Site notes

blogging 1 Minute

I have been trying for several months to find a theme for the blog. In particular, I wanted one that had the author’s name listed at the top of the post. Many of the themes here at wordpress.com assume a single blogger, which was fine when it was just me. But that’s no longer the case and the workaround – having the blogger list their name at the top of the post – was cumbersome.

When this theme was released a few weeks ago, I liked it immediately. It solved the author problem and had a few bonuses. The first is that it is a magazine-style theme. I’ve always liked them, even though they require a little more work to use. You will note that the front page of this theme looks a lot different from the individual article pages. That is by design – and should make reading the posts more enjoyable. So I spent some time over the last week tweaking it a bit.

But the one thing I’ve been really wanting since I first became aware of them (about the time I started blogging) is this thing called “asides.” Think of asides as tweets: they are short posts that usually just contain a link. Look on the front page below the featured posts [edit: I moved these to above the featured posts] and you’ll see an area I’ve called “quickies.” That’s where you’ll find the asides posts, although they also appear in the recent posts list on the front page.

Poke around and let me know what you think.

Published

20 thoughts on “Site notes”

  1. I wonder if the category headings to our right ——> should be slightly larger. I know I have glasses and sometimes still have trouble reading.

    I think you did a great job on this. I’ll have to work on my bio now too…. šŸ™‚

      1. They are the last orange element left, right? They do look better to me this larger size, but I also understand what you are saying about the match up to the size of the items in the categories.

        Whichever is fine with me, I have been blind a long time, and I am still not used to these progressive bifocals.

  2. Is there anyway you can change the color of the background or foreground of the site, even slightly? I don’t know if it’s just me, but I have trouble reading sites that are white on white or any color over the same color. Everything just kind of blends together and with the text in the background of the site, it makes it even worse.

    Otherwise I think it looks great.

      1. Yeah there is a slight tint, it’s not totally white on white. I’m not artistically inclined in the least, so it might as well be white on white to me. Still, the lack of real contrast makes everything seem hard to read. Maybe it will just take some getting used to.

        It also seems like the hyperlinks, for example on the Quick Links post, are almost the exact same color as the text. Maybe that’s something you can change in the CSS?

        1. Yeah, I can change the links. Except for that, what are you having trouble reading? I used the same colors for this as I did the other theme. And it had a white background. Are you trying to make out the word cloud?

          1. Yeah, it’s definitely the word cloud. Just having it on the periphery and it being colored so close to the main text kinda distracts the eyes when you read line to line as the cloud is at the edges.

            I think it’s something that just takes some getting used to.

  3. I was going to mention that the watermarking pattern could be just a shade darker or a different color, like salmon.

    Does the bg pattern only go up the page halfway?

    1. The watermark is actually a word cloud containing the names of the cities and counties in Virginia. By design, it is like newsprint – not to be read. I tried colors – it detracts a lot from the content. And when you scroll down the page, it stays in place so you always have space above and space below.

  4. Love the site, however I agree with Mark, the asides should be in a different color. IMO

    I always read the asides, they are not a distraction for me, but in the same color as the comments, I tend to get little stuck on them, not the content.

    1. …like why my teacher wanted me held back in 2nd grade because I had bad handwriting or why I almost failed geometry because I couldn’t draw basic shapes…

  6. I beg to differ. You have a gift with words. Have suggestions (regarding the site) that we may help you with? I’m willing to try anyway.

    OT. I saw you on Cathy Lewis’ show on Sunday. However, I did not get a chance to listen to the conversation. I know that one of the panelist is your co-worker at The Pilot. Who were the other two gentlemen on the panel and what were you discussing? Something about redistricting based on political afflication?

    1. Suggestions always help šŸ™‚

      I don’t work for the Pilot. The three men on the panel were Pilot political reporter Julian Walker, Pilot editorial page editor Donald Luzzatto, and Regent Univ professor Charles Dunn. One of the topics was redistricting, yes.

  8. I hadn’t been on here in so long I was shocked! I have to say that high contract in a black background and yellow font format is highly underrated. I find it much easier on the eyes. But it is sort of limiting depending upon what you want to do.

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