It’s just making a swan song.
Update: Here’s the deal – This particular theme, while it has sentimental value for all of us, is simply too limiting, inflexible and, from my perspective, out of balance. If you look at the elements running down the current theme’s sidebar, for example, you’ll see they run well down past the last real content even though I keep 10 posts up. Aesthetically, that means I either need to trim sidebar content – nothing springs out at me for elimination – or else balance the use of real estate by moving to a 3-column, flexible width format.
Once that decision has been made, it occurred to me that there are some really cool developments in WordPress theme development, including the use of sidebar “widgets” which reduces the labor of code creation (poetry, my a**) and allows rapid customization of non-content, contributory items.
The problem is that the theme I chose last Friday (and burnt the weekend laboring over) was too reliant on emerging browser standards. It looked fetching (to me at least) on a Mac in Safari and Firefox, and on the Windows side of my laptop on IE.7. I didn’t think to run it back through IE6, but when I came to work on Monday afterwards, it was clear that I had created something of a monster for low-compliance browsers.
So, I spent most of this week stewing over it, wondering if I could make some improvements by tinkering around the margins a bit on readability (fonts, background, etc.) and hoping the browser issue would go away. This convinced me that it wouldn’t:
Fully a third – and the plurality – of visitors use IE6 or lower to visit, which surprised me a bit. I mean, I know that IE7 requires an intrusive OS verification regime to run, but Mozilla Firefox is both free – and, from my perspective anyway – vastly superior to IE (sorry BCR, and Barb if you’re out reading. But it’s true.) But even given browser upgrades, some users are no doubt limited by their monitor resolution and in any case, some of the code – especially that having to do with commenting, both embedded and pop-up – simply wasn’t robust enough for our purposes, and I’m not robust enough to go in there with the big sticks and fix it. And what’s the point of having a blog if people are too frustrated to make a comment?
So, to make a long story short (ed. Too late!) I junked the earlier theme but intend to burn at least one more weekend trying to migrate towards a 3-column, flexible width, widgets-enabled theme that’s not too different in terms of useabilty, readability and simplicity than what you see here.
I mean, how hard could that be?
In the interim, we thank you for your patience.
Not nice to tease…..
Sigh…….
For one brief moment, I thought that all was right with the world again….
Alas…
Ah well…. it is what it is…
Respects,
Almost said “what”!
Just wenniwuz getting used to it.
Oh well. Same as it ever Woz.
-SJBill
i feel like i just rubbed my eyes and things got clearer.
one note, it was nice when you clicked the ‘xx comments’ button the comments would come into their own box.
Saw the error of your ways did you? I was about to give up your spot on my “favorites” list as it was just too hard to read and took too long to load.
I come here for the content: the style of the writing and the clearness of the thinking. Stop screwing around with stuff that doesn’t matter and only gets in the way.
I’m glad your back. Thanks.
My hero! You are my hero!
Ahem, excuse me. Some decorum is necessary here. So thanks.
BTW one of the (other) things I’ve been thinking the last few days – while content obviously rules, an added bonus has always been the crisp cleaness of your site visually compared to many. But please don’t try that again. You wouldn’t want to be responsible for a healthcare crisis among any of your readers, would you?
Life is as it should be once again. Carry on, sir.
I liked the other way… sort of. LOL
The biggest problem was the scrolling over the background. It made for a hard time to read, especially right after taking a high dose of Gabapentin. Everything gets slightly unfocused and then the F-18 in the background blurs in with the writing.
Not that it didn’t look good the other way, it’s just that it had a couple minor issues that needed correcting. Besides ‘lean & clean’ blogs are all the rage right now.
V5
It’s your site Sir – no matter how it looks it’s the content we want and that you deliver without fail. That said – I like this way better too. If for no other reason than comment preview is back – woot!
Please leave it well enough alone, Lex. Just another example of why free time and naval aviation don’t mix.
Lex….color me stupid…Does this mean that the new design will make another appearence? When I first read this post, I understood it to mean that the old site was was back to stay. However, upon re-reading the post, it appears that the new design will be back. Someone help me. Old age is a terrible thing. On my first comment, which seems to have dissapeared, I made the remark that dawn had come to the swamp and that all was clear again. However, that may not be the case.
The off white background and different font in the new format are harder to read than on this rendition.
Of course the excellent content is unchanged
I like the new site, but I’ll miss having a comment “Preview.”
You know, I’m with Guy. Re-reading this post makes me think I misinterpreted it at first. Oh well – it’s STILL the content that matters…I kinda liked being a “Wingman”…
Oh for a world of just Firefox. On a Mac. For everyone. (Even though I must use IE7 on Windows XP at work…)
One can dream…
Can I just say for the record that Safari bl**s? My wife and I are building a website for her emerging freelance editor business (anyone need freelance editing?) and in Firefox it looks absolutely swell, but Safari butchers the fonts and spacing (seemingly anything other than Courier, Times NR, and Arial you take your life in your own hands) and causes too much acid reflux. Firefox for me.
William said:
“Please leave it well enough alone, Lex. Just another example of why free time and naval aviation don?
William said:
“Please leave it well enough alone, Lex. Just another example of why free time and naval aviation don’t mix”
RFLM@O
You know Lex, if you stop and think about this for a moment its really quite amusing and illumunating. You’re a big fan of capitalism, no? Okay, lets not go any further with that for the moment.
So the look and layout of your blog doesn’t work for you anymore. You want to change it. Should be a reasonable and relatively easy thing to do . After all, it is your blog. But your readership (read “clients/customers” – hey, no one said we were always “good paying” customers) like it the old way. For whatever technological reason(s). So what happens – you burn your valuable weekend time playing around with code (aaaurrrgh), style and widgets only to have us, your completely ungrateful “customers” whine, moan and complain that we don’t like it. Again and again.
Sounds like the free market at play, no?
Irony….. I love it! Either that or little things amuse little minds.
Incidentally, I am using my Nescape browser at the moment (yeah, I know) and it was actually working quite well until it bumped me completely out of the comment about 3/4 of the way down and I had to start over. Guess I will stick with Explorer. Sigh…
Some completely unsolicited and likely unwelcome advice (and keeping in mind that you get what you pay for) – get a life on the weekends and leave the layout of your wonderful blog alone. Pretty please.
Well Michelle, the funny thing is that, in terms of actually getting some remuneration for these my hasty scribblings (some of which take time, and time, as we capitalists know, being $), Google Adsense and Blogads are more consistently reliable than my discontented (not to say aggrieved) readership, who, although they have been very generous in times past, usually only do so when I think to ask for beer money – a thing which, most of you being friends, I am generally loth to do. And not like I need the beer. Although I do.
But, with a trickle of quarters coming in from people not my friends, I can proudly point the Hobbit to the time spent here and say, “See? I earned $27.50 last month and I didn’t have to dun my readership. Directly. It’s not a waste of time.”
There’s a tension of course: Offend too many of the regulars (and fail to attact new eyeballs) and the market for “IMPEACH BUSH NOW!!11!” ads dries up.
Which I think we all can agree would be a pity.
I come here for the content. When the format gets in the way of the content, I move on…
I’m very thankful to be able to read this blog, and I have no basis to complain. Having said that, I do prefer the simple, clean appearance of this format for readability.
Lex, I must be snoozing but where is your coin drop? And good luck with the redesign. Lex 2.0 was kinda hard on the eyes.-GEO6
It’s awful, isn’t it?
Having recently taken a self-imposed crash course in blogging, I am stunned by the time it (can) take. And you’re right, time is money. Although I still do think my comment and observations were funny, I have been suitably guilted. Which I could and might explain to you some day (privately).
I’ve often wondered how your family takes to your blogging time though. Then again I have wondered even more how you people hold down full-time jobs, blog, read other blogs and presumably have some sort of life. Far better people than moi……..
Which reminds me, I really should ask you to pass on my (our) thanks and appreciation to your better half for her sharing of you with us. Whether she does so willingly or not
Lex,
Interesting.
I have to keep IE 6.0 because of corporate requirements. I tried 7.0 already, found I couldn’t run any internal sharepoint and proprietary knowledge databases. Dat’s messing with my bread and butter and had to back rev my browser SW (thankfully it was easy).
My probs with the new site were not that big a deal. I could read and could enter comments, but damn that comment window was confining.
The top line — Home About Archives etc., was half above and half below the blue border, but I kne they were there so I didn’t care.
My bottom line: you go, boy. I’ll do what I have to to keep up even if I need to load Firefox. I’m here for the content and the history / knowledge of the “community”. And I’ll buy some more beers in the future to help out. We’ll adapt even if it means publishing BKMs on the Flightdeck on best how to view this blog.
Which brings up a point — that blog is like a very cute, if not beautiful young lady aircraft: easy on the eyes, and nobody complains about it. Anything wrong with that template from your perspective?
SJBill
Not under the onus of NMCI but still suffer from a similar regieme of e-nazis who force us to use InternetExploder v6 at work. My druthers from home is Firefox – still, throw me in the dinosaur category, I like the cleaner format of Lex Classic(tm) vice New Lex(tm)… BTW, with both browser versions (incl Exploder 7) I have never seen the aforementioned ads; more’s the pity I suppose
- SJS
Michelle said: “…how you people hold down full-time jobs, blog, read other blogs and presumably have some sort of life…
Life? I’m supposed to have a life?
Oh and Lex, I’m like Scribe in that I’m forced to use IE 6.0.2900.2180 (to be precise) at work and I use IE 7 at home. Noticed a difference between the 2, but not enough to gripe about.
Have to admit that I drew a breath of relief when I saw the old format. It’s much easier on the eyes (at least old ones). Didn’t particularly like the title, though
Lex, I think you’ll find that it’s hard to run some of us off no matter how much fiddling you do with the format.
“LEGACY LEX!”
“LEGACY LEX!”
N
Lex, for what it is worth, I am with those that say the old should stay. For my simple mind, the uncluttered layout of two columns makes the site easy to navigate. I don’t comment often, but I do read daily.
just FYI, O Lex — I escaped the surly bonds of the Borg last year. You may speak slightingly of IE in my presence whenever you so desire.
I do much browser testing for the day job now, and I would like to point out I was completely unable to open comments directly in Firefox 1.x. I had to copy the link and dump it in a new tab. And if you want me to do a quick sprint ’round the Usual Browser Suspects for the new version of LexBlog, let me know …
Gee, and I thought I’d be all alone in my complaint, er, comment. A long time ago, before it got too expensive to work, we had a saying in the editing room: “When in doubt, chuck it out!” Couple that with: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. (The “Willing suspension of disbelief” was in there somewhere). Hummmm. Different problems, different solutions…..
Stay well and do what your best at – glueing words together really nicely.
Well, as long as you do not pick on my beloved Visio, you can make disparaging remarks all day long. I do use IE7 on most machines, and IE6 on a couple (despite corp-nanny attempts to force all machines to latest rev). I’ve never had a reason to try any of the others, and don’t want to be bothered
As to the style, I enjoy the current look, and find it very readable. Comment previewing is optional, but a nice feature. But I completely understand the desire for gadgets, and the ad thing is good for you, so Go for it