Here is our new blog design for Champion of My Heart. Snazzy, yes? It took more work than you would imagine. Seriously … 14 tries until I got the new header image to work, including getting the ropes to line up (or close enough). And, that’s just one of oodles of customizations I made in the php and css on the code side of the blog. I still have much work, and many glitches remain from the change over in design, platform, and hosting switch, but I’ll get there — eventually.
Glitches
Here are the problems of which I am aware:
1. None of the old posts going back to April 2007 list me as the author, but honestly … who else would it be?
2. None of the old posts came with their all-important search engine tags. I’ll try not to cry as my traffic plummets.
3. None of the internal links (where I sometimes link to old posts) work because with the switch came all new web addresses for each post. There seems to be little piece of programming that can help me find and fix all those links, but it will take time.
Unfortunately, I believe that also means any links any of you have made to specific posts will also be wonky. I’m so sorry about that.
4. The old posts look fine in the new format as long as I don’t try to go in and edit them, then all kinds of bad things happen to their readability.
5. Since I exported the blog before Friday’s Weekly Training Update, none of the comments you nice people posted are here. I’m sorry. I fear they are lost to the techno-abyss.
6. I have no idea what will happen for those few of you who subscribe via email. I need to find a good widget or plugin for that, and until then, I hope you will read online or through and RSS.
Things of Note
These little numbers in the wooden boxes off to the right completely stumped me at first. I actually had to email the template designer and ask. Indeed, they display how many comments each post currently has.
If you click on the the link that says, “Continue reading,” then you can read more than the excerpt.
If you click on the boards at the bottom that says, “Comments,” then you can leave a comment. Do let me know if anything weird happens there. I want all of you to be able to link from here to your blogs when you comment, but I’m not sure if I have that set up correctly.
The Famous Relaxation Protocol Audio Files
To make things faster and easier for new visitors, I created a special page in the right-hand sidebar for the Relaxation Protocol MP3 Files.
BlogRoll Links
I still need to figure out and finish all my usually blogroll links. I didn’t want to delay the launch for something like that, so I will continue to plug away at that piece.
Done for Today
I’m sure there are a million other little things, but it’s been a long day and a long process to make this change. I hope you like it because it took a boatload of work.
Holler if anything goes weird for you, and I’ll try to fix it.
Thanks for your continued support. We have great things planned for the coming year.
Wow, congrats on the blog’s new look! These things can be so fiddly and nit-picky, hard to get just right so I can understand the work you’ve put in to get it to this point. Well done!
Congratulations – it looks really great. We well remember some of the problems of migrating over all of the old blog into the new one. Took quite a bit of work and so plug ins to make it all work right. But your redesign looks excellent.
Thanks, Leslie. I figure it isn’t bad for a girl who didn’t know any code to save her life. The time, though. I fear adding it up.
Cool new look! I like the combo of dog + mountain rustic. Nice, clean nav, too!
I love the new design! It’s so easy to use and find my way around. Yay! And the photos up top—love them.
WOOHOO! I knew the big move was coming when I went to check your blog (like I do compulsively at least 2-3 times a day) and it said some funky message about “Coming back soon.” Looks great! Congrats – I bet you’re happy (most of) it is over!
OK. There seems to be another glitch. I can see comments coming in, and I’ve gone into my admin panel and approved them, but they still are not showing up.
I’m working on it. :o)