. Oh and, while on the subject of Lair improvements, I’m still a-working on the new look for the site. Not sure when, or if ever, I’ll finish it. I’m still debating on exactly what I want. Decisions. Decisions. What is an ogre going to do?

Site News

I’ve yet to update WP. I guess, like a lot of other things dealing with computers, I just haven’t had the desire to monkey with it. Even though it wouldn’t take that long, I’m just, by the weekend, done with wanting to touch a computer. That’s what happens when you’re at work all day in front of one! Anyway. I hope to get to updating WP soon enough.

Also, I haven’t forgotten about my Coastionary project. In fact, I’m working on a major overhaul of the site and its content. Basically, I’m just not satisfied with its look and feel. Railwolf did an awesome job on the script. That part is not in question. What is is the fact that the site lacks any character and its content is pretty mundane. Yes, it’s a dictionary of roller coaster terms, like I wanted. But, it just doesn’t do it for me. I think it needs more detail and, well, fun. It’s not fun! It’s sterile and boring. Roller coasters sure aren’t, so why should it be?

I think I should probably reinvent it a little before I actually debut it. It’s funny the site’s been around for nearly a year, and I haven’t even given it a grand opening, so to speak. Anyway. I’m going to remedy that soon enough.

About The Logo

Not that it makes much of a difference, but I’ve dropped the use of the tagline “tasty webmonster morsels!”, because it doesn’t really reflect me anymore. Over the past few years, the online handle I’ve in the past…well, I haven’t used as much as I used to. My alternate gaming identity isn’t that important to me anymore, since I don’t really play that many games now.

Also, I want to site to feel a bit more professional, as I’m planning on using it for my writing more and more. While I thought about doing a separate blog, my idea now is to use the Wordpress installation as my so-called journal. The front page of the site is going to change a little here shortly to include more than just a blog.

I guess we’ll see what happens with that, though.

Minor Update

The site has once more been updated to the latest version of WordPress, and I’ve done the all-important back up as well. It’s stupid, I know, that I don’t back things up more often; I only do it when there’s an update, usually. Perhaps, somebody will come by and destroy things–then, I’ll realize how “all-important” those back ups really are

Blog Software Update

It seems like the guys at WordPress seem to come with a new version every week, but this time they’ve done more than just an incremental update, it appears. The new 2.5 version has a lot of features I’ve been wanting to have available to me without the use of third-party plug-ins, such as a built-in image gallery.

I just got done with the upgrade, and I had no problems with it. The new dashboard, though, gave me a shock–it’s so much cleaner looking and they’ve moved things around quite a bit. But, I’m slowly getting used to it. One thing I give the WordPress guys credit on is on how simple they’ve made upgrading; it always seems its a breeze (the only part I dislike about it is the backup procedure, though, if one uses the available plug-in for backups, I’m sure it’s a lot easier and quicker).

Next, I’ll have to try that new built-in image gallery feature to see how it turned out. I’m sort of psyched about it, actually. I used to have the script simply known as Gallery and thought it was very cumbersome and way too complicated to maintain. If the WordPress gallery is as easy to use as WordPress itself, I’ll be one happy camper–doh, I mean ogre.

New Lair Design

It took me a little while to figure out what the hey I wanted. But, finally, I have come up with a design I halfway like for the Lair. I came across this template a few days ago. I found it on one of the many free template sites for WordPress. I suppose it was meant for a furniture store or something. Before I modified it, the top had a picture of sofa on it. However, I liked the wood pattern.

You can see that the site is really a mix of the new with a touch of the old. I wanted to do this in order to keep it somewhat familiar to those who normally visit it. Yet, with that said, gone is the old “Lair” logo. I wanted something new, and something that fit the new wood-look better. So, I went with a wood sign–go figure–that has the website’s title etched into it. I think it looks all right, too, considering I used Paint Shop Pro to do it with, version 6 at that (which hasn’t been available for over five years, but it’s all I got). But, I might change the background behind the sign, as it seems to sort of wash it out.

The main reason, though, of going to a new template is to make it easier to upgrade the site. This template is made to work with the latest version of WordPress, so there shouldn’t be any funky errors, I hope. Also, I like the idea of having the wider look. It sort of makes the site look less crowded.

There are still a few things to address I’m sure. I probably need to add the search box back in, seeing this template design didn’t have that in mind at all. Though, I doubt many people even use that feature. Please, let me know if you find any errors. And don’t hesitate to let me know what you think!

Overhauling

I’ve decided to give “the Lair” a sort of overhaul.

Firstly, I’m going to change the design a tad. Second, I’m going to upgrade the site to the latest version of Wordpress. And, third, I’m going to get rid of the gallery and add larger picture sizes to the posts.

I think this will make the site much more enjoyable for both me and the visitors. I plan on beginning this new endeavor one step at a time, and I hope to be done with it in the month of October–but we’ll see.