We are live
Welcome to the new and improved jungle.
There’s still a lot to do, but I think it’s stable enough to go ahead and cut over. Please post here any problems you experience.
Some new features that I think you’ll appreciate:
- Gravatars. Signup at Gravatar.com and personalize your comments with an image of your choice. Or don’t, and you get to be a ladybug.
- Live comment preview. This is a pretty cool plugin that lets you see what your comment will look like as you’re typing. Saves you a click on a preview button. I’ve also added a Quicktags plugin so you can easily prettyfy your comments.
- Anonymous commenters will find it easier to post a comment. Instead of that annoying captcha system, now you just have to do some simple math.
- Some other things that work behind the scenes. (like an XML feed that really works, and a spam filter that doesn’t block legitimate users.)
It will take DNS about 24 hours to catch up, so if you’re still seeing the old site, be patient.
Edit: The XML feed has been fixed.
June 8th, 2006 at 11:04 am
Let me be the first to comment on your new site. I like the instant preview feature.
Keep up the good work.
June 8th, 2006 at 12:01 pm
But I can’t do simple math. Does this mean I can no longer comment? Oh noes…
June 8th, 2006 at 12:59 pm
Nice! I hope you like the backend more as well. As much as I hate all the bullshit that goes on in the WP “community” with the elitism and lack of support in many cases if you don’t fit into one of their “cliques”, WP has turned out to be the best system out there so far for small self-publishers.
All that work and you didn’t take the opportunity to try a new design.
Not that there’s anything wrong with the current one, but I’m used to changing mine every few months just because I can. LOL! Don’t even need a software change to do it, though that was always a convenient excuse.
June 8th, 2006 at 1:49 pm
@benro: I love the Yellow Canine of Justice!
@Scott: Piddys are your friend.
@Scotia: If it had been me, you’d be reading this in Wordpress default. I’m what you could charitably call “challenged” when it comes to the inner workings of the web. Fortunately the guy who did it for me enjoys a challenge. I’m told this is all hand-rolled.
I enjoy working with WP so far, although it’s a little rougher around the edges than Blogware was. I’ll take the rough edges over lack of control though.
June 8th, 2006 at 2:16 pm
Raph has had trouble with the live preview plugin. It can cause the browser to hang, and you’ll lose your comment.
I use the Filosofo comment preview plugin on my site. It doesn’t give the live preview, but it also doesn’t cause browser hangs. It also requires a bit of configuration to make it look like the rest of your pages, but that would probably be pretty easy for your tech geek.
A suggestion. Have fun,
June 8th, 2006 at 3:04 pm
I recommend the akismet plugin for comment spam if you end up with carpal tunnel from moderating the splogger aggro, you need a free wordpress dot com api key, but it’s certainly well worth it. You probably knew that already.
June 8th, 2006 at 10:17 pm
Hmmm…wouldn’t you know. The coolest plugin, and it hangs browsers. *pout* Well I’ll keep an eye on it, and if it’s causing problems I guess I’ll have to switch over to the not-as-cool-or-easy-to-integrate preview. Thanks for the heads-up Brian!
@Krones: Already nailed 5 spammers with akismet. Good call!
June 8th, 2006 at 10:26 pm
Well looks like it’s going to be awhile before I get my Gravatar. I’ve waited an hour so far, but with no link in my E-mail.
Congratulations of your new site Amber, I hope that it well give you more enjoyment than the last.
And remember to continue your mission to explore strange new blogs, to seek out new words and new humor, to boldly go where no Amber has gone before.
Daa da-da-daa da-da-dun.
More cheese please.
June 8th, 2006 at 10:36 pm
It took me a full day to get my gravatar. In the meantime, enjoy your ladybug. Everybody loves ladybugs!
I was going to try to write something for tomorrow, but all the blog work drove the muses away. So instead I played City of Heroes. (Hot Feet rules!) Hoping to put something up either this weekend or for sure Monday.
June 9th, 2006 at 2:08 pm
Nice! I especially like that the feed now has the whole post in it.
It makes me teh happy!
June 9th, 2006 at 8:55 pm
Ladybirds, thankyouverymuch.