Tag: URL

bookmark_borderDiscussing Design

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Sometimes I start writing a post with no idea where it will head. What follows is a bit of a meandering waffle…

Recently I asked for some suggestions for content (which I duly ignored, sorry about that). The still-blogless Donalda suggested:

Every so often you do a “here is what my site looked like in the past and here’s what it looks like now” thing, but with the last few changes you haven’t. I quite like those as I like to see where the design idea is headed. A discussion of DESIGN of blogs might mean a few folk not making the evil, evil mistakes that lots of neophytes do – not discussed in your talk, but very helpful, the usual suspects of links, and just a few ideas on what your next change will be.

The alternative was to post a photo of some kittens smothered in Nutella… or something… I forget why.

Why re-design?
I’ve been, rightly, accused of re-designing this site too often and thereby breaking my “brand”. Thing is, as this is very much a hobby, I don’t really care about that kind of thing. This site has gone through several iterations, starting pre-blog with a title of “Something” and a popup window featuring frames and tables for layout, to the current “blog” style which I’ve yet to make into a WordPress template, despite several requests1. In-between times I’ve ditched a ‘name’ and used the URL, and then gone back to a name, not to mention the fact that the site URL itself has changed from www.snowgoon.co.uk to www.gordonmclean.co.uk (or .com if you really want).

The reason I have a website at all stems from the need to experiment when I was learning HTML (the very first iteration of my website was purely a set of links with a lot of clever Javascript, lost in the murks of time that one) and it wasn’t until I started writing and publishing online that any idea of site construction really entered my head. This is why I still enjoy the process of designing and building a website, and still enjoy finding inspiration from many sources.

And yes, this is kind of at odds with the reasons why I joined 9rules, but who said I had to be consistent? Ohh I did… damn.

Where next for this site?
I like the current design. It meets MY needs, and hopefully isn’t too hard to use for you guys and gals either. The overflow section (on the left) is working OK but still needs some tweaking, and the main posts are looking fine. The Flickr integration and top navigation needs a little more refining but I do feel quite settled at the moment.

That usually means that in a couple of months I’ll be bored again. But which direction will I take next?

Well I’ll be steering clear of big bright colours and large sans-serif fonts (far too Web 2.0… whatever that is…), but I think I’ll be making more use of sections and graphics in the future. Mainly because my proficiency with PhotoShop is leaping forward (thanks to some other projects I’m working on) and because it’s the one area my sites have always lacked. In saying that, I have still to find a real balance between nice graphic embellishments and my desire to retain a minimal design. I may drop the number of colours in the future, and have one main highlight colour with the rest of the site relying on blacks, whites and hues of grey.

I may also experiment with a new layout, primarily offering a semi-fluid width for the main column (the one you are ‘in’ at the moment). Ideally the main column will be resizable but be limited to a maximum width… still figuring out how to do that one mind you. I will NOT be changing to a “content on the left” layout, I don’t think. Primarily because I think having the ‘other bits’ of your site hemmed in by the main content gives them some focus, whereas on content-left sites I rarely move my eyes to the right of the content and miss out on a lot of stuff that way (might just be me though).

All in all this site WILL change in the future, not anytime this month mind you but hey, who knows what the future will bring.

Site critique time then.

If this was YOUR site, what would YOU change?
Any examples of sites you like the look of are welcomed. Some examples that I keep returning to are:

  • Minor 9th – single colour highlight, clean, crisp design.
  • Daring Fireball – proves that dark backgrounds CAN work.
  • Warpspire – nice use of space, and nice approach for a ‘one post’ on page site.
  • …. you tell me!

Finally a mention for the Hemingway theme which you can find on the last site on the above list. I really like this approach, but find it at odds with my desire to have content easily available (not behind a click). Still unsure whether it’ll be an influence for any upcoming redesign but it does have some excellent ideas.

1 I may get around to it at some point, but I’ve still to get my head into the whole WordPress ‘template’ thing.

bookmark_borderGetting Organised

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Bookmarks dotted about all over the place. A del.ico.us account that rarely gets used. Various clever Firefox extensions. My miniblog. My custom start page. My blogroll(s). Bloglines. The sites I “use”, the sites I visit, the useful sites, the information sites, so many sites, so much information and so many ways of filtering and accessing them these days, I’m getting a bit overwhelmed. Aren’t you?

So I put aside a couple of hours* and fired up my web browser with the aim of getting better organised, wasn’t sure HOW exactly, but figured the organic “leap in and start” approach would serve me best. I think it did.

So let me talk you through the process, or better still, roll up your sleeves and try it yourself. As with most things the way you work and use the various technologies will differ from me, but hopefully this will be useful to someone. Always remember that YMMV.

* took a lot longer than this but you can do it in stages if you want.
Continue reading “Getting Organised”

bookmark_borderRound and Round

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I understand spammers, they blast out millions of emails in the hope of catching a few gullible fools. Simple enough, even if I would like to string a few of the buggers up, smear them in jam and crack open a wasps nest.

Referrer spam isn’t new but appears to be on the rise, well it is here at any rate, latest counts tell me I’m getting around 30 referrer spam entries a day. It does seem to have started suddenly as well, one week nothing, the next I’m getting some weird and wonderful referrer links showing up in my logs. I’m trying to think if I’ve registered anywhere in the past couple of weeks but can’t recall doing so – other than for BackPack but they’ve had my details for ages.

I won’t provide any specific links but there are two current culprits with URLs that end in “f r e e b o x DOT r u” and “o x s o DOT n e t”. The latter doesn’t actually load anything, the other loads one huge page of classic literature (the source depends on what goes at the start of the URL). Most odd.

Anyone else noticing this, or is it just me?

bookmark_borderSidebar

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Firefox question – Anyone know how to display a webpage in the sidebar?

Lyle asks “Huh?” so let me expand on this.

In Firefox, if you select View > Sidebar, you can open various useful things like your bookmarks, or your browser history (where did all that p*rn come from!!). I want to know if there is anyway (manually, Firefox extension, add-on program) to display a webpage there. I’ve tried dragging a URL or shortcut to no avail.

Why? Because it will make editing the HaloScan Wiki much easier, as I’m constantly switching back and forth from the Recent Changes page. If I could have that page in my sidebar… see? There IS a good reason!

UPDATE

Problem solved! With thanks to the venerable diamond geezer who points out that to display a web page in the sidebar you need to:

Find Manage Bookmarks in the Bookmarks menu.
Right-click on any web page and select Properties.
Then tick the box that’s labelled, unbelievably, Load this bookmark in the sidebar.

I post this here to preserve this piece of knowledge. Thank you dg, you’ve just made my life much MUCH easier.

bookmark_borderForthcoming

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Been in here since 7.45am. Busy busy busy.

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No archives at present as I can’t get the archive list to display on this page, I’ve checked the WP code and it’s correct. Permalinks are working, and if you know the URL to the archive page you can use that, it just won’t display the links on here. Odd. Will sort later (tonight).

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Strawberry Switchblade, as acquired from Vaughan, was left on repeat last night. iTunes tells me it played 347 times. My audioscrobbler account is gonna look great the next time it updates!

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HaloScan users – I’m trying to update the FAQ and general documentation that is supplied, what questions do you want answered?

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I have three posts in draft at the moment, one about being fat, one about whisky, one about my tendency to put things off. Which should I finish first?

bookmark_borderEr…. nope, nothing to say

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Tired. Ohhh so very tired. Think I’ve got a wee bug of some sort that is sapping me of all my energy.

Bleuch.

Whilst I remember, any Firefox users out there? How do I get rid of the ‘remembered’ form information. It’s annoying the crap outta me having to remember to change the URL in ever comment box I visit. I’d rather wipe out all the entries and start over. Help!