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Site News
- 08/31/08
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In the past months the server that hosts this site has been dragging a little bit. It has gone down a few times and has begin consuming too many resources. And so I've decided to move to a new server with a host that is dedicated to supporting Movabletype, the software that runs behind the scenes here. While I was going through all the trouble of moving to the new server, I decided to rebuild the site's templates from the ground-up (or nearly so) and to tinker just a little bit with the site's features and design. I also upgraded to the latest version of the software.
And so by this morning most of you should be seeing the site on its new server. I, on the other hand, am still waiting for the changes to "take" and continue to see the old site.
There are a few new features on this site you may like to know about:
At long last I changed around the top banner. Gone is the lonely winter tree. As much as I love the image, I think a year was long enough for it to be there. In its place is a chair. Yup, a chair. This will, of course, be utterly irrelevant to those of you who read via RSS!
You can now create an account on the site. This will be useful to those of you who comment regularly. The account will mean you can sign in and not have to continually enter your username, email address, and so on. It also gives you the ability to track your old comments, to track other people's comments, etc. The page where you do all of this is still be perfected, so you'll have to give me some time in that regard.
The front page has been simplified a little bit (since it was getting a bit cluttered). I removed much of what was there and replaced it with a poll/survey and ActionStream (which tracks what I do in other places on the web--Digg, Twitter, and so on). I removed A La Carte from the sidebar and it is now in the same time line as the other posts.
There are quite a few other changes that are sufficiently insignificant that they are probably not worth mentioning.
Beyond these changes, I expect things to continue here pretty much as they have for the past six years.
Published in 2008, this book
This is a guide that calls men,
This review of the bestselling
New to the site? You can get
Comments (21)
Two thumbs up Tim on the new design. Did you create the image, or is it a stock file from somewhere?
The ActionStream intrigues me - you're almost forfeiting all your privacy - but it makes a nice addition to 'A La Carte' in being able to see those interesting things you discover online.
Also, as I'm a bit of a WordPress-Onlyist , I would have loved to have seen you change platforms as well as servers. ;)
P.S. Just noticed that you've made the 'Previewing your Comment' template match your site template. Excellent!
Tim,
The new design is GREAT! I've signed on, and now I don't have to retype anything! It makes us feel like we're a part of the family and now have our own key :)
The site looks good, but the title graphic is a little big. The content only starts half-way down the screen and taking the sponsor ads into account, only actually a quarter of the screen (1280*800, running Safari on Mac OS X) contains any content. Basically, all I can see without scrolling down is the introductory paragraph to the first story.
Also, I miss A La Carte. Given that the sidebar occupies half the window the whole way down, would it not be possible to keep it in place, even if below what is currently there?
In summary, the site suffers from a similar problem to the BBC News redesign a couple of months ago: looks nice, but seems to be a lot less efficient to navigate and read. That said, the content is still worth reading when we find it.
Very nice, Tim. The tree was beautiful, but a bit depressing after awhile! :-) The empty chair seems to invite me to come sit and have a conversation.
I would have to agree that I miss the A La Carte on the side bar.
I love it! I especially love "Informing the Reforming." Maybe I missed that before, but that's a great tag line.
That chair looks oddly familiar.
I'm seeing the new design and I love it! The chair and the colors give some new 'life' to the blog and it's great.
Have been a RSS reader of your blog, but now I think I'll 'physically' drop by more often. :-)
I'm sure the new design will be very nice, but I can't see the chair. Is it because I'm from Alabama... ?
...and no one heard at all, not even the chair; leaving me lonely still.
...oh, what a lonely chair, oh what a lonely chair, oh what a lonely chair!
Bro,
I LOVE the new site...very fresh and catchy! Good job!
Tim,
In case you haven't discovered it yet, there's a dead link here:
/advertise.php
Will you still have the ala carte space? I need it.
A La Carte AFTER the main post? That means I have to READ the main post! Haha.Seriously, A La Carte is at the top of the reasons I read and recommend this site often, but the other stuff is great too. Blessings. I LOVE the new site.
Nicely done. The red color and empty chair are very inviting. They go well together.
I also loved the sidebar "ActionStream" idea. How are you aggregating that - do you use a service?
The "What is RSS and why would I want it?" link doesn't work.
Edgar.
Wooooow, this signing in feature is really cool.
I also like the new header a whole ton more than I did the tree one, it always seemed a little bland to me. However, not having a la carte on the sidebar really irks me...
Oh yeah, and I love the little challies.com logo in between each post, was that always there?
And now that we've got login names, is there a way of allowing us to edit comments?
I would have to agree that I miss the A La Carte on the side bar.
It's funny that several people are pointing to that. I liked it in the sidebar too, but am surprised that others did. That one little feature was the single most difficult design feature to work around. And so I figured I'd try to live without it for a bit. We'll see how it goes; I may need it back in the sidebar as well.
And now that we’ve got login names, is there a way of allowing us to edit comments?
I don't think so.
I also loved the sidebar “ActionStream” idea. How are you aggregating that - do you use a service?
It's a Movabletype plugin called ActionStreams.
Also, as I’m a bit of a WordPress-Onlyist , I would have loved to have seen you change platforms as well as servers. ;)
I use Wordpress a lot in my web design business, but I don't ever anticipate using it here. There are just too many things I couldn't do well with it.
Well, I think I like the A La Carte this new way; 'cause, honestly, I never really noticed it before. My time is limited, so I tend not to look much beyond the main focus (that and the fact that I've spent decades avoiding anything which remotely resembles advertising - and sidebars and banners are common places for ads).
Tim, I have to agree about the A La Carte. That was one of my favorite things about the site, and it looked so much more "in place" where it was. Great site though, keep up the good work!
Tim, the site looks sharp.