So Should I Add a Peaceful-looking Giraffe?
You made it. I made it.
Here we are.
In the inaugural katymerritt.com post.
It seems like I should be writing something monumental to introduce the new For the Record, but it’s too much pressure. So instead, I’m just going to take you on a tour of the new digs.
The one thing you have to know: The middle’s where it’s at! That’s where you’ll find the posts, which won’t be changing too much. I’m going to try to get back to being more focused, tightening more, but you’ll be greeted by the same genres and styles.
Now, cast your eyes to the top of the page. The new For the Record features a header image much like the one on the old For the Record. But there’s a big difference: this is a rotating header, so each time you refresh or move to a new page, you should get a new image. There are 7, each representing a popular topic on this blog.
What else is new? The left sidebar, of course! To be honest, I’m not so sure about this addition. I’ve never been comfortable with 3-column themes or even 2-column themes with left sidebars. But I like this theme a lot, created by the same person who made my old theme (which I still really like), so I’m running with it for now. The order of both sidebars may change, but . . . .
On the left you’ve got page links, featured stuff, categories, comments, and photos. (Click the thumbnails to go to our Flickr.) The look of the Flickr widget is off in some browsers, but I’ve talked myself into living with it. I’ll be adding links to favorite posts, cool sites, interesting articles, (single) funny quotes, etc. in Featured and Cool. I guess it’ll be taking the place of Off the Record, which I’m sad to see go, but it just feels too crowded with 3-columns.
On the right, you can search this site, visit my friends, and get RSS feeds for posts and comments to stay in the Record know.
And that’s it!
You’ve seen everything and now it’s time for the part where I look you in the eyes and say in my earnest voice, “Nothing’s going to change, Jo,” and you want to believe me, but you can’t. You know that, eventually, everything changes. We can’t stay the same forever.
Okay, so it’s not quite that dramatic. But I understand if being in a new place makes you a little nervous.
Don’t worry. The old For the Record’s not going anywhere. I know change is hard, but remember: We’re in this together. I’ve been back and forth on this move for a while. The old blog would start feeling old and I’d look around for themes for the new one. After about a day, I’d start missing the old one and go back. And then I’d long for the new again.
But there’s no turning back now.
And that’s okay. I think I’m going to love the new blog just as much. I hope you will too!
You’ll have to be patient with me, though. There are still bugs — some that I know about, some that I don’t. If you see one and know how to fix it, please tell me! But don’t forget: I don’t know what I’m doing. I’ve been hacking my way through this site via trial and error. (Chris pitched in for one or two last-minute changes, but on the whole, this mess is mine.)
I’ve still got a lot to learn, but, in case you didn’t know, I love learning.
12 comments
Good work.
Thanks, Lex!
I like it too. Why the change of address?
JSmo — Thanks! Glad you made it over. :)
Changing addresses might cost me a few readers (but I think they’ll cross over eventually) and it’ll require learning new things, but I think it’ll be worth it in the long run.
Wordpress.com is great because it’s easy to use and allows you to have a nice looking blog for free. You get to choose from several themes (the overall look) and have widget (sidebar items) options. But in order to make any changes to the theme’s code — like fonts, headers, colors, images, spacing, tabs, etc. — you have to upgrade to a paid wordpress.com account that allows you to edit the CSS.
You do have to pay for the domain name and hosting with your own site too, but, in my case, the hosting is already covered via Chris. I have full rights to the content, and there are no limits — I can upload any theme I want (there are thousands out there besides the ones on wordpress.com) and customize it anyway I want, so long as I can figure out how to do it on the back end. (I’m still using a Wordpress operating system, which means that, on the most part, there’s no learning curve with writing and managing.) Or if I really wanted to work hard, I could design my own theme or talk Chris into doing it and then pay somebody to code it for me. There’s also no limit on how many pics, mp3s, and videos I can upload.
If I wanted to, I could use this site as more than just a blog too. The blog could just be one component.
And katymerritt.com is a shorter address, which means it’s more user-friendly, I think.
Hi, I was doing some facebook stalking and saw your new website, Very Nice! Ok, bye bye.
David! Hey! Thanks! I don’t think it counts as stalking if we’re bona-fide facebook friends, which we are, of course. But, even so, you’re welcome to stalk any time. Hope things are great with you!
The line about the giraffe–I can’t place it. Gilmore Girls, right?
Lex — Yep! It’s GG alright. It’s from that S7 episode when Kirk drives Taylor’s car through Luke’s window on the test run of the new stoplight camera. When Luke and TJ start fixing the window, Luke says he wants to rebuild it exactly as it was, but TJ wants to spice it up, maybe with some stained glass. He thinks Luke’s resistance to the idea is because most stained glass is of creepy stuff, so TJ suggests a peaceful-looking giraffe.
Oh, yeah! Ha. Nice one!
Your new site is very cool! I’m impressed… far beyond anything I could do, well… I guess I probably could figure it out if I ever really wanted to… but my blogging is not exciting enough to be worth it! Love yours, the site and your blogging! I’ve got you added to my RSS! :)
I just watched that episode! I didn’t pick up on the line though, until Lex pointed it out. I thought it had something to do with our family affinity for the selfish creatures.
Lex — Who’d have thought they really make that kind of stained glass?
I really like the tone in Luke’s voice when he says, “You want me to put a peaceful-looking giraffe on the window of my diner?”
Jules — Thanks!! You could totally do it! All I did was tweak someone else’s design, really. I like the refresh you gave your blog too! And I’m really glad you’re back from the dead! :)
JSmo — I think Barn would say the little one looks peaceful and the big one looks selfish!
While that episode of Andy is a good enough reason to include a giraffe on the blog somewhere, it’s not quite an applicable enough allusion to use as the title of this post.
Leave a Comment