Well, I finally set aside my Luddite blogging ways in favor of an actual publishing system. Look over there, a sidebar with dynamic content! And down there, built in RSS feeds! Which may or may not work! Actually, don’t read this too hard or anything, I’m pretty sure everything is held together with spit and baling wire.

Installing and configuring WordPress was super easy, as compared to, say, removing a human brain with a pair of kitchen tongs without causing any permanent damage. It only took me eleventy billion hours, the enamel off my back molars, and my eternal soul (which I offered up on several occasions to the Dark Template Gods).

I also committed a cardinal LUSER ERROR by completely breaking access to my entire domain without having the tiniest clue as to how I did it. I was doing something in my FTP program, and the next thing I knew permissions were denied, by god, and there was no viewing of any files nor accessing, because: denied! Nein!

Shout out to the friendly and helpful tech support at godaddy.com, for real, because she fixed my stupid shit and didn’t even make fun of me. Although she did say, in a kindly tone, “Whatever you did, I recommend…um, not doing it again.” To which I replied “I swear on my son’s name I will not do it again!” because if I have learned nothing else from Survivor, it’s that you can totally swear on your family’s name and then take it back later.

Anyway, please do let me know if you see anything that looks Just Plain Wrong, and I will take care of it right away, mostly by sticking my fingers in my ears and shouting “LA LA LA FUCKING LA” since I’m pretty sure if I have to edit one of the template files again my head is simply going to detonate in a festive spray of pink mist.

(P.S: semi-hilarious email from the also-helpful but Very Technical FTP guy: “Well, I did the obvious, set the Folder perms to 755 and the files to 644.” Oh right, the obvious. Yeah, 755 and…644, totally! That’s, uhhh, just what I was going to try! After I spent some time with my tried-and-true method of staring at the screen with my mouth gaping wide open and a crystalline line of drool making its way to the keyboard, that is.)

(P.P.S: if you’re using IE, can you let me know if the sidebar appears correctly now? I think it may have been the larger image that was pushing it down to the bottom.)

Ambition, sort of

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Kiki
Kiki
17 years ago

Looks great, Sundry!

kim
kim
17 years ago

funny – i know tech guys think the rest of us are idiots. i like to think they’re wrong. looks great to me! :)

Jem
Jem
17 years ago

If you hadn’t worked out how to do it, I was going to comment and check that you set the Folder perms to 755 and the files to 644. Pssshhhhh.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME I DON’T KNOW HOW TO CHANGE WORDPRESS THEMES AND MY SITE LOOKS SO BORING.

Wow. A comment preview. I’m watching it while I type this hee heheheeeeeee

Lesley
Lesley
17 years ago

Why is everything computer so hard still? I thought it was supposed to be getting easier.

Looks great but I hope you continue posting large pics, not small clickables..

P.S. Your March 2006 archives are not showing up with the exception of one.

thejunebug
thejunebug
17 years ago

Why are the daily baby pictures so small?? That’s my only complaint. :)

Kari
Kari
17 years ago

Is that not the best baby book ever!?! I love that thing, it can make Starla stop cryin as soon as I make the crinkly sound.

Oh and the site looks lovely.

Liz
Liz
17 years ago

Very nice! I would have put my fist through the monitor before getting all the way through the process. What’s with the sidebar getting shoved to the bottom, though?

S
S
17 years ago

The re-design looks great. Just as an FYI, I opened the site at first with Internet Explorer and the entire side bar was at the bottom of the page, not at the side where it should be, obviously. I don’t know if it’s your computer or my browser but just wanted to let you know. On foxfire it’s great! Good job!!

Scott
17 years ago

Hey Sundry! I like the new site. I just started playing with WordPress myself – also motivated by a work project, which bled over into personal stuff. (Not Fishsuit, though. Something new…) Why is it that we always seem to have the same ideas at the same time? You start using WordPress, I start using WordPress. We get pregnant, you guys get pregnant. SO WEIRD. It’s like we are one with the hive mind.

Anyhoo, I am seeing the same problem with IE – the sidebar is all scrunched. It’s not my window width, either – the middle column doesn’t change size when I resize my window. Have you checked how the columns are sized in the style sheet? Are you using absolute pixel widths? You might try changing them to percentages. Or something. I don’t know why I am trying to give you advice – I have but the most tenuous grasp on WordPress templates.

Chloe
17 years ago

Hey, I just did a redesign too! Of course, mine was made with old-skool html skills (and I mostly used a default blogspot template *cough cough*), and I am terrified of WordPress. But at least I got over my fear of Photoshop, right? One step at a time, people.

I too am seeing a scrunched up at the bottom “side”bar– I use IE because my mouse scroll button is not compatible with Firefox and by god if I can’t scroll then I become frustrated and throw things and regress to a caveman-like mental state. Of course, I could just get a new mouse… but I like my mouse. The scroll button can’t be used in photoshop either– it generates an error. For the record: HP optical mouse? Bad ju-ju.

BUT ANYWAY: I’m using IE Version 6.0.2900.2180.xpsp_sp2_gdr.050301-1519 and hopefully that doesn’t tell you my social security number and how to hack my computer and get my credit card numbers because I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THAT MEANS. I hope it helps you figure it out. I’d try to help… but I have no idea how to use WordPress. :)

I am loving the comment preview (yay!), and I agree that generally, bigger pictures are better. I think the size of the Riley picture is this entry is nicely-sized, but bigger would be good too– maybe so the width of the picture is just a bit narrower than the width of the… um… center part-thingie where the text goes.

Alex
17 years ago

I wish there was a way to just softly whisper this, but I am having issues with change. Namely, I, um, well, it seemed *gentler* before. Now it seems, ah, not gentle? I dunno. I’ll adapt, I always do.

Thank you for keeping Riley’s leg picture–I love that picture.

Meg
Meg
17 years ago

I am seeing the sidebar at the bottom of the page, too. I am using IE 6.0 (I am pretty sure?), on Windows XP, at a 1280×1024 resolution. It doesn’t change if I resize the window. I wish I had actual advice on how to fix it! Good job, thus far – site editing can be quite the bitch!

Chiara
17 years ago

This was me, telling my in-house tech support dude (i.e. my housemate) that I wanted to install WordPress and make a new site: “I! Um! Want you! To make that! Look….nicer! Please!” I empathize with Jem’s theme woes because if the revolution comes and the first thing that happens is that everyone has to upload a new WordPress theme (to the appropriate…file? Folder? CSS…thing?) then I am the first one in front of the firing squad. Regardless, good on you for getting it set up and looking purty and everything.

Mimi
17 years ago

I use IE and it looks perfect!

Sherbert
17 years ago

I actually did not understand ANY of your post so I’m highly impressed with what you did. Looks good although I agree, the pictures are too small.

Suzana
17 years ago

I’m a new reader , but it looks awesome..ohh and comment preview *stares*.

Emily
17 years ago

Niiiiice! Every time I try to fuck with my template, the HTML gods come down out of … wherever they live — the depths of Hell, perhaps? … and smite me. Mad propz for emerging unscathed!

Laura
17 years ago

Looks great to me! With the RSS I can now add you to my personalized Google homepage. —O-O— (geek glasses)

Paige
17 years ago

A) I opened the page and thought Safari was making everything all wonky again. But then I remembered… You’re a Mac-Goddess too…

2) I am just impressed that you are even ATTEMPTING it yourself. See how I’m still hanging on the skirt-tails of Blogger?

C) I love the new design. Muy excelente.

b.
b.
17 years ago

Hi;

Yesterday the side bar was on the bottom…today it’s just fine. (I use IE…I should be using Opera but am addicted to Google’s IE toolbar.) It’s usually the size of the picture(s) that present a problem when this happens. I didn’t say anything because, well, it seems to happen to everyone’s site from time to time and so I just deal.

The solution, or at least what I’ve found to work for me, is to size the picture maybe 10 to 20 pixels less than the column width. That way it’s not itty-bitty, but it’s not so large that my template makes a funny noise and quits working.

warcrygirl
17 years ago

I use IE and it looks good to me. Of course I’m most likely a day late and a dollar short. And look! Comments! *crosses fingers*

thatgrrrl
17 years ago

It looks fine to me, and wow, this comment preview thing is VERY cool. It’s kinda like watching yourself on TV in realtime. And yeah, adding you to the RSS feed on my Google homepage. You ROCK, Sundry!

Pete
Pete
17 years ago

The font and pictures are much smaller.

nona
nona
17 years ago

The site still looks great, pictures are quite a bit smaller, though. Also, the links link is gone. Could you bring it back? I’m only cool because I go to your links and “check it out:” areas. Help me stay in “cool!” And the blog is awesome.

Kat
Kat
17 years ago

The site does look nice and I’m using IE. Your font size for regular text seems small though.

Shannon
17 years ago

Looks good, the only minor thing I miss/would change is having the date back at the top of the post, and also using the American date format of mm/dd/yyyy (or spelled out). That’s it so far!

dorrie
dorrie
17 years ago

Dude. Love the new look, it is tidy and streamlined. HOWEVER we share the same shameful addiction to celebrity gossip and I RELY on your links to get me where I need to go…can you add those on at some time?
Thanks, Linda.

crystal
17 years ago

it looks great for me! and duh! 755 and 644, everyone knows that. well, besides me. if something goes wrong, i usually just keep playing around with the numbers until it comes back. i have no idea what they actually mean.

Michael Brundage
17 years ago

FWIW, 644 and 755 are Unix file permissions, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_system_permissions

The three digits correspond to owner/group/other. (In the Windows world, that’s Administrator, Users, Everyone.) 4 means read access only, 5 means read execute (which for directories means you can list the contents). 6 means read and write access, and 7 means all permissions – read, write, and execute.

If you didn’t have execute permission for a directory and tried to view its contents, or if you didn’t have write permission for a file and tried to replace it, then you would get a permission denied error. If this were to ever happen again and you wanted to avoid the hassle of technical support, you can probably telnet into your godaddy account and use the chmod command to change the file/directory permissions yourself.

Silly computers.

Cee
Cee
17 years ago

Love the new design – looks great.

Jessie
17 years ago

The sidebar looks great to me in IE. The new layout looks great!

Mary
17 years ago

So interesting site, thanks!

Anny
17 years ago

Best site I see. Thanks.

ssbornik
17 years ago

Very good site. Thanks for author!

snymrik
17 years ago

I just don’t have anything to say right now.

pasparty
17 years ago

Your home page its great

nikelir
17 years ago

May we exchange links with your site?

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