Regular visitors to this here joint know that I’m restless when it comes to the way my blog looks. I change it up regularly. When I’ve used banners, I’ve switched up the banner picture quite often to keep the place looking fresh and interesting. I started trying on a few different themes again the other day because the one I was using was slow to load for one reader who was on a dial-up connection. I hadn’t really thought about that, since almost everybody I know is on a high-speed connection these days, but I don’t want to exclude people who are using older technology just to decorate up my blog. Today I changed themes again after having a look at the one I have now. I love the way words and picture sit on the page, the way the posts are separated and I like how visually spare and elegant it is. I think maybe I can stick with this one for a while.
Tag Archives: Blogging
I’ve had a complaint…
Apparently, the planned obsolescence model practiced by the IT world has not reached all parts of the fair province of Ontario, and a reader with either a painfully slow computer or a painfully slow connection or maybe even both has complained it took him 8 minutes to pull up this blog. That will never do. So….cut back on the number of posts showing at a given time from 20 to 10. Hopefully that will help.
UPDATE: Apparently this blog is still loading slowly with the changes I made on a computer with a slow connection so I’ve tried a different theme to see if it makes any difference.
evolution/revolution?
Those of you who visit this little corner of cyberspace on any kind of regular basis will have noticed that I’ve messed about with a number of different themes lately. I think that is symptomatic of a general restlessness about this blog.
Since I started blogging, I haven’t exactly had a business plan. What I liked and continue to like about the blog space is that it is possible to claim a little bit of cyber real estate to do with as I please. These days, it seems fewer and fewer people visit regularly. This is understandable. Who would want to endure the onslaught of semi-obscure music punctuated by Newfoundland dog pictures I post much of the time? If fewer people are visiting, even fewer comment. Of course I appreciate those faithful friends who do, a small circle of friends, to quote Phil Ochs.
I’ve been cross-posting from this blog over to Facebook and Twitter, but that has mostly resulted in a few friends catching my posts over at Facebook, a space I’m not so interested in. I’m considering keeping this blog as a stand-alone entity. That of course is not the way the blog space is evolving though, is it? Consider that Google is shutting down Reader. I use that tool regularly to keep track of posts on numerous blogs I like to follow. In doing this I suppose I again find myself to be somewhat old school. I know some people who pick up blog feeds in magazine formats like Flipboard and view them on tablets. That’s fine and looks really nice but I personally still enjoy tracking blogs the old fashioned way. Eliminating tools like Reader (yes I’ll find a different reader until they all disappear) puts pressure on the blog space. Move to Facebook or Twitter or some other popular social platform? It seems we are being herded in that direction.
I understand that sometime soon WordPress is going to stop supporting blogrolls. Isn’t that interesting? There was a time when the blogroll seemed like an important element, but I wonder if I moved to a format that is single column and took out all my sidebar material, if anyone would complain. I’m considering trying that out too.
At the same time as I’m thinking about how my blog space looks, I’m also thinking about the content and what I want to put in this space in the future. I’ve considered a few different ideas and haven’t come to any conclusions. There is a gnawing part of me that wants to make a big change and turn this thing upside down, and another that would much prefer evolving it, adding some new things without making any rash changes. Maybe I should shut down 27th Street and reinvent it as something else?
More Upheaval
I’m still playing around with the look of this blog. Sorry about that. It still isn’t quite right.
Upheaval
This morning I started messing about with the look of this blog for the umpteenth time. I guess I have a restless imagination. I tried on about a dozen themes and I’m still not satisfied, so please be patient because I’ll likely make more changes until it feels right. I was looking at one very minimal theme that presented posts as coloured bars – very clean. I almost settled there but it was so minimal it didn’t have the share feature. I share many but not all of my posts on FB so I like to have that button on my posts. I’ve got to go deal with other things this morning, but I’ll be back at this later.
Re-charging
Plugging in my brain to recharge for a couple days…regular programming will continue soon. In the meantime, you’ll have to find your own accordion music….
Evil Spammers?
Thank you to my friend Steve who pointed out that somehow a cat had made its way onto my banner. I have launched a full investigation.
Not again…
I know I mess with the theme of this blog too much. Sorry about that. Sometimes it just doesn’t feel quite the way I want it, and so I go trying various themes and headers and so on. Eventually, I’ll get it just so.
Touts
The social media is full of touts. Twelve tips to Twitter success. Fifteen must-do Facebook success tips. Top ten rules of social media engagement. Ten thousand followers in three easy steps. Twitter leadership success strategies. On and on.
I decided it was time I offered some tips too. Let’s see. Um, ah….accordion music. Post lots of accordion music. Everybody loves those toe-tapping rhythms. Um, there’s more. Let’s see here. Uhhhh…oh yeah. Post lots of pictures of your pets, and if you have Newfoundland dogs, there is no limit. Just keep posting them. Mushroom ID photos. Post lots of mushroom ID photos too. Be sure to use the Latin names. Everybody loves Latin.
Got it? Here’s the formula.
1. accordion music
2. pet photos
3. mushroom identification
Follow these tips and soon you will parlay your humble little blog into an internet empire just like me (insert Mister Anchovy picture, surrounded by babes). Yes, soon you too will be living the high life.
1500
Since I shut down the old blog, Mister Anchovy’s, and opened up this joint, I’ve made 1500 posts. If you want to get technical, this is post number 1501. Mostly the same old crap I know, but still it represents 1500 little ideas. This place has enjoyed 66,967 views. The old place had many more than that, but it was open for business a lot longer. The stats don’t show it but I know that of all those hits, half a dozen faithful pals account for the bulk of the action. You know who you are (and you know you rock).
There have been 3,191 comments. Compared to many blogs, this one gets very few comments. However, it gets quality comments from the best comment posters ever.
I’ve created 2,954 tags and 63 categories. See, it’s not just about accordions and dogs.
